Jeju Island

Jeju Island (also known as Jejudo) is situated south of South Korea. It is an island created completely of volcanic ash from the now extinct volcano, Hallasan. Jeju is visited by tons of tourists from overseas and South Korea every year as it hosts many golf competitions, and is also a prime honeymoon location. 

There are various tours you can take when in Jeju. I suggest the English taxi tour, where you get an English-speaking local taxi driver as your tour guide. The tour enables you to cover the island's main tourist spots in two days - one day for the eastern side of Jeju, and one day for the west. They also allow you to customize your tour or tour one side of the island if your stay is short.

The itinerary of the general courses is as follows:

East Course :

Yongduarm rock - Manjang Cave -  Sunrise Peak - Sepjicozi - Seoungeup Folk Village - Sangumburi crater

West Course :

Mysterious road - Cheonjiyeon Waterfall -  Oedolgae - Jusangjeollidae rock - Yeomiji botanical garden - Teddy bear museum

Since I only spent two nights in Jeju, I took the western course. The driver was super friendly and told us stories about the island (you'll have to join the tour to find out). Also, since my mum and I are Korean drama fanatics, the driver pointed out some filming locations of dramas such as "Dae Jang Geum" and "All-in" (which was also filmed at Lotte World Hotel which was the hotel we stayed in!).

The first place we visited was Jusangjeollidae Rock, since the driver told us that it would be jam packed with tourists by midday. The formation of the rock was created by lava from Hallasan. Jusangjeolli is the literal Korean translation of columnar basalt: hexagonal pillars of volcanic rock. 

The statues on the left can be seen everywhere accross the island. They are known as the "grandparents of the island", protecting the island from harm, and giving the citizens good health. It is said that touching their noses will give you good health and longevity. 

Next, we visited Yeomiji Botanical Garden which was a garden completely created inside a green house. The green house is separated into 5 gardens: Flower Garden, Water Lily Garden, Jungle Garden, Subtropical Fruits Garden, and Cactus Garden. 

After that, we went to the "Mysterious Road" which is a road that creates the optical illusion that the car is moving uphill while on 'Neutral', although it looks like the car is facing down hill. If you don't have a car, you can still experience the illusion as the roadside shops provide bottles you can use to "roll up the hill".

We then went to Oedolgae, another columnar basalt rock. Like other unusual-shaped rocks there's a legend associated with it - a Korean general is said to have scared away Mongolian invaders by dressing the rock up to look like a giant soldier. This was a special site as they filmed part of the drama 'Dae Jang Geum' here.

 After a satisfying lunch stop at a local Korean restaurant, the driver took us to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. It is one of the three famous waterfalls in Jeju. It was the perfect place to breathe in fresh air and walk off all the calories from lunch, and feel completely relaxed and refreshed. The water is unbelievably clean, which enables you to sit by the river and look at the colourful koi fish living in the river. 

After the relaxing stroll down Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, the driver took us to  Jungmin Saekdal Beach since we still had plenty of time to kill. Since it was early spring and still cold, there weren't many people there, but the view was spectacular. 

We ended the day at the Teddy Bear Museum. This museum featured bears from one of my favourite dramas, 'Goong', so it was really exciting to see it. The exhibitions were extremely cute. For anyone planning to visit Jeju Island, this place is a definite must to visit. It shows a range of teddy bears from one of the oldest, to the most expensive, to using teddy bears as an appropriation on famous artworks. There is also an outdoor bear park.