When we arrived at the Jeju ferry terminal down on the Jeju-si harbour front, we discovered that the price to take a van across was about 130,000 won, and that's not including a driver's fee (4,500 won) and two tickets for passengers (8,000 won each).
Having spoken with some others about the means of transportation on the island, it seemed like a van was a necessity to really explore the island in the time we had with all the camping supplies we brought. So we split the fare and boarded the ferry bound for the small island.
Chujado is actually a small group of some 40 islets located about two hours away by ferry (an hour by the speedier catamaran, 10,000 per ticket).
Most inhabitants live on the two larger islands, which are connected via bridge. I had heard that the bridge collapsed a year or two ago and several people were killed; it was rebuilt, and from my experience, it seems alright now.
What's even harder to believe is that there is a foreign teacher working on the island. It's nice there, don't get me wrong, but there is no way I'd want to live there as the only native English speaking person. Being able to speak Korean there is a must, there is just no way to get around it.
There are a few sights there, such as a lighthouse atop the higher inland ground, a couple shrines and a tomb. There are a few marts and restaurants around the main town, located on the second island.
Our ride to the island was exceptionally smooth, we had ourselves a few cans of beer and played some cards. We got into port about 3:30 pm:
Driving around the island with a van was like trying to fit a cow into a dog's house; we were really off-roadin' it. Muggs handled himself at the wheel like a pro. There is no way I would ever attempt something like that myself.
After taking a tour of both islands along the road, we stopped at Kingmart for some BBQ supplies. We had found a nice quiet pebble beach on the Eastern side of the first island, the cove where number five is on the map:
Photo by Muggs Alexander
We setup our tents, collected some drift wood and began our dinner preparations.
Early Sunday morning we took the ferry back to Jeju, although this time we weren't so lucky with the waves; people left and right were throwing up, even I was starting to feel upset after two hours of roller coaster riding.
It was a unique adventure, but if I came back again I would probably bring my scooter along with some fishing gear and possibly a snorkel with some fins. There just isn't enough land there to do much else than take a few pictures and read a book.
Photo and map provided by Jim Saunders
1 comment:
Very cool to be able to do that. Nice work. Just found your blog this week and am quite enjoying getting caught up with it.
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