igoiseeishoot: Jeju Day 3 (Part 2)

2 October 2011

Yeongmeori Coast is a place in Jeju where Mount Sanbangsan stretches into the ocean and it looks as if a dragon’s head is going underwater. Mount Sanbangsan is the mountain with the distinct dome shape that we saw on Day One at the Jungmun Daepo Coast from a distance.

On the way in towards the entrance of the cliffs, nice views of Sanbangsan, farms and the golden Buddha could be seen.

Sanbang-san with its distinctive dome shape.

After seeing so many grandfather stones across Jeju, we finally got to see two grandmother stones.

Yeongdeunghalmang – Grandmother who make rich the lives of women divers and fishers.

Samseunghalmang – Grandmother Samseung is a goddess who aids women in becoming pregnant and assists in the process of childbirth. In Jeju the goddess is said to aid in particular in the curing of smallpox and measles.

Along the road down to the seashore, there is the Hamel Castaway Memorial, in the form of a replica of a sailing ship named after a Dutch sailor Hamel who visited Korea in the 17th century. Mr Won, our taxi driver cum photographer, took a photo of us with a cheeky pose next to the sculpture of Hamel.

To walk on the path around the cliff, we need to buy entrance tickets (2500 KRW per person). It was worthwhile to do this, as the following photos will show. I am not sure if the path is accessible during high tide, but our timing seems to be good this morning. The waves were not that choppy and the tide was low, so quite a bit of rocks were exposed.

As expected, visitors could have a meal of live seafood next to the waves, with special seats!

Walking around the cliffs could be treacherous, even at low tide. Crevasses that threaten to drop you into the sea, water filled holes, rogue waves and of course, overhanging cliffs and the dangers of falling rocks.

But it was worth it!

I came dressed for the occasion. My shirt matched the patterns of the cliffs.

There are horizontal lines on the rock cliff. Yongmeori Cliff is a tuff ring volcano, and the lines were formed by accumulation of layers upon layers of lava from underwater volcanic explosions…long long time ago.

At every turn of the corner, we got to see something different. After some time, we were not sure whether to turn back or to continue on since we did not have a map of the area. We decided to press on as we saw some people coming from the opposite direction. It was comforting to see more ahjummas selling seafood along the way, so we know we were not going too far ahead or venturing into places we were not supposed to be at.

At this point, the wind picked up as we rounded a cliff. So we must be near the halfway point.

As we rounded a cliff, the wind got stronger. I realised after my trip that some of my shots are blurred. My body and camera must have been moved by the strong gusts of wind while taking the photos.

Some Jeju folks were fishing at this spot.

This guy reeled in a puffer fish which he threw back into the sea.

These are the catch of the day. Rabbit fish.

I knew we were near to the end of the trail when we came to this view of Sanbangsan. I took a sequence of shots to create this panorama.

We continued along the coast. Somewhere in the middle of the trail above, there was a gap in the cliffs, where we passed by some fallen rocks and a natural rock archway.