Traveling around Jeju Island with the waves, sea breeze, art galleries and citrus-colored letters.

If you want to Travel abroad during the holidays, where is the most convenient place? Jeju Island, which is visa-free and only takes an hour by plane from Shanghai, is a good choice. "If you are really bored, leave and go to Jeju Island, a place full of blue"



In my eyes, Jeju Island is shaped like a broad bean. There are two cities, Jeju City in the north and Seogwipo City in the west. It only takes four hours to drive along the coastal highway to travel around the island. The Tourist routes are divided into the East Line, West Line and South Line. This Trip I experienced both cities and three routes. Let me tell you one by one!

Jeju Island has no subway, only buses. In addition, most tourists travel along the "East Line, West Line and South Line". Chartering a car is very popular and convenient. It is also very convenient to take a taxi in the two urban areas. There are empty taxis everywhere on the roadside. However, at the scenic spots along the route, it is often impossible to call a car using the taxi service on the app. It is still recommended to charter a car.

DAY1, Travel Notes on Jeju Island

Jeju International Airport is only 2-3 kilometers away from the center of Jeju City, but the first stop of this trip is Seogwipo City. You can choose to pick up from the airport to Seogwipo, which is cost-effective.

In Seogwipo, we stayed at Parnas Hotel Jeju in the Chinese Tourist Area.

Parnas is a resort hotel. As soon as you walk into the lobby, the sea view and the fragrance in the air are refreshing. The overall white decoration style of the hotel is modern and simple, presenting a sense of transparent space, spaciousness and brightness, and it is even more pleasing to the eye with the green plants and paintings everywhere.

It is said that Parnas is also the filming location of the Korean dramas "The Legend of the Blue Sea" and "King The Land".





Parnas is built on the seaside. There is a plank road leading to the sea right in front of the hotel. There is also a "Healing Field" on the plank road. This sculpture symbolizes that "stone" and "land" are the origins of Jeju Island. Jeju Island is a pristine natural place.



Playing on the beach and boardwalk is much better than going to the crowded sea attractions outside. You can also feel the natural feature of Jeju Island, which is located in the East Asian monsoon belt, that is, the "strong wind". Jeju Island is famous for its "three mores", that is, many stones, many winds, and many women. In the hotel, you can experience the sound of wind accompanied by the sound of waves, and see stones and flowers blooming in the courtyard!



Away from the silence and noise of the city, listen to the lingering whispers of the sea here.



We booked a sea view room. The room was small and had ordinary facilities. It didn't look like a resort hotel, but the bathroom facilities were complete. The minibar was free and provided Jeju local beer and Coca-Cola. I tried the beer, but I couldn't get used to it.




There is also a GS25 convenience store in the hotel, which is very convenient for shopping. I went to the convenience store for my first meal. I am not interested in the 7-11 that is well-received in Thailand. Instead, I think the convenience stores in Korea are very good to visit. I will share the convenience store review later! Then I took a taxi to the traditional market in the center of Seogwipo City - Seogwipo Daily Olle Market, which is also one of the more famous attractions in Seogwipo City.



Ole Market is a "king"-shaped market selling traditional food, special snacks, handicrafts, etc. On the first night of the trip, my mother and I were very excited. She first bought the Jeju Island specialty citrus in the first row on the left, which was bought at a small stall in the middle of the market. It was so sweet, much sweeter than what we had in the hotel. She also bought something similar to tempura in the third row (me: Mom, isn't this a Japanese specialty?), and something similar to shachima in the fifth row (me again: Mom, isn't this a Beijing specialty?), all delicious!

If you go to Ole Market, you need to prepare a Korean translation app. When communicating with people there, the first smoothest language is Korean, and the second smoothest language is not English... but Chinese. Several merchants are from Northeast China, and they speak Chinese when they open their mouths. They are also very polite to us, but when you speak English to Koreans, they basically don't understand.



I looked through a lot of food guides for Olai Market, and the only thing I think is a must-try is the citrus mochi from this grandma's rice cake shop. Because it is very popular, there are several counterfeit shops, so be sure to look for the authentic ones! The mochi is sweet and chewy, paired with the slightly sour citrus, but it is too big, so it is a bit difficult for me to swallow it in one bite.



