Jeju Island (제주도)

Lana and I took advantage of the long Labor Day weekend and flew to Jeju Island (제주도) with two other couples from the squadron, a large volcanic island (now dormant) just off the south coast of Korea for three days. Jeju is the "Hawaii" of Korea with the largest mountain in South Korea (Mt. Hallasan), nice beaches and many waterfalls. During our trip we stayed in the Korean Airlines Hotel (KAL) on the south coast of the island with a great view of the ocean. It was a breath of fresh air, even though we were still officially in Korea. One of the great things about this trip was flying from the Kunsan Airport, which shares the same runway we fly from with our F-16s. When ready to leave for the airport, we walked 15 min to the terminal ready for the 35 minute flight (really, 35 push it up mins) to Jeju.

By mid-morning the day after we arrived, we were on the beach enjoying a relaxing time. The water off the west coast from Kunsan is not very clean (hence, the name Yellow Sea) so it was a nice change. Later that day we hiked to a couple different waterfalls before enjoying a nice evening meal.

The second day was a hiking day. Our first stop was at a national park, in which is located some of of the largest lava tubes/caves in the world. It was impressive to make our way down under ground and then hike for a little over .5 miles through a lava tube who's ceiling at times reached probably 20-25 feet tall. After the lava tube, we made our way to a mountain crater called Seongsan Ilchulbong on the east coast of the island. The crater was left after the top of the small volcanic mountain was blown off in an irruption. We hiked the short and steep trail to the top of the crater and then our way down to a volcanic rock beach for awhile. After the day's events we were pretty hungry, so we treated ourselves to a really nice buffet dinner at the nearby Lotte Hotel.

The final day we slept in and stopped by the nicest beach we had seen on our way back to the airport. If we get the chance to see Jeju again, it'll be the main location we hang out at. The sand and water color reminded Lana and I a little big of our trip to the Philippines, and made it difficult to leave. But, it was a long weekend well spent away from the base with Lana and some of our close friends here.

The next thing on the horizon with work is Red Flag Alaska in Sep-Oct...5 weeks of flying around the Alaskan mountains! I'll fill everyone in when I return if not before then!

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Jeju Island