igoiseeishoot: Jeju Day 4 (Part 1)

3 October 2011

The plan for Day 4 was to visit the attractions around Jungmun Resort

Teddy Bear Museum
Cheonjeyeon Waterfall

and Seogwipo

JeongBang Waterfall
Cheonjiyeon Waterfall

and have dinner in the city.

So, three of Jeju’s famous waterfalls in one day.

We were running short of Korean currency by now, so we tried to change some at the hotel cashier.

No deal. The Lotte hotel didn’t accept Singapore Dollars.

We suggested that they advanced us some cash and charged it to our room account so we could pay by credit card upon check out.

No deal again.

There was a bank in the hotel but all banks were closed since it was a public holiday.

Citibank phone banking to the rescue! They told us the location of a nearby Citibank ATM and activated our PIN. We figured that we still have enough local currency for the taxis, entrance fees and meals for today and also tomorrow. But we would need to use our credit cards as far as possible and withdraw money from the Citibank ATM only as a contingency.

Having this assurance, we took the 10 minutes walk to the Teddy Bear Museum and bought our entry tickets.

Tip: You can buy discounted tickets for the Jeju Teddy Bear Museum here.

The Teddy Bear Museum is a place dedicated to teddy bears where all kinds of toy bears are exhibited. The first original bears, from the year 1901, could be seen. The museum also housed the world’s smallest teddy bear although we were not clear which was the smallest one since there was a large display of many small and tiny bears.

Jeju Teddy Bear Musuem - original teddy bears.

Bears on eskimo sled …are these polar bears? (ha ha). This is actually to remember Amundsen’s Antarctic expedition in 1935.

The bears were housed behind glass displays. Taking a good photo without the light from the surroundings reflecting from the glass surface was a challenge. The trick was to use a polariser filter for my lens for distant shots or press the lens closed to the glass for the close up shots. Seemed to work.

These are the Teddycotta warriors.

Royal couple – supposedly Charles and Diana.

Bears depicting many famous characters and celebrities were displayed, These include The Beatles, Albert Einstein, Gandi, Genghis Khan, Elvis Presley, Princess Diana and Prince Charles.

The world’s most expensive teddy bear. This Louis Vuitton bear was sold for USD 194,377 in an charity auction.

Teddy Bears depicting the main characters in the Korean drama series Goong. Scenes from the drama were shot here.

Even famous paintings like Mona Lisa and the one above are depicted.

Plus street scenes of famous places and settings like Normandy Beach during D-day, Hong Kong etc..

Bears depicting traditional Korean wedding fascinated this young lady.

After finishing the indoor exhibits, we took our breakfast cum lunch at Lotteria burger, located within the museum, before heading out to the outdoor section.

This may be the world’s largest teddy bear?

We then went back into the building to watch the Elvis Presley Teddy Bear show. Nice show, akin to the ones found in Disneyland and other theme parks, where “Elvis bear” performed a rock and roll sequence on stage. Bears depicting Elvis were sold in the shop outside the theatre, so Elvis’s fans could bring one home.