South Korea 2015 Part 10 – Jeju Lotte Hotel & Dinner

This is part of an ongoing travelogue, to start at the beginning click here.

After the tea museum, next on the itinerary was the glass castle. I really did not have any idea what this place was, I was basically following the itinerary by my friends. Glass Castle is a museum cum theme park that is centred on – you guessed it – glass items.

They have indoor displays and a large outdoor garden, which also includes a forest walk.

if you do a quick walk, you can see everything in just over an hour. if you plan to take pictures then it might take longer.

All in all it was touristy but fun for the children.

After that, it was a short drive down the road to the Spirited Garden, billed as the ‘most beautiful garden in the world’. Unfortunately, it was already almost 5pm when we got there, and they were closing. Ah, too bad, maybe the next trip to Jeju, then.

We had also planned to visit Songaksan, but as it was getting dark, we couldn’t make it (it was quite a distance to drive from here). So our driver took us to Lotte Hotel, the biggest hotel in Jeju. I think resort would be a better description of the place, it reminded me of IOI Resort in Putrajaya.

(There’s a local legend about these four mythical creatures in Jeju, they are arranged facing compass points)

The hotel is big and beautiful, but the attraction at night is there are 3 huge windmills that are lighted up at the edge of the swimming pool. I’m not sure what’s the rationale of windmills in Jeju, but it does look spectacular.

En route to the next stop, we dropped by E-mart to do some shopping for breakfast tomorrow.

From there we went to Cheongjiyeon waterfall. This place is open until 8pm, as it is best viewed at night when it is lighted up.

Then it was dinner time. Our driver recommended seafood hotpot, one of the 4 must-try dishes in Jeju (the other 3 being black pork, pork noodles and hairtail soup).

The first restaurant we went was closed for the day (it was past 8pm, businesses close rather early in Jeju). The second was open but getting ready to close. They were glad to accommodate us, thankfully. The main dish they served was a small hotpot soup loaded with clams, oysters, abalones, scallops and kind of cute mini-lobster.

(as usual the meal comes with side dishes and cold water)

(abalone)

An old man working with the shop was watching my wife struggle with the mini lobster, he taught her how to twist the tail off and poke the flesh out from the shell.

After dinner, we bought some hallabong from an old lady selling on the sidewalk. Hallabong is a local type of tangerine, with a noticeable bump at the top where the stem is.

After dinner we finally made it to our home. Its a small cabin somewhere outside Seogwipo, booked through Airbnb. The owner was holidaying in Thailand, so his brother graciously waited for us.

This cosy home has 2 rooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a bathroom with washing machine. But the big surprise was outside the home. But you’ll see it in the next post when its daylight…

Next – Jeju Island Tour.