Day 5: 15 May 2024, Wednesday

Day 5 of our trip, and the third day of our Jeju RTI. It was another beautiful day for cycling, with the temperature at a cool 15 degrees C at 7:00am before rising to a maximum of 22 degrees in the early afternoon. Today’s agenda was to cycle 57.4km from Seogwipo to Seongsan, with an elevation gain of 334 metres and two checkpoints along the way. The distance is about 10km longer than yesterday, but with 140 metres less elevation gain.

We felt well-rested after yesterday’s short ride. By this time, we were really getting into the swing of things in terms of packing our luggage and gearing up for the ride. After checking out of our Heyy, Seogwipo Hotel at 8:00am, we cycled to a McDonald’s restaurant nearby for our breakfast. I ordered a hash brown, vanilla latte and Bacon Egg McGriddles, something we don’t have on the menu in Singapore.

After a few delays due to a slight bicycle technical issue and bowel movements by a member of our group, we left McDonald’s around 9:15am and cycled to Jeongbang Waterfall, about 10 minutes away by bike. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that there was free admission from 15 to 19 May 2024 in celebration of the inauguration of the Korea Heritage Service, so we saved on the 2,000 won (S$2) admission fee. In fact, the free admission extended to other sites like Sanbangsan Mountain and Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, which we had visited last evening and paid the admission fee – we went one day too early to take advantage of the promo!

After passing through the ticket check point, we climbed down a flight of stairs to reach the lower level where the coast was. Another short flight of steps led us to the rocky shore, where we could see the waterfall from afar. If you want to get even closer to the base of the waterfall, you have to traverse over the large rocks; there is no proper footpath.

Jeongbang Falls is 23 metres high, 8 metres wide and 5 metres deep. It is also called Jeongbanghapok because it looks like white silk hanging from the heavens. The spray from the waterfall and the light from the morning sun resulted in a small rainbow stretching across the pool, creating a magical sight. Whereas Cheonjiyeon is surrounded by lush evergreen forest, Jeongbang is surrounded by rocky cliffs and the ocean. Being taller, Jeongbang is more impressive visually, with greater discharge volume. Both waterfalls are beautiful in their own way so I can’t say which one is better, but perhaps Jeongbang is more unique because it is the only waterfall in Asia where the water falls directly into the sea.

It was still relatively quiet when we visited at 9:30am, and we managed to take many photos before the crowds started to arrive as we were about to leave 15 minutes later. Based on our experience, it is good to be the first in, or the last out to avoid the crowds. After we were done with our visit to Jeongbang Falls, we officially started our day’s cycling at 10:00am.

The first part was pretty nice as it was along the coast. We then cycled past a few small villages where there were some sections with slopes. However, the slopes were friendly as they were mostly U-shaped, where the downslope was followed immediately by an upslope, so we could use the momentum from the downslope to help us crest over the upslope.

Along the way, we met the other group from Team Max Adventure several times, and saw their support vehicle with spare bicycles on the roof of the van. When we first saw them two days ago, they had four cyclists and a guide, but apparently only two cyclists remained today. Perhaps the other two cyclists had dropped out and decided to take the vehicle instead. Thus, having a support vehicle is a double-edged sword: it can be useful in situations where you really cannot cycle anymore, or it can also encourage you to drop out just because the option is available.

About 20 minutes later, we arrived at Soesokkak, our first checkpoint for the day. There wasn’t anything particularly special at Soesokkak so we left immediately after collecting our stamps. We knew we had a longer distance to cover today, and we also started cycling late after the excursion to Jeongbang Falls earlier, so we didn’t want to waste time unnecessarily.

After that, we went inland and cycled along a main highway, which was pretty uneventful. About an hour later, we hit the coast again and it was much nicer. I still enjoyed seeing the ocean but by now, the general consensus was that it wasn’t “WOW WOW WOW” like the first day, maybe just “wow wow” now.

