Jeju Island, S Korea-Don't go Chasin Waterfalls (for lunch)

Yesterday, I woke up and it was another cloudy, rainy day. I left the hostel and walked about 20 minutes from the hostel to the entrance of the waterfall, and then another 15 minutes to the
Cheonjiyeon Falls waterfall. It was a nice walk, and I walked along a path of stone grandfathers, or Harubangs, which are the statues placed in front of houses to offer protection, and fertility. The waterfall was nice, with of course the usual crowds with selfie sticks taking pics in front as well. It was a pretty scene, even with weather that wasn't great.

i then walked for about an hour along the waterfront (taking a break to rest)-to find another waterfall. This one is called the Jeonbang Waterfall, which is thought to be the old waterfall in Asia that goes directly into the ocean. The waterfall is reached by a downward path about 10 minutes from the ticket widow. Along the path, there are many steep rocks to grapple with, so I had to climb up and over rocks, but finally I reached the waterfall, and this was beautiful. Once again, there we're of course lots of folks with selfie sticks.

After a few minutes watching the falls and the people. I climbed over more rocks to find folks gathered together under a tent-it looked like a picnic. I learned it wasn't a picnic-it was more of a restaurant. Two ladies we're cracking open fresh sea food, and serving it together on a plate. I am not sure what types of shellfish this was-but one was called abalone I believe. Anyway, it was expensive-$30 for a plate of what ever they caught, but unfortunately, I had that much in my wallet, and I have never had food caught straight from the ocean. (I normally don't eat shellfish, but I like to eat foods endemic to a culture).

I took the plate, and tried to pick up the gooey, wormlike morsels on my plate with my chopsticks, but I gave up after a few tries and just ate with my hands. The man sitting on rocks next to me was laughing at me. Then I ate it-the food was so fresh-it was literally disgusting. I think I developed a shellfish allergy right there. The food tasted like worms mixed with salt water. I couldn't finish the plate. The good news is the weather started to clear up a little.

After lunch, I went up to the ticket booth, and inquired about the way to the Jeju Stone Park. I wanted to see more of the haubangs, and other lava statues. I found a bus left from a station about a 1/2 hour walk away. It took a while for the bus to came. I was talking to a lady flight attendant from Hong Kong, whose bus came before mine-when I realized that i got so busy talking I missed the bus-so I waited around another 1/2 hour for the next bus it seems. The ride took about an hour or so {everything takes a long distance here on the island).

I got off at the Stone Park, where first I went to a museum which was kind of boring. it taught about how the earth was developed, how volcanoes came to being, and how lava burned on the inside even when a rock was solid on the outside. I then went outside on the trail to look at the different types of statues. There are stone grandfathers, but also other types, such as child-like statutes that stand in front of noble homes. It was actually interesting, and peaceful walking along the forested path. I learned there was a myth of a woman who had 500 kids-and they we're going hungry. The woman jumped into a cauldron of soup to feed her family, and one son discovered bone in the soup and was horrified. The others we're turned into stone.I was chased out of the park at closing time, around when i went to wait for the bus back to town. it was then I saw the rocks of 500 generals in the sunlight (there wasn't much of it). I took pictures. A bus came-I decided to wait for the next bus so I could take more pictures-which took almost an hour. It was getting dark, there was not much traffic, (and no stores or any other commerce along the road) and i was worried another bus wouldn't come. But it came-i got on-and made it back to the hostel after around 10:00 pm.