G-Drama JEJU: EPISODE 9: SUNRISE PEAK

Hannah and I had a nice weekend away and we went to Ilchubong, or Sunrise Peak, on the eastern side of the island. Ilchulbong is the green, bowl-shaped almost-volcano that you see in any Googling of Jeju that you do, and apparently, it's the life aspiration of many Koreans to see the sunrise from, you guessed it, Sunrise Peak, so we figured, hey, there's got to be something to this. Sadly, although it may look like we saw the sunrise in the pictures below, we did not. My awesome phone died that night and didn't wake us up in time. When I say died, I mean like in-the-garbage-never-working-again, not like dead battery. So, we hiked up the mountain to see the end of the sun rise in record time due to the anger of not getting up on time, and then enjoyed the rest of this beautiful day.

She was much happier than me at this moment. I was still fuming over the phone.

Hannah: let me explain why I was so happy. Once we finally woke up about 6:10ish, due to the gentle door-slamming of our hotel neighbors, we realized two things: a) hey, it's looking light outside! And b) waaaait a second, the alarm on Ben's phone didn't go off... If you're acquainted with Ben's phone, you may be familiar with charming antics that it's pulled before, my personal favorite of which is when it decided that, no matter what you pressed on the keypad, all it would allow you to type was the letter Q (QQQ! QQQQQ!).

Ben did... not take this well. Surprisingly, his phone did not take a flying leap out the hotel window into the East China Sea, but Ben's boiling rage--which was, appropriately, probably equivalent to the heat and intensity that created Ilchulbong in the first place--meant that our romantic stroll up the mountain turned into POWER 11 DEATH HIKE: CRUSH ALL THOSE IN YOUR PATH.

...Okay, okay, so there was no crushing... but there were awkward and very out-of-breath 'excuse me's uttered in Korean.

So what's all the fuss about? This is at the bottom of the mountain. The view was already so good, I wasn't sure that
what was in store at the top could be much better.

This was what I would call the easy part.

Just part way up at this point. (Hannah: Ben's fury allows us momentary respite to permit photo-taking. Then, it's back to sprinting up the mountain.)

We made it now to to the summit to enjoy the amazing view and the sweet, sweet nectar that is Demi Soda. (Hannah: Or to be thankful that we're still alive after making a rather strenuous 20-minute hike more like a ridiculous, non-stop 10-12-minute one. Notice how Ben's anger has been slightly placated at this gorgeous view, hence the can not melting the instant it touched his lips.)

Hannah had her own Demi Soda since sharing was certainly not happening.

Since we were late to the top, the usually full seating was pretty much empty.

Yes, I am happy.

And here's the main event!

This is the view away from the sun rise. It was amazing looking back towards the rest of the island of Jeju.

Now the descent, which mercifully, was much more relaxed. There were many, many, many stairs.

But there were pretty flowers...

...and creepy rock man.

Hannah had fun.

Oh me halfway down the mountain... Yeah, still angry.

But I made a friend! Though again, Hannah wouldn't let me hug it.

Hey, it's a Jeju grandfather statue! Wait... He looks like someone I know.

TANK MISSLE!!!

At the bottom of Ilchulbong again, looking down at the black sand beach where some of the haenyeo (women divers) of Jeju do some demonstrations and have a restaurant where they sell you the catch of the day.

Hannah being a boss.

Dear Craig, Jeju is calling... Surprisingly, DD (and the 3 other coffee shops next to it) didn't open until about 7 am, completely missing the bulk of the Ilchulbong-climbing crowd... DD is somewhat similar to DD in the States, with a few important differences: a) Olive Chewisty donuts (I don't know), b) egg and cheese croissant is a disappointing egg-and-nothing on an English muffin-like item, and c) bubble tea and donuts with exotic fillings. Mmmm, bubble tea.