April 4 - Jeju Island, South Korea

I have always wanted to go to the island of Jeju, South Korea, after reading the book "Island of Sea Women" by Lisa See. The book is about Haenyeo, which are female divers specific to this island. They are free divers, who learn at a young age how to tolerate cold waters and dive to depths of 15m or more and whose livelihood consists of harvesting a variety of mollusks, seaweed, and other sea life from the ocean. Known for their independent spirit and determination. The haenyeo are representative of the semi-matriarchal family structure of Jeju.

However having read all about the hanenyeo I decided not to go to the Hanenyeo Museum, but rather went to learn something else about the island. So I headed off to the Jeju Stone Park, which is a historical and cultural space where collected stones express Jeju's foundation and folklore. It was truly a unique experience.



Pathway of Legend

Mother and Child

Me with Mother and Child

Stacking stones is not part of the Jeju culture, others came and did the stacking

Grandmother Seolmundae and her five hundred sons (representation)

Sky Pond - where you can walk on water. When in Rome.........


Lava Tree Molds - they leave holes in the lava after the trees have burned

Our tour guide did not take us in the museum, so I ran in quickly and got a couple of pictures of some unique rock formations



Udo Donggul Yujeck - Udo cave remains

Saemi Fountain

Sangmo-ri Yujeok Hwadeok Jari - Hearth of Sangmo remains

A typical Jeju village and stone homes with thatched roof



 


 

Five Hundred Generals Statues - and their soldiers



Monolith - Longing for Mother

Mother's room

Dol Hareubang, are stone pagodas to repel evil forces and misfortunes. There are 48 of them. Here are 9 - you get the idea.




Some day I would like to come back and spend more time here..... And see more of the museum

We then headed to Sangumburi Crater. It is a flat crater, about 650m wide, 100m deep and 2070m in circumference. It was another foggy day as could probably had seen of the pictures from Jeju Stone Park. 






So this is what we were suppose to see from the overlook and this is what we saw.
No coming back, at night, to see what we missed.

And as always
Residences,


Rural Spaces,


Downtown



Chery blossoms as far as the eye could see


And of course cool structures


Comments

  1. DeanApril 6, 2024 at 2:51 AM

    Looks like you buddied up with the Dol Hareubang that was smiling. He looks like a real party animal.

    ReplyDelete

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