Booked solid

Over the last week or two I've noticed that increasingly more tour buses have been arriving at and departing from the World Cup Stadium; flocks of tourists are swarming the streets of Jeju-do.

As I was walking home yesterday morning from 검도 (Kumdo), a group of Koreans threw a glass bottle towards me in an effort to get my attention. I had my earphones in, so the sound of a bottle smashing not ten feet from me was quite alarming. I turned around to find a group of Koreans waving at me from the stadium above, yelling: "Where are you from?!?"

Normally, you get this kind of reaction (the questions, not the bottle throwing) out of curious children and somewhat strange individuals (drunks, overly-enthusiastic older males, etc.), but tourists from the mainland seem determined to ask such pointless questions, especially when the individual being questioned is usually occupied or engaged at said moment.

I was talking with Matt and he remarked how all flights to Jeju from the mainland were booked solid for the weekend; I went to check it out online and it's true.

My plans for the weekend were to rent a car with some friends to take a tour of the eastern side of the island, but even those are all booked as well.

Korea's economic misfortune is Jeju-do's good fortune, but I'm not so sure if that's necessarily a good thing.