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The highest holy mountain in South Korea; Halla Mt

2013. 11. 9. 16:24 | Story of Jeju/UNESCO Natural heritages

*Notice- this article is written by non native English speaker





Mt. Halla which rises 1,950m above sea level is the highest mountain in South Korea.
There is a crater and lake located at the summit of Mt Halla and its name is Baengnokdam(White deer rock lake) and about 40 parasite craters around the summit. A beautiful sight of steep and fantastic rock cliffs are designated in 1966 and 1970 as Nature Monument and National Park respectively, and in 2002 it was designated as a bio-reserve area by UNESCO.
As the peak of Mt.Halla is made of diverse volcanic characteristics, depending on the angle of one's view, one can feel its uniqueness. To the west of Baengnokdam crater, a steep shape formed by basalt lava of high viscosity is found and to the east, low viscosity basalt lava formed a gentle plateau. The south is so beautiful that it is captured in a folktale which states the story of immortals that played in the lake.





Mt. Halla is also a mountain where fir tree forest is found which is unique of its kind in the world.

At 1,400m above sea level an endemic species of cinder cones including pine trees are grown. It also possesses an outstanding biological research value in the study of cinder cones. Besides this at 1,700m, are distributed 39 different kinds of polar species which play very important part in the study of alpine life such as, jeju weasel, Jeju salamander, women diver snake, etc... are seen in Mt. Halla.
Well endowed with natural resources of scientific values, Mt. Halla is a noted mountain worldwide.


저작자표시 비영리 변경금지 (새창열림)

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Castle Mt Sunrise peak; Seongsan ilchubong / Jeju travel

2013. 11. 9. 15:47 | Story of Jeju/UNESCO Natural heritages
*Notice- this article is written by non native English speaker


'Seongsan ilchulbong' hydro crater is the most famous tourist spot in Jeju island.  
it rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 5,000 years ago and this crater is the youngest one in Jeju island. Seongsan ilchulbong means 'Castle Mt Sun rise peak'.
It is registered by UNESCO as natural, geological heritage.

Eroded cliff on the crater


 Actually at first when it was erupted it was normal shape of crater but it has been eroded almost half of them for 5000 years. Geologists say that the eroded cliffs on the crater is valuable to study hydor volcanoes because it shows all the process of eruption. They can see the clear sedimentary layers on the rock. 


It shows different figures on different angles


It is located the eastern end of jeju island that's why it is called 'Sun rise peak'.  Every new year day the top of 'Seongsan ilchulbong' is crowded with people to see sun rising. If you are lucky you can see the magnificent sun rising but most of the days are clouded.
The similar volcano to 'Seongsan ilchulbong' is  'Surtsey' in Iceland. Comparing two volcanoes is that 'Surtsey' is too young to show all the process of eruption on the cliff while 'Seongsan ilchulbong' shows clearly.


Surtsey island in Ice land

After 5000 years later 'Surtsey island' will be like 'Seongsan ilchulbong'  I guess. The steepness and narrowness of the cliff make 'Seongsan ilchulbong' more visually appealing. It takes around 30min to go to the top and  during your climbing up , you will get a quite cool view of Seongsan village. Actually 'Seongsan ilchulbong' was independent island from jeju but Japanese has connected it in early 1940s to use this crater as military base.

view of Seongsan village


Not many people know that 'Seongsan ilchulbong' is a second crater. First crater is located on the east side of 'Seongsan ilchulbong'. It was erupted 300,000 years ago and it has been almost eroded. One interest thing is that the colours of rocks of the first crater is red because when it was erupted the level of sea was much below. And that atmosphere made the lava cool down slowly. 

the first crater in Seongsan ilchulbong


You can see the points on the top. There are 990 points on the top. When you see 'Seongsan ilchulbong' from the ocean it looks a huge castle because of the points. 


I think 'Seongsan ilchulbong' is the place worth to visit in jeju island. Try to be a geologist, then it intrigue your interest. Don't you think so?
more information click here http://en.wikipedia.org 


저작자표시 비영리 변경금지 (새창열림)

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Fun travel with Tina from Philippine / Jeju travel

2013. 11. 9. 15:30 | Travel episode
*Notice- this article is written by non native English speaker

This time I had a travel with Christina. Her name is Maria Christina San Jose from Philippine 
She is a neurologist, medical doctor. Sorry to her, first I thought she is a Chinese.
In this time, actually I had two customers, one was Christina and the other was Korean girl( I forgot her name). The Korean girl didn't want to take a walk because it was cold outside(well,it's shame).


First, we went to Teddy Bear museum, where lots of girls like, however, it's not my type of place. She seems like the place. "That's right! she is a girl" I thought.


