Jeju island English speaking tour guide

Well... 43 clients from India...I think there are too many people in my group but I am sure I can handle it. I think 4 days are bit long time to take all of them to show around jeju island. And there are also 6 handcapped people in the group. However, I have to try to handle with it. I know It's a big challenge for me. 

People say handling Indian people are most difficult for tour guides. When a tour guide got a call from an agency for touring for Indaian people, they hesitate to take them. Because they

In my assume 4 days was bit long to take all of them around Jeju island. And even there were 6 handicapped people. So, It was a big challenge for me. As you know clients from Middle East, India, and Russia are well known for their picky characters.
There was no way to know what story would come out. It would be a good episode or terrible story.

It was a first day of tour with Indian clients.

It showed on the screen that the plane CX from HongKong arrived at the airport. After while People were coming out with their lots of luggages and there were some people coming out on a wheelchair taken by airline staffs. " I am sorry, we have to go back with wheelchairs. We can take them only here " the staffs told me that they can't take handicapped people out of a building of airport.

Well, it was a long distance to the parking place for them. So, I asked the driver to come here instead of our going there. But the driver denied that because of the ticket camera.

Anyway we could manage to go to the bus with a lot of luggages. Actually bus was full with 43 people.
After counting, there were 3 people short. I hurried running down to the building to find them. They were slowly coming towards. "I am sorry, we were smoking" Lame excuse they game me. I hunched it would be a difficult tour. 

It took only 20 minutes to come to a hotel. While checking in, they just sat on chairs in private coffee shop and opened Indian cookies they brought and started eating. According to the rule of hotel, they shouldn't do that.

Hotel workers tried to stop them but it is already impossible because of a language barrier. They came to me to stop them. It already went chaos.

" How can I get WiFi?", "Can I get some water?" "I want some coffee for cookies" "Where can I wash my hands?" They just came to me ask bombarded. Come on... I was at lost. I couldn't find how can handle these people for 4 days.

On the way to dinner, my head was getting really heavy. I need a help. I have 43 clients from India.

Continued...

We started shooting a film about Jeu island from today to the end of this month. They are Point du jour international documentary film team from France. And this film will be aired in Channel EQUIDA and France5.

Actually, fixing is my favorite work in my profession. So I am quite excited now.

Sam is a French actress and writer and her husband Eric is a film producer. They asked me to be a presenter of the film. So will I be on air in French TV? Wow!

While filming I became nervous because he(Eric) put a camera on me very close.
So I think I made some mistakes. Well, I hope they will edit most of it.

we are going to shot actual Jeju island from tomorrow. I cross my fingers.

Second day for shooing
We had 3 hours long interview with a chair woman of Haenye and aftermath we hurried to the horse park.
It was too busy to have lunch, so we had a quick grab a bite in a car.

Shooting, acting and talking.
Same thing repeat again and again, then a day already gone.

They thumbed up and said that it's a good shooting but I wonder how it comes later.

Even though my jacket's been soaked wet since yesterday I should carry it until the end of filming because it should be on same jacket on the film.

Tomorrow we have another shooting on the sea for woman diver's work in the morning and the ma park in the afternoon.

I hope the weather will be fine.
I cross my fingers.

Third day for shooting.
We had a shooting on Haenye in the morning and The ma park in the afternoon.

"How long have you been Haenye?" I asked.

"Well...not that long, around 10 years"

Right then, another haenye broke into our interview

"She is lying to you, she's been married for 60 years"

Then the haenye gave a grumble reply.

"Well, it's real irony that I've lived with the stiff-necked old man for 60 years.
With the words every one bursted laughing.

Most of haenyes in there are 70's and early 80's.
We thanks that they allowed us to go dive with them. It was really lucky day.

The shooting in The ma park in the afternoon was great as well. Even though I've seen this show so many times I think today's was the best of all.

I anticipate that the result will come out great.

4th day for shooting.
On hearing about one ancient picture we started pursuing horses and today we visited at Seong-up village for that.

In there we are finding out new knowledge about horses.

It was a good chance to have another perspective to Seong-up village.

7th day for shooting.
We've already come half way on all of the shooting a documentary.

If you drive for only 10 minutes to get out of the crowded city, you will face a vast green prairie which has the back ground of NoKome Orum. And 'Jeju horse riding park' is located on right over there.

We learned the differences between Jeju horse and Halla horse, the problems and prospect of the business.
Most of all, the most interesting thing is that we learned a know-how of breeding horses.

Well, we were so interested in (Micheal Seo)서 명운's life story and his perspective of horses.(he is an owner of the horse riding park) And then we didn't notice the day already gone.

He said "I have two sons but actually I have more than 120 sons because the horses on the field are my children". we could see how much he loves the horses.

8th day for shooting.
Everybody starts getting tired.

The work is becoming harder and still 6 days more to go.

I think shooting for today is the hardest one so far.

Normally it takes about 5 hours for Yongsil course but it took almost 8 hours with shooting.

No lunch today, we had just cup noodles, one piece of chocolate bar and a cup of coffee at the top of Halla Mt.

