Jeju Island S Korea-Forget you Bus 720

Yesterday. I left the hostel early to look for a bus to Sangumberi mountain, which is supposedly an alternative volcanic peak I can climb-it is only the supposed to be 3 miles long or so, and isn't as crowded as the first volcano i climbed. (and supposedly, the weather would be better). it wasn't nice out-it was cold and windy. (about 60 degrees but felt much colder). According to Google, the bus to take was 720, and it left from the nearly bus station, called the Segawipo intercity bus station-only about a 20 minute walk from the hostel. While the ride was supposed to be an 1 1/2 hours-I would be ok because I have spent a lot of time on busses.

When I got to the Segawipo Intercity Bus Station-I learned I was at the wrong bus station. Although the manager at the hostel and the map given to me at the hostel pointed this out to be the right place, this was actually the OLD Segawipo intercity bus station. I had to take another bus first to the new one-about 10 minutes out of town. So a kid at the station who spoke a little English told me to wait across the street for a bus to the new one. I waited about 5 minutes so not so bad.

When the bus arrived at the New Segawipo Bus Station, I tried to find a sign for bus 720. I couldn't find it. I asked a lady inside. She spoke little English, and she called a friend, who I spoke to-and he knew nothing-nor where I was going. I Googled it once again, and this time It appears I would have had to take bus 102 1 1/2 hours-walk across an intersection and find another bus stop, and then take bus 720 for an additional 1 hour 40 minutes-a total trip of around 3 hours-I am not sure if that was correct. But since it was already 11:00-that would be arriving after 2. By now I was frustrated. So I just decided to walk to a place called Jungman, which I was saving for my last day. Jungman is a resort type area with lots of museums, attractions, etc. I started walking-it was nice to be in the fresh air, although it was cold and windy. Although Jungman was about 5 1/2 miles away, I made the walk. I passed by gardens, old stores, hills that overlooked the sea, citrus groves, and stone "Grandfathers", and other statues. Once in a while i stopped to rest.

I got to a sign for the Jungman resort, and headed down a hill. Once there, I didn't see much except big hotels blocking the sea view, and a big castle. I walked towards the castle, and saw it was the African musuem, and had animal statues out front. I wasn't interested, but another sign pointing towards the sea towards Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff. I paid $2.00 and walked to an overlook with massive lava sized cliffs that looked like containers, and the view was breathtaking.

After standing there for a while, I walked along a path along the water, which was nice. I tried to get back to the main road-All I could see we're hotels that we're blocking my view. I walked through a ginourmous hotel, which was rather plain, looking for the exit, but I had issues-I took the elevator and escalators up and down but couldn't find it.

Eventually, I found the exit, and walked up to what would be the direction of a waterfall, which was supposed to be spectacular (although I saw waterfalls the day before). I walked up a hill, and found a giant staircase headed up another hill with signs in Korean. I walked up that long, and tiring staircase. Then I took a turn and walked up some more. I came to a viewpoint of the harbor which was nice. Then I walked down the hill a little bit in a different direction-I found a Buddhist temple. I have seen many Buddhist temples in my travels, but unlike the others there we're no crowds-just peace, and two other people wandering around. I saw a monk working on something. There was soft meditation music playing.

After spending a few minutes there-I met someone else hiking up a hill-I asked him for directions to the waterfall (I took a screenshot of the name in Korean-in case I couldn't find anyone who spoke English). He took a long time looking at his phone. I figured that would mean I was far away. After this long time-he told me "just go up the road-and the parking lot is on your left". I figured that couldn't be true-it has to be more complicated. But it was true-I was there, and came across three waterfalls, and a huge bridge over one of them. I spent time. First of all, I was in the mood for a snack-a healthy one. There are sellers of tangerines all over the place-but a bag is about $10.00-I wasn't having that. But I learned I can get a bottle of tangerine wine for $5.00-it tasted like a wine cooler-but it was interesting and made the waterfalls even more appealing. It was getting dark as I was at the last one. Here I met a photographer taking photos of the falls, and we we're showing each other pictures, and I was drinking my tangerine wine.

It was then dark, and i took a bus back downtown, had soup for dinner and went back to the hostel.