Around 11:45am, we cycled past an area where there was a road ramp leading to the water. Surprisingly, PL suggested making a stop here for us to go “play with water”. He said it would be a pity if we came to Jeju and did not even touch the sea. So we went down to the rocky coast and touched the water. The sea water was cool and sparkling clear. It was a brief, but memorable stop. I’m glad we came here and enjoyed the impromptu moment.

At 12:25pm, we arrived at Pyoseon Beach, the second checkpoint for the day. It was a very fine day to be at the beach and many locals were here with their families to enjoy a day out. The sand was white and the water was light blue as the beach was very shallow. It was the largest sandy beach we had encountered so far. On the previous two days, the coastline was mostly rocks with not much sand. Here at Pyoseon Beach, there was around 1km of white sand from the innermost part of the bay to the water, which was pretty impressive.

We decided to grab lunch here and PL found a restaurant on NAVER Map called Pyoseon Pork Cutlet, which had good reviews. From the outside, you couldn’t really tell it was a restaurant because it was just a plain shopfront without the usual photos of the dishes being displayed. It was cosy inside, with six tables accommodating around 24 diners. However, it must be a pretty popular restaurant because it had an English menu, and the tables filled up shortly after we arrived.

We were quite hungry so we each ordered the Half & Half pork cutlet (11,000 won/S$11), which comprised half portion of roll cheese and half portion of black pig pork cutlet. We also ordered the croquette (4 pieces) and two servings of fried shrimp (2 x 3 pieces) to share. Including drinks and beer, the bill amounted to 71,000 won (S$71), which is very reasonable. The food was super delicious and I enjoyed the meal very much – good choice of restaurant by PL!

After the satisfying lunch, we resumed cycling at 2:00pm. From Pyoseon, it was another 20km to our hotel at Seongsan. We were full of energy and motivation so we cycled pretty fast. However, the last section as we approached Seongsan was very windy and our progress was hampered. It was our first taste of encountering strong and persistent headwinds, a preview of what was to come tomorrow.

We eventually made it to our Blue Mountain Hotel at Seongsan at 3:20pm. My Strava showed that we had cycled 61.31km, with an elevation gain of 299 metres. The actual distance was about 3.9km longer than projected, but with slightly less elevation gain. Overall, we felt quite satisfied with the ride today. It was definitely not as tiring as the previous two days, in terms of the distance and slopes. And we completed the ride in good time too.

Our hotel room was cosy and simple, and once again, the bath towels were half-size, just like the ones in Daejeong. IH and PL couldn’t turn on the cool mode of the air-con in our respective rooms (it was only working in heater mode) so IH went to ask the receptionist about it. He replied that there was no need for air-conditioning because the temperature would drop to 12 degrees C at night. Ohhh kayyy… The television in PL’s room also wasn’t working, but it worked fine in our room. Overall, this was perhaps the least satisfactory hotel among the ones we stayed in Jeju, but IH said that the rain shower here was the strongest and the most shiok, so that was the saving grace for him.

I think the main selling point for Blue Mountain Hotel is its excellent location. At around 4:45pm, IH, ZY and I went out to explore our surroundings (PL chose to rest in the room). We realised that we were just five minutes’ walk away from the entrance of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak, the top (and only) attraction at Seongsan. Thus, Blue Mountain Hotel is perfectly placed for those who wish to do the early morning hike up to see the sunrise at 5:30am.

Earlier, we tried asking our hotel receptionist for recommendations on any good massage places, restaurants and things to do in Seongsan, but he wasn’t able to provide anything useful. I also did a search on NAVER Maps but nothing good came up. Thus, we walked around the immediate area of our hotel, hoping to find something interesting to occupy our evening.

We saw a handful of restaurants nearby so we knew at least we wouldn’t starve. I found a place for massage on NAVER Maps, but when we walked to the location, we discovered that it had already closed down. Hence, it looked like the only thing for us to do was to hike up Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak.

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak is a tuff cone, which means it is a volcanic ash hill. It was formed about 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Most tuff cones are formed mainly by one eruption but Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak was formed by three eruptions. The name Seongsan means “fortress mountain” and it got its name because the mountaintop is surrounded by 99 oddly-formed rocks, giving it an appearance of a fortress.

