On Sunday, I had arranged to meet Matt out front of Paris Baguette in Seogwipo to begin our scooter shopping adventure. On Jeju, the popular spot to go for scooters (for foreigners anyway) is Mr. Lee's in Jeju-si. In Seogwipo however, his brother has a shop; we thought we'd start there.
Speaking with a friend, Matt had gotten some basic information on the whereabouts of this scooter vendor. With Matt at the helm, we began walking down the street, towards what we thought was the scooter place.
It was a lovely day outside, so I didn't mind getting a bit lost for the exercise. We came across some very pleasant looking parks, I never knew that there were so many around downtown, but there are.
Approaching the first intersection, I looked to Matt for some sign of recognition. He paused for a moment, reconfirming our location and then motioned down along another street.
We passed by another park, this time with a boardwalk built upon a pond. There were a few people down by the water checking it out. Above our heads we heard the chirp of a bird, Matt immediately recognized it as a Great Tit. Having Matt with you is like having a bird encyclopedia.
After passing by a soccer field, Matt seemed to remember where we were and where we needed to go. We made another left and headed back towards the downtown district.
We stopped at this bridge, which shook violently everytime a car passed over it, but it was worth it to take in the sights below.
I noticed some cherry blossom trees and got excited, as I have been looking forward to this Spring setting. Matt pulled out his binoculars are starting naming off a few interesting finds down by the water.
The first I noticed was a large white bird, which Matt told me was a young White Egret. It was very impressive looking, as I haven't taken much notice of birds since coming to Jeju.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted an incredibly fast green flash of colour: a Kingfisher. They kind of look like hummingbirds, but a lot bigger.
Among the rocks were dozens of ducks, but one in particular impressed Matt, and that was the Mandarin Duck. They're a lot more colourful and impressive than regular ducks, and probably better at attracting mates too.
I've never really put much thought into bird watching before, but with Matt around it defintely made it a lot more interesting; he is always prepared on any occasion. It reminded a lot of the game Pokemon Snap for Nintendo 64, where the goal was to take as many pictures of rare creatures as possible; that game was awesome.
We eventually continued on our trek and concluded that we had been traveling in a circle; still the sights were worth it. When we finally did find the scooter place, it was unimpressive and looked abandoned. It was time for phase two: go to Jeju-si.
I had spoken with my friend Zach the day before about arranging to see his scooter, which he was selling. I knew he lived in Seogwipo, so I gave him a call and found out that he lived just up the street from where I did in Shinsikaji.
We jumped into a cab, and rode out of town like a turtle in a wheelchair. Once we got to Shinsikaji, I noticed that the streets were lined with cheery blossom trees, and just about all of them were blooming; it looked remarkable.
All of them were swarming with bees, going crazy for their sweet nectar. I tried to move in for a close-up, but who knows when those bees could attack. Apparently the birds were enjoying the feast too, munching on the bees who were in an ecstasy.
Zach's scooter looked in pretty good shape; both Matt and I took it for a test drive around the block and were satisfied with its abilities. Matt was looking for something with a bit more power, so we started to head back towards E-mart and the bus stop.
Thinking ahead, Matt decided to call Mr. Lee just to check if he was even open; turns out he was not, and didn't seem to want to answer any questions on the phone either.
With nothing planned for the afternoon, we got on a bus headed back for downtown and met up with Mike for some delicious tender pork stew. When we had our fill, I thought it would be a good idea to use the remaining hours of sunlight to checkout the harbour.
On the way to the harbour, we decided to make a detour and headed to Jeongbang waterfall instead; I've never been before and now seemed like as good as time as any.
We walked through this gated entrance to arrive at some museum or another, it was closed, but there was a really nice park with a fantastic view of the Ocean and Seogwipo harbour.
There was also this statue of Xu Fu in the park. He was some Chinese guy that went on a crazy voyage with 600 young men and women looking for the elixir or life; seems like a realistic cause.
Continuing our walk along to the falls, we discovered some more secret parks; all of which were quite uninhabited and would make the pefect spot for an afternoon picnic or a reading a book.
Not much further was the entrance to the falls. We flashed our residence cards and walked down the steps to the Ocean. Below us, perched upon the rocks, were Haenyo (women free divers) selling their wares fresh from the Ocean.
The Jeongbang waterfalls are always busy, but it didn't bother us. Matt took a seat, while Mike roamed along the shore, and I went in for a closer look of the falls. I got a bit of spray in the face, but it felt refreshing.
Moving down along the shore, I took a seat for a moment, taking in the view and fresh sea air. There were plenty of boats out working in the harbour.
Once we had a rest, Matt wanted to show us this abandoned hotel, which turns out to be former President Syngman Rhee's summer home. It's not too much further past the falls, you just need to continue the route past the parking lot, through a small park.
Once we got there, we climbed some stairs and checked it out. The view from the second floor was pretty sweet, too bad no one lived there. It would have been a sweet spot for a cafe or something, and all it needed was a bit of elbow grease and some new tiles...or maybe a complete overhaul, either way, it's a shame.
As the sun began to set, we all made our separate ways and headed on home. I stuck around with Mike for a bit to meet up with Brian, but I didn't stay long.
The next day on the way to work, I decided to take some more video of the cherry blossoms that decorate the streets; I'm going to make an effort this weekend to go out with my HDV camera and get some footage.
There was also some nice flowers along the road that I thought deserved some attention.
The rape seed flowers, or canola flowers, are everywhere. I can't look around without seeing them in Shinsikaji. This is a view from my school's street:
It wasn't a very exciting weekend, but I prefer taking it easy and being spontaneous. It's been so busy with school and classes that a weekend or two of nothing is what I need.
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