A guide to living and life on Korea's largest island… Jeju, South Korea. "제주 라이프"
By now most foreigners in Jeju will be familiar with Bagdad Café. Since opening in 2006, the restaurant has established itself as one of the most popular expat haunts on the island, and has built a reputation for offering authentic Indian cuisine in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Bagdad owner and Jeju native Hyun Ju-Roung named the place after a 1987 West German film called Out of Rosenheim, about a group of people whose lives change after connecting in a rundown café in Bagdad, California. The movie was re-released in America a year later as Bagdad Café. The film is one of Hyun’s favourites, and helped to inspire her venture into the restaurant business. She says she wanted her own Bagdad Café to be a place for locals and out-of-towners to meet and connect in friendly surroundings here in Jeju.
Hyun places a strong focus on quality and authenticity. When she needed chefs for her fledging restaurant, she sent her business partner, Sobu, out to India to find them.
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Long known as a place for internal exile and persecution, the turn of the 19th century saw the flames of rebellion ignite once again on Jeju with Lee Jae Soo’s (이재수) uprising against an increasing number of Catholic missionaries and native converts spreading out across the island. The result: a massacre of some three hundred Catholics and the creation of Jeju’s first Catholic cemetery, which remains with us to this modern day.
The seeds of the massacre, however, were first sown in 1886 with an agreement between Korea and France which legally opened the country to their Catholic missionaries who had previously been unable to practice freely without persecution. Two churches were established on Jeju but local government officials continued an unwelcoming stance which was reciprocated with an increasing lack of trust from the Catholic community.
Jeju Starlight World, Park and Planetarium is a brand new attraction on the slopes of Hallasan, overlooking Jeju City. Three floors of space related matter (including a 4D theatre, a dome-shaped theatre and an array of high powered telescopes) make for a potentially thrilling experience. Unfortunately, some sheen is taken off a visit by poor planning and organization.
Korea House is a replica of a Chosun Dynasty royal residence and now serves as one of the most atmospheric and charming Korean restaurants on the island. It’s located between the Shilla and Hyatt Hotels in Jungmun and is easily accessed by the Airport Limousine (you can get off at either Shilla or Hyatt, but the Airport Limo will often stop at the restaurant itself. Just keep an eye out for a large, wooden gate and colorful signboards advertising the “Rose of Sharon”).
If you’ve ever wanted to be part of a torch-wielding mob, mark your calendar for the 2010 Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival on Jeju, when an entire hillside is set ablaze.
The event is held during the first full moon of the Lunar New Year across Korea. The festival commemorates the practice of burning grassy fields to prepare them for the new growing season. This year’s 14th annual festival on Jeju was Feb. 13 and 14, with the climax hill torching the night of the 14th.
I don’t think many foreigners would necessarily equate a traditional Korean meal with comfort food. However, the perfect combination does exist: a delicious Korean soup that warms your belly on those frigid -10 days and it’s only 5,000 won.
Sujaebi is made from green tea noodles and a creamy broth of peeled perilla seed powder. Even the name sounds soothing. Soojeeeaaaabeee. Mmmm.