After leaving Olai Market, we went to have dinner. It was a hairtail hotpot restaurant not far from the Parnas Hotel. It was recommended by the tour guide and I marked it when I was making the guide. Hairtail is a specialty of Jeju Island. On the way back, I took a photo of Jeju Island at night, which looked like the time when a witch appeared on a broomstick in a cartoon.



The address of Hairtail Hotpot is 2507-1 제주오성 갈치조림 제주도 중문 본점, 색달동. The first floor is a souvenir shop, and the second floor is a restaurant.

The picture below is the patron saint of Jeju Island, "Stone Old Man". "Stone Old Man's status in Korea is like Santa Claus in the West, and he carries the good wishes of the locals." I also came to Jeju Island once when I was a child. In addition to roasted black pork, the most impressive thing is that Stone Old Man is everywhere. The tour guide said that touching different parts of him will bring different blessings.

The person in the picture is wearing a Jeju Island specialty citrus hat and making a "yeah" sign, so cute.



On the first floor, there is also instant coffee in paper cups, which is common in Korean dramas. Sometimes, instead of brewing coffee, I would rather drink a cup of sweet Maxwell, which has a very Korean drama atmosphere on a cold winter night.



There are not only Chinese-speaking aunties in the store, but you can also order directly in Chinese on the machine, which is very convenient. We ordered spicy stewed hairtail, fried hairtail, fried abalone with butter, and sea urchin and kelp soup. Fried hairtail is very good with rice, and can also be eaten wrapped in seaweed. The fried abalone with butter has a milky aroma and is very chewy. I still remember it now. It was the first time I drank sea urchin and kelp soup. The sea urchin added to the umami flavor of the kelp soup. It is a hairtail hotpot restaurant worth trying!



DAY 2 Travel Notes on Jeju Island

The next morning, after taking a walk on the beach near the hotel, we set off. First, we went to Starbucks not far from the hotel to buy coffee. This Starbucks has a unique decoration and was formerly the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.



Of course I had to try Jeju Only. There were four choices on the menu: "Jeju Artemisia Cream Frappuccino", "Jeju Black Sesame Latte", "Jeju Black Sesame Cream Frappuccino", and "Jeju Forest Cold Drink". My mother chose the decaffeinated Jeju Black Sesame Latte, which was delicious. I wanted to try how delicious Koreans' favorite iced American coffee is, and found that it was no different from the Starbucks iced American coffee in China.



Then we went to the Teddy Bear Museum opposite Starbucks, which is the cone-shaped building in the picture. For most people, the Teddy Bear Museum is a visit that is optional and even slightly "young".

But for me, a loyal fan of the old Korean drama "Palace", the Teddy Bear Museum is the most popular attraction in Jeju Island! The Teddy Bear Museum is not only the filming location of "Palace", but the teddy bears will also wear the clothes of the miniature protagonists at the end of each episode to reenact the key points of the plot.

Jeju City also has a very small Teddy Bear exhibition. If you want to go to the three-story Teddy Bear Museum, you must look for the one in Seogwipo City.




Putting aside this childhood filter, the Teddy Bear World constructed by the Teddy Bear Museum is also very interesting, using teddy bears to interpret events such as the "Normandy Landing", "The Fall of the Berlin Wall", and "The Discovery of the Terracotta Warriors"... The glass windows are not easy to take pictures of - but the real thing is very cute!



Whether it is using teddy bears to "recreate" famous paintings and sculptures in history, or wearing luxury brands on the catwalk to become a trendsetter in modern life, or interpreting the traditional life of Jeju Islanders, it conveys the slogan of the museum-Teddy Bear is actually all around.

There is also a teddy bear studio where you can graffiti on the wall, a few minutes of teddy bear band performances, and a teddy bear store. This is another advantage of the museum in my mind. The teddy bear peripherals sold in the store are so rough (sorry...), saving money.




