Yongyeon, burger, Sarabong, Mini Land, Seogwipo, Jeju 용연계곡 사라봉

I drove east along the north to get brunch before heading south to Seogwipo and my accommodation. I stopped off at a very chilly miniature village/theme park on the way. This was a winter trip in two parts; solo for three days, then four days with Romana.

Day 1 of 7 winter days on Jeju

Straight off the plane and into my Kia Morning rental and then straight to a place to eat, to ISLAND cafe. This is near Yongyeon Stream (용연계곡), formed with volcanic lava flows and quite picturesque as an estuary to the sea. It was a bit windy and chilly to really appreciate it though, and this is when I saw my first snow of the year. The burgers at the cafe were homemade and tasty, and if I hadn’t been driving, I could have had a nice Magpie ale…

By the sea with snow coming in!

Without too many ideas of what to do next, I headed to Mini Land at a complex called Jeju Central Park. On the way (because I needed the toilet…), I parked at Sarabong, a hill overlooking the harbour; again a bit too chilly to enjoy for too long. There’s a park nearby with stuff to see but I didn’t stay beyond just going up and down the hill.

Mini Land is relatively central on Jeju and higher up, so the temperature really dropped, with bitterly cold winds. I wandered around near the car park until a worker shouted me in to the cafe in order to get e ticket. The place seemed deserted and I wondered around alone, bar one couple. There were models of famous landmarks from around the world and I enjoyed the nerd and scale-model factor of looking at them.

After Mini Land, I really need to warm up and put on the remainder of my jumpers and fleeces! However, that made moving my arms a lot more difficult, so that only lasted till I got to Seogwipo. Fortunately, the weather there was very pleasant.

I checked into Backpacker’s Home. I had hoped that the fact that it was winter, I’d be alone, but alas, my room had two other lodgers; nothing against them, but the idea of sharing accommodation during the pandemic made me nervous. I spent the time in the room finding a place with a private room nearby. I found a room at HY Choi Hostel then cancelled this hostel; the guy behind the desk was very understanding and refunded the charge (which he didn’t have to do). I’ll definitely go back after the pandemic as it seemed a pretty chill place.

In between accommodations, I walked around the area a bit and found a little park which goes above the famous Cheon Jiyeon falls (no view!) and found the food street and meatball restaurant that I’d visited last year. After checking into the second place, I bought some supplies, returned and watched some Netflix. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself for the next few days as I’d gotten word earlier that day that a friend of mine had passed away in a hospital in Seoul… I didn’t sleep much that night.