2 October 2011
From Yeongmeori Coast, we took the 5.6 km scenic road towards Songaksan. We stopped at the foot of Songaksan where ferries to Marado island could be boarded. Over here, we could see the entire southern coastline of Jeju island, including good views of Sanbangsan and Yeongmeori Coast that we had just visited.
As usual, this is a site for filming of many Korean dramas.
Besides ferry to Marado, tourists could go for a yellow submarine ride (Beatles inspired?) to view the live seafood (ha ha) and corals off the Jeju coast.
At the foot of Songaksan, there are man-made caves, made by Japanese occupiers during WWII using local forced labour. We did not venture down to explore the caves since there were many other places to visit on this day.
In the past, small cars could be driven up Songaksan for a panoramic view. Not anymore. Nowadays, visitors had to hike up. Mr Won suggested that we don’t go up Songaksan and promised to bring us to another place that is similar.
So he took us to Suwolbong instead. Along the way to Suwolbong, we passed by an airfield where the radar dome was visible on a hilltop. We passed by many Jeju farmlands. Our taxi driver would point out to us, “those are carrots, those are radish, those are…”. They all looked the same to me.
Our taxi was allowed to go up the narrow road to Suwolbong which is 77m high and serves as an observatory for the West coastal region of Jeju. Suwolbong is also known as Nokgomul Oreum. Over here, we could see the west coast of Jeju, including Chagwido island, and would be a good place to see the sunset but it was probably about noon time when we arrived. We could also see a panoramic view of the Jeju countryside that we drove by earlier.
We could see a narrow coastal road, hugging the shoreline. This was the road we would be taking later, leading to the wind turbine generators in the distance. With all the strong winds in the coast of Jeju, wind is viable source of clean energy.
Mr Won next took us via the IIgwari-Gosan Coastal Road northwards. We passed a place where a woman was selling dried cuttlefish. The cuttlefish were hung out on lines like freshly washed laundry to dry in the sun and wind. No flies nor other creepy crawly. Amazing.
We continued along the Sinchang Yongsu coastal road and stopped at the foot of the wind generators we saw from Suwolbong. Some of these wind turbines were built on the coastal rocks by the sea and fisherman could be seen fishing from there.
The wind was so strong here that there was no way we could get a photo without the wind-messed up hair!
We could hear the “woosh”, “woosh” sound of the spinning giant fan blades right overhead amid the sound of the waves. Quite an “hair-raising” experience.
From here, we continued along the main highway 1132 towards Hallim Park and Hyeopjae beach.
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