Jeju Art Park, Jeju, South Korea
Jeju Island offers so many hidden treasures that it can be a bit overwhelming. Looking at a map strewn with such enticements as Psyche Butterfly World, Love Land, and Nakcheon Village of Nine Guts (Shamanistic Ritual), it can leave one feeling that there certainly isn’t enough time in a year, much less a weekend, to take it all in. Thus, when spotting a rather nondescript sign for Jeju Art Park, you could be forgiven for driving right by. After all, it sounds like it might be a retired farm couple who decided to make a few extra won by displaying some choice dolharubang on their turnip fields. Fortunately, you would be as pleasantly surprised as I was if you decided to make the trip to this site on the southwest corner of the island.
My First Impressions of Jeju, Jeju, South Korea
Like being hit by the infamous Apple itself, it came upon me one snowy evening in February to stray from my midnight essay writing routine and check the latest Facebook reel on the subject of ESL Teachers in Korea. Only two advertisements into my inspection, the words “Seeking Replacement Teacher for Position on Jeju Island” immediately seized my romantic heart and simultaneously thrust it into a swift commitment to international travel. Countless daydreams, e-mails, blogs, and Skype-talks later, the unpalatable task of connecting the American Indian Movement with the Vietnam War became but a trifling setback in my newly tailored plan for escape; three short weeks following my University graduation, I was due to arrive on Jeju-do, South Korea.
Kim Ok Sun’s foreigner photography exhibition, Jeju, South Korea
In 1653, Jeju met its first foreigner. It came in the form of a shipwrecked Dutchman named Hendrick Hamel. The local community must not have liked what they saw, as they immediately shipped Hamel and his crew off the island to live in captivity in Seoul. It took Hamel and a handful of crewmates nearly 13 years to escape.
Nowadays, Jeju is far more hospitable to its foreign guests. The island attracts an eclectic group of foreigners who have come to live here for wildly different reasons. Their lives and dreams have become the subject of an award winning photo project by fine art photographer Kim Oksun.
Wiki Jeju
November issue
Contact Jeju Life
(Editor-In-Chief)
Cell Phone: 010-4595-7174
Email updates
Media
'The Girl from Ipanema', Shilla Hotel
Tommy & Vessy Vichev
-
Jeju Life Blog- Jeju Life updates and new stories about the island (aquarium and Korean aviation museum to be built), Jeju, South Korea
- No Starbucks on Jeju? Here’s why… so far
- Well the web site looks like it’s working, Jeju, South Korea
- Ballantine’s golf tournament and World Boxing Council convention 2009, medical tourism, Jeju, South Korea
- If I’m reading it in print, then I’m ‘in the minority’ according to a New York Times story, Jeju, South Korea
- More building projects galore, Jeju, South Korea
- An overview of known blogs about Jeju, Jeju, South Korea
- Jeju Development Center now plans to build a “huge winter sports complex”, Jeju South Korea
- More on Alddreu Airfield, AP Stylebook, Jeju, South Korea
- Jeju Life on KBS1 (상방송 제주가 보인다|), Jeju, South Korea
- World Famous in Korea