There is also a square outside the museum with this giant installation, "Teddy bears designing their own teddy bear sculptures". It was only here that I suddenly realized the theme of the Teddy Bear Museum - on this teddy bear planet, humans are just outsiders. This is so postmodern and cool!



Then we drove to Moomin Land. I have a good friend who loves Moomin, and I went there to "explore" for her. On the way, she was telling me that Moomin is a Finnish elf, not a Dutch hippopotamus as I thought.

Moomin Land is very large, with four floors. There are fewer visitors than the Teddy Bear Museum. It is super comfortable to visit, and each scene is a different surprise. Moomin Land Jeju is a blue and white healing castle.



This three-story house should be Moomin's home. You can go in and visit. This is my mother on the top floor making a V sign for me to take a photo.



The rooftop is also very beautiful. The sky in Seogwipo is so beautiful.



Walking outside is the Moomin Cafe and Moomin Shop. The space is still very large. This Moomin latte art is so cute!



After walking down the stairs, I wandered around the Moomin shop for a long time. My mother, who had never seen Moomin before, was so adorable that she couldn’t help but buy a pair of cups. My friend is a veteran collector of Moomin peripherals, so I could only choose unusual Moomin nail polish, puzzles, trays, etc. for her. In addition, they also packed a lot of greeting cards, stickers, and dolls. It was really a good buy!!



After leaving Moomin Land, we went to eat the black pork that must be eaten in Jeju Island. The tour guide took us to the Stone Wall Black Pork in the Chinese tourist area. Chinese service was provided. It was unexpectedly delicious. The roasted black pork was fragrant, juicy and chewy. The conch and abalone liver fried rice was neither good nor bad. If you give it five stars, you will get a free beef soybean paste soup. This bowl of soup is also very special. The beef is very rich, but I wanted to eat tofu but there were not many pieces. If you want to eat delicious black pork, choose this restaurant and you won’t step on thunder!



After dinner, we took a boat to see dolphins together, and we arranged to go at sunset.



Sitting on a yacht that shakes excitingly on the water, I feel the thrill of riding the wind and waves. But I was not very excited about the whole process, because... I went to Australia with my friends last summer and had experienced whale watching in Sydney Harbor (Sydney, the golden gate of the southern hemisphere)!

Finally, we discussed that Seogwipo is like Melbourne. For example, in the first picture of this article, the sky is very low and blue, the houses are very flat, and the roads are sparsely populated. Jeju Island is known as the "Oriental Hawaii", and Seogwipo might as well promote itself as the "Little Australia in the Northern Hemisphere".

However, after comparing the two trips, with similar ticket prices, the Jeju Island ship provides free drinks and snacks, and will also hand over towels and hot packs when it is windy and cold. Stereotype, is this the attentiveness of East Asians?



Then we went back to the hotel to enjoy the infinity pool, which is heated, but the hotel does not sell swimsuits, so remember to bring your own. There are no large shopping malls near the hotel, and you will experience the frustration of finding a swimsuit store. The infinity pool is in the picture below, and it looks like it is connected to the sea from a distance.



I went to GS25 for supper, and bought all of them in the past few days. What’s special is that I just found out that Baskin-Robbins has launched milk, and it’s the same flavor as ice cream, thin and marshmallow wonderland milk. The corn drink on the far left of the picture above is super delicious!!



DAY 3 Travel Notes on Jeju Island

The hotel’s breakfast buffet is a bit expensive, but it is indeed rich. I wanted to try it because I thought I wanted to check out the special snacks of a certain place at one time, and the hotel buffet was the most convenient. Sure enough, I ate Jeju’s special rice cakes and so on.



Then we went to the most favorite attraction of this trip, which is also not far from the hotel, the Bentai Museum by Tadao Ando. It is a wonderful fusion of art and nature, and it is the best embodiment of the "beauty" of Jeju Island in my heart!

"The architectural style of the Bentai Museum is simple and modern. The exposed concrete is combined with traditional Korean low walls, streams and other elements, showing the beauty of the fusion of tradition and modernity. This design style not only reflects Tadao Ando's profound understanding of architecture, but also demonstrates his respect and integration of Korean culture."



