We spent Christmas 2014 here on lovely 제주도 (Jeju-do), exploring some new places and revisiting some old favorites for the holiday! Christmas in South Korea is more of a couples' holiday than a family, gift-giving holiday, so what we lacked in decorations around Jeju, we made up with mushiness and photos. ^^
First thing's first: I (Hannah) went out to our car on Christmas Eve only to witness a devastating sight: all of the orange trees next to our parking lot had been uprooted! We suppose this is to make room for a third apartment building for teachers, but it was quite a horrible Christmas Eve gift. It seemed only fitting, then, that we play on some of the gifts the construction crew left us for Christmas morning.
MERRY XMAS, ORANGES.
(Okay, okay, this was never actually on.)
Enjoying some of the last trees standing!
From our rapidly shrinking orange grove, it was on to Hallasan, the dormant volcano in the middle of our island, to go find a white Christmas. Once we got about 3/4 of the way there, it was very apparent that many people had a similar idea: we saw tons of Korean families hiking, sledding, having snowball fights, and generally being winter-y.
We finally found a relatively crowd-free spot to pull over and suited up in our winter gear when we made this classic discovery:
SOOOOO I (Ben) took one size 9 left boot and one size 12 left boot.
Apparently we must have left the house in a bit of hurry.
My snow bunny making a snow man
An odd bearded creature helping make a snow man.
Hey, it's a snow-hareubang!
After the snowman-making and impromptu snowball throwing contest, we headed back down the mountain to the northeast side of the island.
4 cars. One lane. Apparently no rules.
On the way down, we made a few brief stops to snap some pictures:
On our way along the northeast coast of the island, we were intrigued by a sign for the coastal town of Gonae. Upon turning off, we discovered this new gem: Sweet Monster!
Ben fits right in.
Our Jeju christmas trees
Mmm, Nutella hot cocoa and Ferrero Roche milkshakes. Christmas got surprisingly decadent! We also had an unexpected taste of home when we got a "service" sample of some caramel and cheese popcorn (just like Granddad used to have around at Christmas).
We finished up our treats and then decided to wander around Gonae a bit more:
Obligatory My Neighbor Totoro picture (on the side of a restaurant)!
Hannah somehow was able to make me leave this.
Hello, ocean! The waves were actually decent sized today, breaking over the wall here and there.
Back on the road to head further south to the Hallim area, we were surprised to find another monster establishment. Confusingly, the Salon was in fact a burger joint.
NO IDEA
HOW THESE
ARE STILL
IN BLOOM!
...and the Lord blessed our next endeavor: to get cupcakes for dessert that night from Leelee Story!
Hi Leigh Anne and Joe! ^^
You all remember the movie
"The Yummy Cupcakes and the Really Pissed Snowman"...
On our drive continuing south towards our house, we pulled over to observe these winter flowers...
Cactus Flowers.
Halla!
Now for our 2nd to last stop of the day: we'd been curious for a long time, so we decided to go to Soingook Thema Park, where the whole world was at our fingertips.
We were greeted by our stewardess...
I met these cool guys
...and then we starred in a 7-episode, critically-appalled mini series.
Who wouldn't love a giant container of sugary drinking yogurt?
Then I Bonaparted my nasal cavity,
Got cold in Russia,
and met this really stern guard.
Hannah tried to raise the roof of the white house
Our presidents look worse in Korea. Maybe some sort of parallax error.
This Guy indeed had a handshake
This happened.
Preview of the Great Wall!
Christmas berries
Appropriate Cameo
Inappropriate cameo
That dance we all know and never have a reason to do.
No, we don't know why this exists either,
unless this blog post gives this place some merit.
Our local shopkeep.
Hannah calling on a rather zombie-ish student.
She took Ben's hat. He was not pleased.
This Smurf...
Stop looking at the camera and learn
something for Christmas' sake.
Gargamel was not happy after we raided his fridge.
I wonder who you are, Woman?
Once we finished our freezing, whirlwind tour of mini famous landmarks, it was off to dinner at Zen Hideaway! Table with a lovely ocean view, and...
The old Christmas orange with clotted cream.
Merry Christmas to all...
and to all a good night!
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