In which Layla and Roz see caves and mazes, feel seasick, and climb some hills

By Layla

Oh the horror of not having written a blog for so long! We left you in Jeju city, where we popped in to a Paris Baguette for breakfast, then we hopped on a bus in the other direction along the perimeter of the island, and got off at a random roadside with a track leading 2.5km down to what is probably the biggest lava cave in the world. A lava cave essentially looks like the lair of a giant, evil snake. It’s black, with swirls and swoops as you imagine the molten lava flowing. The cave was about 17km long, but a 1km section was open to the public. We made our way down into the darkness, and did the walk, over rough, irregular ground, til we got to an illuminated 7m high tower of lava that marked the end of the walk. Fascinating, though personally I preferred the half-lava, half-limestone caves in Hallim Park…

After a picnic lunch on the grass courtesy of Paris Baguette (I have never eaten so many bagels!) we went to the other entertainment of the day, a maze. I rather like mazes. Unfortunately this one was filled by hundreds of shrieking, shoving schoolchildren, who made the experience rather less fun… we were very bitter to see them all leaving at the same time as us! But we persisted and were successful in solving the maze.

We’d planned to go to a nearby beach after this, but the weather turned grey, so we headed back into town where we established ourselves with kiwi juices at a book café, then another café, where we made excellent progress with our books before retiring to – oh the shame – the same excellent Indian restaurant!

The next day we awoke early for what I had absolutely expected to be a treat – a three hour sail from Jeju to Mokpo, in mainland South Korea. Alas I hadn’t really thought it through. First, the weather was miserable. Secondly the boat tossed and turned. Rather than the pleasure trip I’d anticipated, Roz and I sat on the floor outside in the rain, green, cold, and nauseous, and praying for it to be over, which thankfully it eventually was. Weirdly the taxi at the port didn’t want to take us to the train station, so a 25 minute walk later, we arrived, shivering, drenched wretches, and obtained tickets.

We were off to Jeonju, a city we’d swithered about staying in, but decided to do it. A train and taxi ride later, with the taxi driver unable to find our hotel, we were unceremoniously dumped in the city centre, and left to fend for ourselves. We eventually found the hotel. It was full. They sweetly drove us to another hotel, where we settled in and then headed out for pizza, salvaging our rainy travelling day with food and later drinks at a local coffee shop.

Another bright and early day yesterday took us on an hour-long bus to the very lovely Maisan Provincial Park. The park has two peaks that look like horses’ ears, and a very, very large number of steps. The scenery was lovely and there was a really interesting area called Tapsan which consisted of temples, and stone towers. We walked past a lake, then had a very good bimimbap lunch, and finished off with a climb up a big hill, before catching a bus back to Jeonju.

We popped back to our hotel and then strolled down to a beautiful, traditional area of Jeonju called the Hanok Maeul, with lots of traditional style Korean houses, many made into cafes, restaurants, and a quirky wine museum which we visited. A music festival was starting so we had a quick listen at their outdoor stage before retiring for coffee and cake. We returned to town to get some cash and do a tiny bit of shopping (it was freezing and we bought cardigans!) and then returned to the Hanok Maeul for dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant. Sadly I’d been struck down with a dodgy stomach, which was most unfortunate. Indeed, having finished the meal and had a peppermint tea in a nearby café, I was obliged to usher us home to bed. And had a lovely night spent mainly in the bathroom…

Still feeling rubbish today, but spurred on a) by our successful trip to Maisan Provincial Park, and b) by the lack of rooms available in Jeonju this evening, we have relocated to Daedunsan Provincial Park where the tourist office man in Jeonju booked us a room in an incomprehensible local motel. This was almost definitely a mistake. There was practically nobody on our bus. We stepped off into chilly mountain air. A random shop owner approached us quizzically and I handed her the post-it note with our motel name written on it in Korean characters. She zoomed off with it to make a phonecall, and before long the proprietor of the motel was dashing down a steep hill to meet us. She then pranced back up it like a mountain goat, with Roz and me trudging weakly behind her, looking at the scary-looking restaurants, the middle-of-nowhereness, and rather wishing we were still in Jeonju. We’re now both hiding in our less-than-glamorous room and trying to work up the courage to go up a mountain…