After Teddy Bear museum, we went to the west part of Jeju island. The place in the picture is a Japanese military excavation. As she is from Philippine, I thought they have similar history with us by Japan. That is the reason I wanted to show her this place.
By the way It's quite funny that she always shows 'V' with her fingers when she is being taken picture of( I mean she is very cute) because I thought only Korean or Japanese do that. May be showing 'V' in the picture would be popular internationally one day^^.  
There are more than 500 Japanese military excavations in Jeju island.( If you wan to see more you can click here Japanese military excavations in jeju island)



We have 386 craters in Jeju islands. Geologists say Jeju has most craters in the world among island. I choose to climb one of them. There is a crater on top of 'Songak Mt'. It probably was hard work for her to be there especially in that day with strong wind and cold. Actually she was so passionate and energetic to travel. Despite bad weather, finally she made it to be the top. I asked her " Are you proud of yourself" " Yes, I am" she said with smile.
'Songak crater' is not that big carter comparing to other craters in Jeju island. However, it is one of the youngest crater in jeju island. It was erupted 7000~5000 years ago. Even though it was erupted near the sea, it had lots of red volcanic rocks(scoria) and it is double crater which means it was erupted inside of the bigger crater. It is also registered by UNESCO as a Geo-park. If you want to see more, click hereSongaksan_(Jeju)



This is the place named 'Yeongmeri coast line'. Actually, It is my favourite place in Jeju island. You might see this place on the front page of blog. She also likes this place. It's quite amazing that once you start walking here the scenery grows more exciting. Well, you see the picture she shows 'double V' which means likes very much?^^. 'Don't you think so?" Anyway I was happy to see that she starts to like jeu island.


I hope she can recognise herself in the picture.



Taken picture with a tour guide(me)


It was getting dark, so I was little bit hesitating to show her more or not. But I decided to show her as much as I can. Even though she said "I will come back with my friends", it might be her last chance to see jeju island. In fact it's my job to show people around Jeju island. "Am I too proud of my job?^^"
This is 'Oedolgae' which means lonely rock in English. It is underwater crater. Can you see the circle between two rocks?
By the way Quite interesting is that a monk was playing the flute on the down of the rock. We just wondered how he climbed down the rock? As I know there is no stairs to the down.

Any way It was very good travelling for me with her and I hope she likes the travel with me as well. Who knows I might visit Philippine one day.


저작자표시 비영리 변경금지 (새창열림)

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Capital of Jeju politics & culture; Mok-Gwan-a / Jeju travel

2013. 11. 9. 00:24 | Story of Jeju/Jeju cultural stories

* Notice- This article is written by non native English speaker


After seeing my clients off at the airport, I went to 'Jeju Mok-Gwana' which was a government official building in old times. This castle was used to be a centre of Jeju city. But during Japanese colonisation, they demolish most of them. In 2005, Jeju local government has remodeled this castle. Just half of them were completed so far.
 Actually the Jeju Mok-Gwana, Jeju provincial office in the Joseon Dynasty, was located around Gwandeokjeong. People presume that there had already been some main office facilities in this region since the Tamna Kingdom Era.


Gwandeokjeong is the oddest governmental building in Jeju, was built in 1448 as a place for training soldiers. It is said that competition of shooting arrow was use to be held here annually. Originally this building was a centre of the castle. But now it has a big street next to this pavilion.


Mangfyengru is the place where the people honoured the king whit gratitude looking toward Seoul where he stayed. It is located in northern part of this castle because King lives on the north from Jeju island.


This is 'Dolharubang' which means stone grandfather in Jeju dialect. 'Dolharubang' were placed in sets face to face at the site of castle gate entrance as a guardian to keep from evil spirits and misfortunes. Some times they defined castle boundaries and worked as an exit and entry control signpost as well.


저작자표시 비영리 변경금지 (새창열림)

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Clenching tiger island 'Beomseom'; the island consisted by lava joint columns / Jeju travel

2013. 11. 9. 00:04 | Story of Jeju
* Notice- This article is written by non native English speaker

Some times we get bored to just walk and ride a car all day long.  To get some refresh we have decided to take a ship to see around parasite island. This time I went to Beoseom(tiger island) with my customers.
We start from 'Seokwipo' harbour. 'Seokwipo' is the city of south of Jeju island and my home town. There is 'Seokwipo sedimentary layers' near this harbour which is UNESCO Geo-park. If you are interested in geology, don't miss the place.


We took a ship named ' Paradise'. There are full of people on the deck. It's quite fun to mingle with diverse people in a confined place for a while(50min) but the Korean explainer was terrible and some times people sing a song on a mike.


When we approached the island, twin caves was shown. Their names are  'tiger's nostrils'.
It's very amazing that nature made the caves exactly same shape.


As you see the pictures, there is no way to go up but climbing cliffs. However, people used to farm on the top of island for living until 1960s. The top of this island is quite flat. 
According to the history, 700years ago, at the end of Mongolian empire, the mongolina remnants stationed here confronting with Korean soldiers. If you want to know about the history. 


It is the island covered by lava columns.This cave name is South gate because it is located on south part of this island. There are four caves in this island and this is the biggest one. 
If the wave is not high, the ship goes into the cave. Water is dripping on the wall. Hexagon, Pentagon shape of lava column on the ceilling. It's quite interesting.




Once we turned around, there was another island. It has more lava columns than the other one.

      Not many plants live in this islets because too much sea water hit the rocks.


Actually BeomSeom(Tiger island) consists of two islands. This small one is a skirt island. People call this islet 'skirt island' because it looks woman's skirt. Can you see so many lava columns on the island? It is one of best place for scuba-diving or fishing as well.


저작자표시 비영리 변경금지 (새창열림)

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