The museum has a total of five galleries and a music hall mini-exhibition. Even the ticket price is very reasonable. The museum is fully explained in Korean and English. Some important places are also explained in Chinese and Japanese. There are not many tourists, so it is very comfortable to visit!



Gallery 1 shares traditional arts and crafts. I know very little about Korean history and culture, but since it is a museum built by Japanese architects on Jeju Island, it reminds me of "The Beauty of Korean Antiquities" written by Japanese aesthetician Yanagi Soetsu.

"Chinese art expresses will, Japanese art reflects taste, and Korea, which is between the two, has to bear a sad fate."

"The endless flow of water and the waterfowl that never come ashore are the manifestations of the inner experience of the people of the peninsula. Where can such a lonely and beautiful pattern be found? People can often witness such scenes beside the sparsely growing floating grass on the shore."



There is a cafe outside Gallery 1, and next to it is a music hall with several sculptures.



Gallery 2 is a modern art exhibition with works by artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Yayoi Kusama. You need to enter barefoot. What I like most is that there is no "cordon" next to the art installations in the venue, but only a line drawn on the ground, saying please don't go in. Everyone will still observe the "safe distance", but the distance to the artworks is invisibly shortened. Tadao Ando also said that he designed a winding visiting route for the Museum of Natural History to allow everyone to better walk, feel and think in the "natural state".



Gallery 3 is an experience installation. A team walks into a small, closed room and experiences it for two minutes. I like the artistic effect they want to create.

“My life is a dot lost among thousands of other dots”, “I am just another dot in the world”…

“My art originates from hallucinations only I can see”…



Gallery 4 is even more special. It is about Korean burial culture. When I walked into the museum, I smelled a strange smell. There were only my mother and I in the museum. The "cold and empty" atmosphere was just right. I drank too much iced American coffee in the morning and felt uncomfortable in my stomach. I even wanted to vomit after walking around for a while. My mother quickly took me out. Looking back, I think my reaction is in line with the theme of Gallery 4.

I also learned about the Korean attitude towards "life and death". Koreans do not simply regard death as a separation from life, but a Journey from this world to another world. Therefore, they understand death as a journey to the afterlife and regard funeral ceremonies as a way to convey to the afterlife.



Gallery 5 is a special exhibition of Yayoi Kusama, with installations such as "Ladder to heaven", "Narcissus Garden" and "Song of a ManhattanSuicide Addict". My favorite is "Ladder to heaven".

I like the concept of "I think I can eventually rise to the clouds, climb the stairs to heaven, and look down on my beautiful life."



Beautiful and distinctive rooftops and walls, as well as the blue sky——



The shop at the Museum of Natural History is very good! I liked the Juice Bag, which is made from recycled juice boxes. My mother liked the design plate in Figure 2. There are Jeju Island local flavor hand cream, perfume, the blue one smells very good, it smells like the sea, and stone candles. You can buy them as gifts for your friends.



The above attractions can be said to be on the southern route. The next step is to leave Seogwipo and walk along the western route. On the way back to Jeju City, you will pass by Aewol-eup, a tourist attraction with many coffee shops and the sea. There is also an Internet celebrity coffee shop called Slowboat a little distance away from Aewol-eup. I think its design is quite similar to the Bentai Museum I visited in the morning, and the name is also nice, so I want to go.

But I regret it... First of all, there are Chinese people taking pictures everywhere in the store, which feels very "rushed". Secondly, if you want to take good-looking photos, you need to grab the sofa in the middle, which I think is unnecessary. But the coffee shop itself is still beautiful!



The hand-brewed coffee in the coffee shop also looks delicious, but my stomach is still uncomfortable, so I dare not try it. The Jeju Island orange juice in the picture below tastes good, the strawberry milk is not bad, and the egg tart tastes like a pre-made dish.

It was also because of the experience of Slowboat that I gave up the idea of ​​checking in at a coffee shop in Jeju Island again, because I always felt that there would be people taking pictures everywhere, and there would be no atmosphere for drinking coffee.



