Jeju Island - Day 1 & 2 With our Bromptons on an Anti-clockwise Round Island

It's time for a holiday and our destination is South Korea again but this time it was around Jeju Island adventure and a bit of unfinished work in Busan. I was glad that my son Zuyi followed us and I was not sure sure whether you could cope up with the daily continuous cycling for 10 days. I just hope that he will complete it with a good and memorable experience for him.

Jo & Zuyi at KLIA just before midnight to catch an early Airsia flight to Busan and the date was 23 march 2017. Our Bromptons as usual neatly packed using IKEA Dimpa bags and ready to be checked into the plane.

Day 1

AirAsia took off at about 1.30am and the flying time from KL to Busan is about 6 and the half hours, a transit at Busan International Airport before boarding a domestic flight Korean Air to Jeju Island. Finally we landed at Jeju International Airport at about 3.30pm. The time difference between our Malaysian time is 1 hour ahead.

We were ready to get out into the cold weather after setting up our bicycles at a secluded corner in the airport. This time we have 7 cyclists that were Fenn, Sooi Ying, Lynn, Jo, Zuyi, Jotaro and myself on this trip.

The temperature in Jeju Island was around 13°C, our first place to locate in this island was our accommodation that is, Mir Guesthouse (approximately 6km away) and it's near the popular Dragon Head's Rock.

This pau shop with steam shooting out of the shop was so enticing which I came back later to savour one and it was good.

Lynn has already booked Mir Guest House online before hand, it is a compact, new and interesting house.

A little adventure in the evening where we went out to locate the Pork Street of Jeju and laid our hands on the black pork.

We picked this shop called Hwaro Hyang where we parked our 7 Bromptons right in front of the shop front.

Well, the dinner was nothing to shout if we compare to others where we have tried during our last visit to South Korean. Probably it is the commercialisation of the pork street and its black pork. Like our hostel provider told me it is the same everywhere in Jeju.

On the way back to Mir Guesthouse we took our time seeing the surrounding. Our last top was Yongduam, the Dragon Head Rock. There we found the first Cycling Stamping Booth for our round island adventure, there will be a total of ten of them and I hope we will be able to find them all during our tour.

                                   Day 2

While we were in our respective white cells our folded Bromptons were in the air well of Mir.

Breakfast was provided, let's freshen up and get ourselves ready to roll....

A view of our white cell with a double decker bed good for three person with an attached bathroom.

Bye Bye Mir ... some of our stuffs were kept in the store like our Dimpa bags etc etc as we will be back again to this place for the last night after our mission to go round island.

First excitement of the day when we saw this yellow field and found out later that it was a rapeseed field.

Then came our first Sakura encounter at DoduBong, actually it wasn't time yet for cherry blossom in Jeju maybe in a week time. We were too early for it. Anyway we were just fortunate to see this one, the earlier ones.

One for the record.

A typical rocky coastal view of Jeju Island which can be seen everywhere in the island, Jeju is a volcanic island full of blackish rock at the seaside.

One of the places we will stop frequently to ease ourselves.

Dedicated cycling lane protected from the moving traffic with rounded balustrades.

At a scenic attraction with two trojans cum light houses at Iho-Tewoo Beach.

Darak Shelter (GPS: 33.468, 126.33936) it is located about 21km away from the first booth at Yongduam at Jeju City.

A lovely and delicious lunch we had at this cool and interesting place called Romance Hong. It was windy with sight drizzle and it was timely to have our lunch and a good rest before we proceed any further.

Though the place is a small shop but it is conducive with excellent sea view. At the upper corner of Romance Hong via a spiral staircase for a survey of the place.

Romance Hong can be found at GPS: 33.46711, 126.33694 exactly on our cycling route itself.

There are many light houses, ships, boats and wave breakers seen around the island and a common sight in Jeju Island.

We spotted an interesting path and took the detour, it is the Gwakji gwa-mul beach trail.

At the seaside with dark volcanic rocks piling along the way.

Sorry it is not that way, it is the other way, they were having fun posing for a picture from a distance with a beautiful oceanic view behind.

Jeju Island has many public baths like this one, the male and female baths are separated.

There are many statues of Haenyeo female divers seen on the island, it is one of the main characters of Jeju Island continuously preserving its heritage & culture everywhere and efforts to ensure that this trade will stay as long as possible.

Passing by small communities along the journey which are not too far apart, where one is looking for refreshment or needs a toilet break.

 Our first encounter with the famous haenyeo diver as we met them at one of the diving sites. We stopped by and observed their activities. My salute to these old ladies they are such an amazing people.

Pedal by pedal we moved on and ever ready to see interesting things along the way.

Colour and mural were frequently encountered as we continued going our anti-clockwise route.

The sun was starting to set and getting gloomy, it was time to look for a place to stay for the night. After a quick check we found one that was not too off from our route and nearby the place there is a row of gigantic windmill turbines.

We had our dinner at the hotel itself Mega Resort, Hangyeong-myeon. The staff spoke Mandarin to our surprise, they are from Mainland China and it was a relief that we could communicate with them easily. The temperature outside was very cold and windy we opted to eat within the hotel. A nice steamboat dinner was served.

Our 1st stage which we covered a distance of 49km, it was a good start for the team as we have two freshies for the first time in our oversea ride and as far as target is concerned the distance achieved was close and good. Till then we see you tomorrow.

A video clip of our day 1 & Day 2