Jeju adventure - waterfalls

There are some spectacular waterfalls in the southern part of the island and we visited two of them.

Cheonjeyeon Waterfall is a three tier waterfall - water flows out of the ceiling of a cave to make waterfall between the precipice of the waterfall and the lower clay level

The Seonimgyo Bridge which you cross to get to the waterfalls, symbolises the legend of Cheonjeyeon.

Cheonjeyeon means Pond of the Emperor of Heaven and according to Korean legend, seven fairies serving the King of Heaven came down to the pond on stairs of clouds and bathed in its clean waters. The annual Seven Fairies Festival is held each May.

We then moved further along the coast to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. 
 

Its name literally means air in the soil. Along the path to the waterfall there are three piles of stacked rocks – these are a common sight throughout South Korea. In olden days a person would place a small stone under a larger one and pray for the health and prosperity of their family

This waterfall is also known for its diverse plant and animal life including turtles

We then went further along the coast to Soesokkak estuary

This is a deep puddle created by the joining of fresh water and seawater. ‘Soe’ means Hyodon Village; ‘So’ means deep water puddle; ‘Kkak’ means the end. 

On our way back home we saw these locals collecting what we think is dried seaweed

For more photos see Waterfalls

Jeju adventure - sunset from Sanbangsan

We visited Sanbangsan

Sanbangsan literally means “Mountain Room Mountain” and is named after the temple cave within the mountain. The mountain is a hugh body of lava formed some 800,000 years ago

When we looked to the west we saw this spectacular sunset

One word ... "Wow"

Jeju adventure - Cherry Blossom Festival

Every Spring, Jeju holds a Cherry Blossom Festival

We visited the one in Jeju City, on the North Coast of the island.

In addition to the groves of Cherry trees there were also lots of stalls with some Korean delicacies ...

such as silkworm larvae

some sort of bird/fowl

oysters

a local soup

... and a local comedian (at least I thought he was telling jokes)

Jeju adventure - getting there

For Easter this year we spent two weeks in South Korea - visiting Al who now works there.

He teaches in the North London Collegiate School, Jeju ...

... which is part of the Global Education City on the island of Jeju.

Jeju (officially the Jeju Special Self-governing Province) is South Korea’s largest island and lies in the Korea Strait, southwest of the mainland – it is about an hour’s flight from Seoul.

This was our home for the next ten days

Al would show us some of the sights on the island

Jeju is a volcanic island – created some 2 million years ago. It is dominated by Halla-san (Halla Mountain): a volcano 1,950 metres (6,400 ft) high and the highest mountain in South Korea. The island measures approximately 73 kilometres (45 miles) across, east to west, and 41 kilometres (25 miles) from north to south.

Jeju has a humid subtropical climate, warmer than that of the rest of Korea, with four distinct weather seasons. Winters are cool and dry while summers are hot, humid, and sometimes rainy.

For more photos of the school site, click this link NLCS Jeju

The White of Spring

Spring had sprung and, lo and behold, we had a shed-load of snow to celebrate the Vernal Equinox

High level view of our garden

Low level view

We then walked down to Woodseats and came across this caterpillar ...

Then a brief trip through the lower reaches of Graves Park

Unsurprisingly, no one was playing tennis!

Then lunch at Spoon - well worth a visit - see Spoon Cafe-bistro

Then back along Abbey Lane ...

... past Beauchief Golf Course - again, unsurprisingly, no one was playing golf

 ... Beauchief Abbey

... Ladies Spring Wood

... Beauchief Drive

... Beauchief Hall, then back home