I went to Aewol-eup for dinner and was browsing Instagram. I saw two or three posts saying that the Eunhye Abalone Porridge Restaurant was delicious and why it was not popular. I also wanted to try the abalone porridge that was once the "royal meal" of the past. When the car was about to arrive, I found that the restaurant had a very low rating on Google Map. The taste was indeed average. I still had to rely on the restaurant rating on Google Map! The best thing, and also the biggest publicity highlight of this restaurant, was a free grilled fish.



Aewol-eup is known as the "Jelly Sea" and tourists can row "glass boats" which have a "gelatinous" beauty under the sun, but it was too hot in the afternoon and there were too many tourists, so I didn't like Aewol-eup very much. I had a very good experience in Seogwipo City, one of the reasons being that there were very few people at any of the attractions there.



However, I tried to walk a little further and still found an empty corner of the seaside, dreaming of the scenery of the southern hemisphere!



There are many coffee shops in Aewol-eup, but many of them have signs saying that you can see the sea. I looked at the coffee menu and thought it would not be good. At that time, I was eager to pack a cup of good coffee and go to Jeju City. I saw many people recommending this coffee shop that can't see the sea as good.

This time I finally recommended the right one, ALL THAT COFFEE, it's delicious. Just want to drink coffee, just go to this one. There is also a Chinese menu. I ordered a hot latte with chocolate, brown sugar and walnut flavors.



Although there were many people at the beach, the streets of Aewol were still quite interesting and I saw some cute mangoes.




There are also orange juice bottles made of stone man beverages, which are sold in many places on Jeju Island. I really think they are so cute! But every time I see them, I lose my appetite to drink orange juice...



It took 40 minutes to drive back to Jeju City from Aewol Eup! Jeju City has a very urban feel. I stayed at the famous Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jeju City. The room was super large, bright and clean with a wide view.



Grand Hyatt Hotel is located in the center of Jeju City, a ten-minute drive from the airport, and within walking distance of duty-free shops such as Shilla Department Store and Lotte Department Store. The hotel itself is also connected to a large shopping mall. The exterior of the hotel, photographed at night, is beautiful with its colorful lights.



These two giant decorations in the hotel are so cute. Jeju Island is full of purple flowers and colorful plants.



I went to eat the crab sauce that I had been craving for for dinner. I checked Google Map and found that the crab sauce restaurants near the hotel had very low ratings. So I went to the one in Dongmun Market that had a high rating. Dongmun Market is also a tourist attraction in Jeju City. It takes about half an hour to get there by car. The crab sauce restaurant is diagonally opposite the popular bakery Abebe bakery. The store is very small with only four tables, so you may need to queue.

It is enough for two people to order this one, which has crab sauce, rice, aseptic eggs, tofu soup, and a rich side dish. The boss lady will also teach you how to eat it, such as putting rice into the crab shell and mixing it. My mother also thinks this restaurant is delicious.



Since I'm here, I have to go to Dongmun Market, which is a larger and more lively version of Seogwipo Olle Market. The things are similar, but there are more people. One road is even crowded. The most famous one is probably the guy who grills meat and dances Kpop in front of the stall. I think if you are not interested in the soy sauce crab, it doesn't matter if you don't go to Dongmun Market.



At night, I had delicious fried chicken near the hotel! You only need to walk down a slope from the door on one side of the Grand Hyatt to get to the BBQ fried chicken. At first, I thought it was not delicious because the dzdp rating was only 3.5, but it turned out to be super delicious. The fried chicken skin was very crispy, and the meat inside had no smell of mutton and tasted very delicate.

The BBQ fried chicken restaurant has a Chinese ordering machine, which can be packed back to the hotel. My mother doesn't usually eat fried chicken, but she also praised this restaurant that night and ate a lot.



DAY 4 Travel Notes on Jeju Island

On the last day in Jeju Island, I woke up in the morning and went shopping.

As mentioned before, Shilla Department Store and Lotte Department Store are very close. I only went to Lotte Department Store. There are beautiful street scenery along the way. You can buy Starbucks, which is famous for its delicious sweet potato chips that are only available in Korea, Baskin-Robbins, a national ice cream shop, Paris Baguette, a local bakery, a high school, a hospital, etc. It feels like I am passing by the life of Jeju Islanders.



