Jeju Island: Island Bliss

Summer in Korea is a complete and living hell. I say this with as much love as I can muster, but it has to be said. While the entire countryside and the mystic mountains are quite compelling, the actual weather and feeling of the air to your skin is more of a hyperactive slip-n-slide. Putting it simply, it is damn muggy. While there are days I enjoy the weather, much of my exploration revolves around dreams of air conditioned environments. So what does a person do on such nasty weather?

Recently I went to Jeju. Jeju, is a southern Island, about an hour flight from a nearby airport. The island itself was amazing. There is pretty much a million things to occupied oneself with, and even more so plenty of picturesque landscapes to mull over during some downtime.

I recently went to Jeju with a nice entourage consisting of: Myself, Keziah (girlfriend), Chris (Kez’s roommate), and Christie (a friend). We left Friday at about 12:00 and arrived in Jeju at about 6:30 or so. From there we rented a car and let our adventure begin.

As I mentioned, there are a ton of things to do in Jeju. So, rather than remark upon each area, I’ll just remark on only two of the highlights of the trip. My two highlights of Jeju were Sunrise Peak and Hallim Park. Both of these are quite popular tourist destinations, so finding them via a google search won’t be too hard. Sunrise Peak is an amazing volcanic crater on the far east coast of the island. In fact, Sunrise peak even stretches out on its own connected strip of land that it faces the sunrise as its own entity. It’s about a half an hour hike to the peak, but I’d say it’s definitely worth it. The view is amazing and even the hike itself is interesting as it curls around different rock formations along the way. It’s a straight up shot with several steep staircases and the area itself is littered with butterflies. Just. Wow.

Hallim Park is another of the quite popular tourist areas in Jeju. The drawl of Hallim Park is its amazing variety of sights all packed together in a decently priced package. Hallim Park contains: A beautiful beach, a bird zoo, an exotic plant conservatory, three caves, and a folk village. There is actually even more in this area, but I chose to keep the list short. The sights to see were quite amazing, and you can see that the Koreans really went out of their way to create such an impressive layout of plants and statues amongst the quieter parts of the area. Worlds really can’t express how cool this park was, so I will include a couple of pictures below:

All in all, the whole island of Jeju was amazing. The company of friends was equally enjoyable. Everyone I went with was easy going and like-minded (for the most part). No drama, no in-fighting. Just pure island bliss. One of my favorite moments on the island, besides the scenic views, was just sitting on the beach over a beer and light conversation. I plan to hit up the island sometime before my time in Korea is up, and anyone who is looking for some pristine beach fun is invited.

Song: Lady Gaga – Bad Romance

The Joys and Tribulations of a Best Friend

 

In an honest effort to keep my blogging/journal steam going, I figured the next best subject of my life would be the creature that sits faithfully on my lap while I type anything from my blog to the random names of my favorite porn stars (Rebecca, Candy, Kimmy… Sam…). This said creature would be in-fact my dog.      

My dog’s name is Da-Jung. He comes from a long line of… well, actually, I’m not really sure how long his line goes, but I do know that he’s a mutt… so that pretty much means at least one percent of him comes from either the time of the pharaohs or at the very least one of the world wars. A mutt is what I’d like to consider a dog breeder’s nightmare, and for me, the equation for an even better dog. My dog is a combination between a Yorkie and a Maltese. He has golden brown hair, so the possibility of a golden retriever having sloppy seconds hasn’t quite been ruled out. He’s smaller than a cat and is probably the most dependent creature on the planet. I say this with full mind that human babies can be quite bitchy when separated from their significant parents. He grooms himself regularly, and has a nice blue dog bed that sits in the corner of my apartment. Yes, I’ve made myself a homebody. Now, while the description of the dog is probably the most amazing thing to read about, it really becomes a tad bit moot when a simple glance at a picture will probably do him justice.

First things first… I’ve always been a cat person. So the first thing that I’ve really had to adjust to is its undying devotion to me. I mean seriously, if he’s not on my lap, he’s at least fucking looking at it. While a person could construe this in a multitude of ways, or at least I would, I don’t really think it’s a great ball of lust in his eyes. According to vet who he was adopted from, the lil’ pup comes from an abusive home. He was constantly reprimanded and is rather insecure about everything he does do to it. I can see this in multiple ways, because, at least in my presence, he hasn’t uttered a single bark since the two months I’ve had him. While his love is endearing and has a high chance of winning over the stingiest of dog haters, it does mean that I really do, or should, spend a lot of time with the little one. This involves in the least taking him on walks around the neighborhood. While I am an outside person, I do not consider myself enjoying the same tree stump yesterday as much as he does. Also, on nights I actually feel social; I usually have to at least stop by my house for even a half an hour after work before hitting the town. Cats are much simpler.

Let it be known that I am in no way considering taking mister pups down the river anytime soon, for I far more enjoy the dog than despise it. He is the most obedient dog I’ve ever met. Every night I come home, he runs to greet me, not a bark is made, and I just snap my fingers and he’s patiently waiting in his dog bed until I’m ready to meet him. He doesn't quite play chess, but he’s learning… Well that, or he’s at least learning the basics of the “sit” command. He’s great for hikes and if you unleash him on a beach he’ll shit himself with joy that is impossible to prevent from spreading.

While this blog post doesn’t really quite have a point, I just decided to throw it up to give the impression of a valid update.

Song: Usher -OMG