Jeju Days 2 and 3

So Day 2 was full of amazing adventures just like day one. We had our full group of 8 today so we headed to a spot called sunrise peak. This is a big crater (volcanic island and all) overlooking the ocean. We headed for the entrance and just as we did Rhoda realized she was missing a sock in her bag and ran to buy some. We waited then started off again. This time I noticed my hiking boot felt funny. I looked down only to see that the rubber on it was completely deteriorating. My shoe was literally falling apart as I walked! I dragged my feet in my what were now shells of shoes to the store Rhoda had gone to and bought sneakers there for $15. Then we were on our way for real. We hiked to the top, up what felt like a million stairs, to see the crater. It was so beautiful. We had beautiful sunny weather until we hiked back down to the water where we found a cool restaurant overlooking a little lagoon type thing. It began to rain so we snuck inside the restaurant where there are what is called "diving grannies" These older women have a tough job of diving for abolone and it is a dying job but very cool to see these women in there 70-80's in full diving suits take off into the water. We (yes me too) ate abalone and sea cucumber. It was good!

We took a bus to the volcano tubes. These amazing 5 mile long tunnels formed underground when the volcano erupted. We walked through one section and took some cool photos inside. From there we stopped in Seogwipo for dinner. I ate fish again...I know :) It was delicious!

This morning 4 of us got up at 5:30 to start our trip to Mount Hallasan. This is the heighest mountain in Korea. We began about 9 and finished about 4pm. It was a long and tough hike but so great. There is a crater at the top...because it is a volcano...duh! haha. The trip down was harder than up, uneven rocks and bad shoes make for a bad combination. But for $15 I didn't expect top quality haha. Anyway we made it up and down safely. We decided the best option once we got down was to go to a spa. It was amazing! Much needed help for our muscles and minds. We left so relaxed, got some dinner and shopped for our dinner tomorrow night. Tomorrow is Chuseok so we are making our host at the hostel a chuseok feast. I will let you know how it goes :)

Things in Jeju are going really well!