Sam and Eric apparently have lost weight for a week. Sam even got allergy to sunlight. Well, I know It's difficult and stressful to work in foreign country. However, I can see their passion.

We should eat more food to cheer up from tomorrow.

10th day for shooting.
Now, it's turning to the end almost finishing.
Even though it's hard work we got cheered up by the article which we are doing.

11th day for shooting
It had been rained all morning and barely shot in the afternoon.
So beautiful scenic came out after raining.
I have learned a lot about Jeju horses for 10 days. Now, we have only two days to finish.

12th day for shooting.
I think I ruined my final interview because of physical fatigue from long time shooting and sudden tooth ache.

Actually I've never been on local TV as even a small role of extra but unbelievably I was picked up a host of French documentary.

"Well, You been doing well so far and you don't have even a description. Do you?" I am complimenting myself now.

Before they arrived here, I thought I would be on some scenes on the documentary. I never expected I would lead whole documentary.

However, We have only one day to wrap up and we will bid farewell tomorrow.

This documentary is due to air on Equdia channel on 8th September

Last day for shooting.
We have learned a lot about Jeju horses with filming for 14 days.

Susan and Grsori area are the places we've spent time a lot because these places are the mecca of Jeu horses.

According to history, Mongolians brought 160 finest horses from Mogolia which were selected for breeding with Jeju original horses and the place 'Susan' was the first place they arrived.

And in Joseon dynasty the central government established a big horse ranch in Gasiri area in the vicinity of Susan to provide the main land with horses.

However, the Jeju provincial government planed to built a new airport here. It will destroys not only the villages but also hundreds years of culture and natural environment of horse

"Where can we raise horses"? Upon filming a horse farmer's deep sigh hurt my heart.

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Jeju island.
The island which is abundant in winds, stones, and women. Actually, It is my home island which can be explained with these three things. Among those I am going to explain about stones.

When I look back on old days, I can remember vividly there are so many rocks in everywhere. Rocks, I was quite interested in.

I played with my friends stacking stone walls dividing into two sides and played a war game with throwing stones at each side.
Now a days, young kids who are more interested in video games can't imagine how we played with stones.

Probably, stones has influenced on not only kids but also every aspect of Jeju people's life.

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Some people think volcanic soil is fertile but it's far from it. The volcanic land is barren because rain water always penetrates into the ground and doesn't hold on surface. And the barren land has given Jeju people hard life.

Land give us food and the food in Jeju island infers a culture of it. So, you can peep their life through the food.

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Upon thinking of Jeju island, what is the first thing come up to you? There are so many but probably one of them it might be a 'stone grandfather' which rigidly stood in front of a gate.

'Harbang' is a local language for 'grandfather'. According to a record, it was called 'Wooseokmok' or 'Beok-su head'. Now, it is called as 'Dol-harbang in general.

There are various views about its origin.

First view is that it came from superstitions. When people believed in shamanism, they created their god figure took after man's penis. Which means it is a kind of phallus stone.

Second view is that it came from Mongolian culture. There is a similiar stone to 'stone grandfather' in Mongolia called 'Hunchollo'. Jeju island had been occupied by Mongolian for 150 years. It might influence on Jeju culture.

Anyway its function was to give people property and prevent from evil spirit. It maintains a close relationship with the lives of the people in Jeju.

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There are many abbreviations in Jeju language. For example, We call 'San' for a grave('San-so' in Korean). And a stone wall surrounding a grave is called 'Sandam'('dam' means wall).
One interesting thing is that according to Jeju custom people stack up a stone wall around their ancestor's grave.

When I traveled in other island, I was surprised to see a grave stone walls. It was a round shape stone wall while it is square shape in Jeju island.

Originally, they have stacked up stone walls surround the ancestor's grave to prevent wild animals from coming into or fire spreading on the grave.

Now a days a size of stone wall shows an achievement during their ancestor's life time.

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Another peculiar funeral custom in Jeju island is a child stone.

In Jeju island the old always is accompanied by a child. The reason is that there are few schools in those days, so that a child need to have chances to learn. They need each other for learning for children and preventive measures for an emergency situations for the olds.

Generally, funeral and death always show apathy of life, cold and solemn. But Jeju island's funeral shows warm and relax to part their loved ancestors.

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Jeju stone mill which is called 'Molgorye' in Jeju word. 'Mol' means a horse, and 'gorye' means grind.

This is one of stone cultures in Jeju island extinguished now a days. It was was operated by a horse or cow power to grind crops in a communal place. Now, it is displayed on a corner of a village only use for welcoming tourists.


There is a funny joke. If horses on the mill don't work diligently, people put a female horse in front and male horse on the other side to chase each. then it works well.

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When you travel in Jeju coast lines, you can see stone labyrinths. Fish come in during high tide and couldn't get out in low tide. It is called 'wondam'

Frankly speak, I am still nervous to meet my clients at first.

I suppose they feel as same as I do.

Well, through my experiences travel always starts like that.

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Whenever we meet people first impression is very important. When first impression is not good I saw lots of things went wrong.

I tried to figure out their purpose and meaning of coming in Jeju island, whether they come here for just sightseeing or for a real traveling.

