What I wish I’d known before going to Jeju
As an enthusiast of Korean drama, I can say I grew up watching Korean drama. Korean drama can be romantic. Handsome male lead and beautiful female lead meet, know and love each other. Korean drama can be touching. Every bit of warmth in life is shown in front of the audience. Korean drama can also reflect social reality. It promotes people to build a better society.
When it comes to Korean drama, I think Jeju island would be a familiar term for fans of it. Jeju island appears in countless Typo-dramas. It is said Jeju is a lovely place and where is quite suitable for vacations. By the end of 2018, my friend invited me to travel to Jeju with her. I was so excited and readily accepted her invitation. Then in January 2019, we went to Jeju island from China and Japan respectively. We had a fantastic Jeju trip, however, I really wish I’d known some things before going.
1. Remember to bring a down jacket
The climate of Jeju is changeable, so it is necessary to bring enough clothes. When I got off the plane, I was freezing and even could not move anymore because of the heavy wind. Before I came to Jeju, I thought it was warm in winter. Thus, I did not wear down jacket instead of thin overcoat. I felt like I even could not breath. Luckily, my friend took me to the Dongmum Market to buy a down jacket. No kidding, that down jacket saved my life. Especially, in winter, it is a necessity for people who go to Udo (an island situated off the eastern coast of Jeju island).
2. Learn some basic Korean for tourism
Although Jeju is a well-known tourist city, not all local residents can speak English. One day, my friend and I went out to search for a restaurant with delicious pork chop soup. We took the most direct approach- asking local residents which restaurant had the best ribs soup. Unfortunately, that lady did not understand us. She communicated with us through gestures and Korean. Although I have years of experience in watching Korean dramas, the only words I know in Korean are ‘oba’ (brother), ‘consaamida’ (thank you) and ‘anio’ (hello). I realized that learning some basic tourism Korean is important. Also, it is fine to download a translate app.
3. Jeju is actually a big island
There are three main lines for travelling in Jeju: east, west and south lines. We did a stupid thing in that we booked three different hotels located on these three lines respectively. That is to say, we had to spend most of our time on the way from one hotel to another. Besides, Jeju is actually quite vast. The distribution span of scenic spots is large as well. Generally speaking, we spent too much time on buses, taxis and walking.
4. Choose an ideal time to go
As I mentioned before, I went Jeju in January when it was the coldest month. We just went to a few famous spots and there were lots of places we did not go. On the one hand, it gets dark early in Winter, thus many of the scenic spots are closed in advance. On the other hand, most of the scenic spots are available in Spring, Summer and Autumn instead of Winter. To be honest, it is too cold to travel to Jeju in Winter.
In all, Jeju is a good place for holiday. After all, it is famous as “the Hawaii of Korea”. I really want to travel to Jeju again. And I believe I will be well prepared next time. And it would be nice to be able to communicate with locals in Korean.
