Jeju Island is South Korea's largest island and touted by everyone as the "Hawaii of Korea." Just a quick flight away, we recently spent a long weekend there with a Korean family also from Seoul. Our friends, Ju Young, who is in the South Korean military and works with Geoff, his wife Yu Young and their 4-year-old daughter Su Min, showed us all their favorite spots and made our trip authentic. We loved being toured around by them. Highlights: jet boat ride, digging for clams, kayaking in the bay, hiking to waterfalls and playing on the beach.
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| Over-packed. Again. |
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| Awe, friends! |
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| Jeju is known for its mountainous, tropical climate; beaches; volcanoes and all-around natural beauty. |
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| And dinosaurs, too. |
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| Sugaring up before a rainy hike. |
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| Speed racin' |
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| We ordered soup and all the seafood was brought to our table alive and dropped into the boiling broth. Our Korean friends kept telling me, "It's not sad, it's fresh." I didn't eat any. |
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| This is a clip of the octopus being submerged. Spoiler alert: I freak out. |
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| The weather was rainy, misty or foggy some of the days, but warm enough that it didn't slow us down. |
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| Digging for clams, but only finding shells. |
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| Yu Young and Su Min |
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| These statues are iconic of the island. Korean tradition says expectant mothers should travel there to rub the statues' noses in hopes of having a boy. I asked where they should rub if they want a girl and was told nowhere because they only want boys. #effthat |
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| Beach bodies |
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| #makingherdadsoproud |