Surveying for few hours brings a decision on what kind of travel it will be.

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Rosemary is a Korean-American who moved to US at age 3. It is a first visit for her to her mother country since she moved away. I could see that she was expecting a lot in Jeju island.

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When you think of honeymoon, it remind you of delicious foods, exotic atmosphere, and relaxing beaches. And if they are looking for those things, they might not need a tour guide like me. They need a tour assistant. But they need me because they want a real travel.

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Even though I been tour guiding for a long time I still don't know what is a right way for a honeymoon couple.

A cousin of Rosemary asked me for a special tour for the couple. Then I made a special plan for them. Well, It's easy for me to make a nature friendly itinerary and also makes me feel comfortable.

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Make a good memory and find a meaning of coming of this island is more important than just taking a rest.

"We didn't have time to make an itinerary for the tour, sorry" the agency told me. I said "no problem at all, some times no plan makes a better tour" Actually it is true.

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Jeju island is one of best places for food tour in Korea. The culture is very different from main land. And So is food. Food is a part of their own culture.

'Korean food is always spicy and chilly' well, that is a prejudice. 'Koreans always sit on a floor on having food' that is another prejudice. Once you abandon the prejudices, you will enjoy Korean food more than you expect.

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Last thing we did was climbing Mt Hallasan. We had a hard tour rather than easy sightseeing. And we had local foods rather than touristic foods. That was successful!

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My clients will assess my tour. I don't know if they give me a good point or not. However, in my opinion a tour guide must have his/her own philosophy or pursuit to the right tour.

We can't satisfy all clients but we should keep consistent the right way.

Jeju island is an absolute volcanic island.

In Jeju island, there are more than 360 diverse volcanic craters as well as 120 lava tubes formed by volcanic activities. Furthermore, it also has the highest Mt in South Korea called Hallasan.

Various scenic view from volcano is magnificent comparing to other volcanic places.

Due to the recognition of the natural scenery, geological and biological value, Jeju island has been registered by UNESCO as natural, geological and biological heritage of the world.
It also has been designated as one of New 7 Wonders of nature.
Needless to say, Jeju island is a treasure island in Korea.

However, I want you to know we have different culture and life style from the main land(Korea) and other rest of the world.

Jeju island has not only beauty of nature but also has a long history of Tamra kingdom.

Jeju island had been use to be exile prison since kyore dynasty with a prohibition of going out of its island for 300 years.
Thanks to this ironic history Jeju island has most traditional culture. And it has been known as a rebellious island because there were rebels and suppressions repeatedly.

Jeju island keep stimulating interest of foreign visitors with gut,myth which Korean society still doesn't have generosity of understanding.


You can access to the freshest food in Korea because it is an island.

So, slow food is possible. People get gather at 5 days market to buy Jeju red carrots, potatoes, dropwots etc.

Jeju island has been known for abundance in winds, stones and women.

Islanders have been venerable to nature to struggle against wind. The land is barren to dig out numerous stones for farming.

And women always had been outnumbered to men dud to lack of men.

Nowadays 3 abundant things are beautified for story telling in Jeju island but actually they shows the pain of Jeju history.

But... We are making electricity by winds and we have stacked up stones to make walls which now are agricultural heritage of the world.
Jeju island has become a place where people from all over the world are interested in.

As time goes by, Jeju island has turned to be modernized and the ratio of man and woman becomes half to half. And the profession of woman diver endangers which is supposed to be registered as an intangible heritage of the world by UNESCO.

Fact about Jeju island.

*population: 568.000, or 1.3% of South Korean total(2010)
*Area: 1,848km2, or 1.85% of South Korea total.
*Political Units: Two cities, seven towns, five districts, 31 neighborhoods
*Land: 48.1% forest, 20%dry paddy, 8.9%pasture, 3%urban, 10.7%other
*Colors: Black(for the basalt predominant on Jeju), blue(for both the island's clean drinking water and its sea water), green(for the natural environment), and orange(for the hope of the people)

Provincial symbols
*Tree: Camphor tree(Cinnamomum camphora), representing "the enduring and indefatigable spirit of the Jeju people who, over the course of their history, have had to overcome great difficulties."
*Bird: The white-backed woodpecker(Dendrocopos ieucotos), which "lives in broadleaf forests and feeds on harmful insects."
*Flowers: Rhododenron (Rhododendron schlippenbachii), in which "the harmony of the green leaves and red flowers symbolizes the ambitions and vitality of the Jeju people."

Jeju city
*Population: 414.000(2010)
*Location: 16 kilometers north of Mt.Halla, 452 Kilometers south of Seoul, 143 Kilometers south of Mokpo, 291 kilometers southwest of Busan, 361 kilometers west of Fukuoka, Japan.
*Average Elevation: 46 meters
*Sister cities: Rouen, France; Adelaide, Australia; Beppu, Japan; Santa Rosa, California, USA; Shanghai, China; and more

Seogwipo City
*population: 154,000(20100
*Average Elevation: 51 meters
*Sister city: Karatsu, Japan.

Sources: Wolfram Alpha; Jeju statistical Yearbook 2010.