Friday, July 3, 2009

The Hawaii of South Korea



We are now on Jeju island and our first stop is the Natural History Museum. The island is very much like Hawaii and volcanic rocks are everywhere. On the island, they have a statue named “Dolharubang” (stone grandfather figure). He is a fertility figure and you are supposed to touch the nose for boys and the ear for girls. The Dolharubang statues are spread out all over the island, so John tried to touch as many noses as he could. I hope this superstition doesn’t hold true because I don’t think I could live with ALL boys!

After reading about the history of Jeju island, we moved on to Yongdaum (Dragon Head Rock). Legend says that this rock formation occurred when a cocky young dragon tried to leave his watery world to live in heaven. I don’t really see the dragon, but it’s a neat looking rock.

Our last stop of the day was the O’Sulloc Green Tea Museum. The fields of green tea bushes were gorgeous and the freshly cooked smell of green tea leaves inside the museum was amazing. The green tea ice cream that we tried, however, was not very tasty. Yuck!

2 comments:

  1. Is O'Sulloc an Irish Korean name? LYMI Momma

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  2. Dolharubang looks more like the god of "I never should have eaten those silkworms." And John's impression of him is perfect ! Yongdaum....isn't that the Grandfather Mountain of South Korea?
    Safe travels home, you two.
    Julie

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