Jeju day 4

So day 4 we woke to a much more relaxed scene. Brie and I were so sore from the hike we took it easy in the morning. Wednesday was the Korean holiday of Chuseok. Koreans travel to where their ancestors are from to pay their respects. Everything is of course closed down so we had to limit our travel. We got a bus near this beach and hiked (again) all around this volcanic beach. Jo attempted to float away on a piece of fence she found on the beach. She was only mildly successful. We went up this one hill to a smoke fort where the Koreans used to send up smoke signals when they were being attacked. It was a great view (although my legs thought otherwise!)

We then walked to a temple across the street with a huge gold Buddha in it. There were beautiful buildings there and we went inside one of the temples. It was a bit of a flashback to India. We walked up (far to many) stairs to this cave at the top where there was another alter.

We tried catching the bus back or a cab but on Chuseok it was difficult. We called our hostel host and she tried getting us a cab but no luck. Eventually she called us back to say she found a neighbor who would pick us up in his truck. She came with Tamna her dog and we hopped in the back of the truck with them and had a very chilly ride home.

When we were back we had planned to cook a Chuseok feast. So we got going and we actually made a great team and prepped and cooked in no time. We had marinated beef, marinated chicken, salad, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tofu, and kimchi. We had so much food we invited everyone from the hostel to eat with us. It was awesome we got everyone out of their rooms sitting on the floor eating and drinking together. Our host Ilene ate with us too. It was a very fun night!