I brought a bag of dried sweet potatoes, which are only sold in Starbucks in Korea, for a friend who had been curious about them for a long time to try. We both thought they were particularly delicious. The cube-shaped dried sweet potatoes were not too sweet.



There is a Loopy store on the third floor of Lotte Department Store. Although it is not big and does not have many items, there is no Loopy store in Shilla Department Store. I still bought some useful items such as passport holders and luggage tags, as well as the Jeju Island-exclusive Loopy with an orange top.



In the afternoon, we went to Snoopy Garden, a famous attraction on the east line. It was really fun and nice to visit, but you should pay attention to the weather when planning your trip, because Snoopy Garden has a lot of outdoor facilities. It was raining the day we went there, and it was quite troublesome to hold an umbrella.

The small indoor exhibition hall is similar to Moomin Land. There are a lot more people than the art galleries in Seogwipo, but it is still within an acceptable range.



The texts in the exhibition hall are so healing. I really like the interpretation of "Unrequited love". It resolves very complicated and heartbreaking things from a childlike comic perspective.



Walking out of the exhibition hall is the big garden outside! The weather was bad that day, so the photos I took were a bit dim, but the garden is really well built, very large, and has a lot of capacity. There are fountains, a large garden, a spiral walkway, a trail for climbing adventures, a botanical garden, and of course Snoopy comic characters everywhere. You can spend a lot of time wandering around! !



There is also a cafe where you can sit for a while, but the coffee cannot be made into Snoopy latte art, which is a bit disappointing. The ice bread next to it is not very delicious either.



When we left, there was an interesting thing. We didn't hire a car on the last day. We thought we would just go to Snoopy Garden and take a taxi. It was easy to get a taxi at Grand Hyatt Hotel, but at Garden on the east line, we didn't get a response after calling for a taxi from abroad for a long time. We even started to worry about whether we could catch the evening flight. It was raining heavily. At this time, an old man came to communicate with us in broken English, helped us call a taxi, and asked us to sit in his car while waiting for the car to avoid getting wet. He was wearing a cute Snoopy hat, so he should be a staff member. It was really heartwarming. My mother and I were very grateful to him, and we liked Snoopy Garden even more because of this... It's really a world like a cartoon!

You still have to hire a car to play along the east, west and south lines of Jeju Island! !

The last dinner was eaten near Grand Hyatt Hotel. You still have to taste sashimi when you come to the island. We went to Marado Island Sashimi Restaurant. The lower right side dish is a side dish, with fresh shrimp and live octopus, which is very rich. I thought the side dish was only kimchi, and I ordered a plate of shrimp slices, which was not as delicious as the shrimp in the side dish. The lower left side is seaweed and rice balls, which can be eaten with sashimi in many ways.

The picture above is a set of sashimi, including raw mackerel, marinated mackerel, sashimi and Jeju flounder. The marinated mackerel is the best, and the sashimi is not common. I think the taste is average, but it is also considered an experience.



Finally, when we were about to pay the bill and leave, the waiter suddenly told us that there were still a lot of "freebies" that hadn't been served. We asked, "?!" Then we found that there were really a lot of freebies, including crab in sauce, small fish in casserole (?), grilled fish and kelp soup... It was really thoughtful.



We took a flight to leave in the evening. The rich itinerary of Jeju Island for four days and three nights was perfectly completed. I like the English name of Jeju Island very much. I always feel that the pronunciation of Jeju is like a juice jelly bursting in the mouth. Thinking about it this way, the beginning should not say that Jeju is shaped like a broad bean, but a juice jelly. Jeju Island is as sweet and juicy as fruit. Come and taste it!

*When I was a child, my family also went to Jeju Island. A few days ago, my mother showed me this group photo. After so many years, Jeju Island still has the same stones and the same sea, but there are many more fun art galleries. Just like in the world, there are many things that will change, and many things that will not change. Opening this letter from Jeju Island with sea breeze, stones, soil, art galleries and citrus colors, there are memories and new experiences in life...