The wind was howling and very strong. I wasn’t properly dressed because I thought we were going for a casual stroll around our neighbourhood, and I didn’t expect to hike up the peak today. I was wearing my Keen sandals instead of shoes, and I didn’t have my gloves and beanie with me. I would have preferred to go back to the hotel to change my footwear and get my extra layers, but it was getting late and we didn’t want to miss the sunset. Hence, we decided to just go ahead with the hike.

To our pleasant surprise, admission was free again, due to the celebration of the inauguration of the Korea Heritage Service (just like at Jeongbang Waterfall), so we saved on the 5,000 won (S$5) admission fee. At the ticket check booth, there are two trails – the one on the left is the Free Trail and the one on the right is the Summit Trail. We took the path on the right towards the summit.

The first section of the trail was a stone path with a gentle incline. There was no vegetation to block the wind so I walked very briskly to escape the cold. After three minutes, the stone path was replaced by proper, paved stone steps and it became steeper. For this part of the trail, there were trees to provide some relief from the strong wind. I pressed on quickly but IH and ZY’s legs were sore from the cycling so they climbed slowly and steadily.

The view got better and better the higher we climbed. We could see the entire peninsula and the town below, including our Blue Mountain Hotel, which was one of the tallest buildings there. We could also see how strong the wind was, just by looking at the ripples of the waves in the sea. In the distance was Udo Island, the largest among the 63 islands of Jeju (but still small) and known for its scenic beaches, rocky cliffs and sea caves. Udo Island would have been worth a visit but we didn’t have time for it on this trip.

We continued climbing and reached the peak at 5:50pm, about 20 minutes after we started. Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak is only 180 metres above sea level, so it isn’t that high. Just a little bit taller than our Bukit Timah Hill in Singapore (164 metres). By that time, most of the tourists had already descended so it wasn’t crowded at all.

At the summit was a large, stepped seating gallery made of wooden planks, perhaps with a capacity of around 300 people. The tuff cone itself was covered in grass. It was quite cool to see the tuff cone, but honestly, the aerial view of the entire cone as commonly depicted in brochures and online is better. However, I think watching the sunrise here will be quite amazing. We originally considered doing the sunrise trek tomorrow, but it would involve waking up very early and starting the climb at around 4:30am to make it in time for the sunrise at 5:30am. But now that we’re here, we didn’t need to come up again tomorrow.

We spent around 20 minutes at the peak taking photos and soaking in the views before heading down again. It was too cold to linger any longer anyway. As we climbed down the wooden staircase, the view was even better because the entire Seongsan town was laid out before us. The clouds were also clearing up so the evening sun peeked through and cast a magical glow on the sea and mountains in the distance.

After descending, we made a detour to check out the Free Trail section. At that height, we couldn’t see the top of the tuff cone so it was just a view of the cliff and the beach below. Nothing really fantastic, that’s why it’s free. We were back at the ticket check booth at 6:30pm, so we spent an hour in all visiting Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak.

After a visit to the gift shop, we met up with PL for dinner. The skies had cleared up by then and the sun was fully out. It would have been even nicer to climb up the peak now. ZY craved for ice-cream so we walked around to find an ice-cream shop but they were all closed. We then settled for dinner at Eoureum Seongsan Black Pork restaurant, which was located just opposite our hotel.

Eoureum was more atas than the black pork restaurant we tried in Jeju-si. Each table had a hood to suck up all the smoke from the grill so the restaurant, or more importantly, our clothes didn’t reek of smoke or oil. We ordered a serving of the regular black pork and a serving of the more premium one, as well as a bowl of cold noodles to share. And of course, some beer to go with it. The server came to our table, sliced the meat and grilled the pork cubes in front of us, ensuring that it was cooked to perfection.

The more premium pork was available in limited quantities each day but we found that it wasn’t as good as the regular one, so we ordered a second portion of the regular pork because it was so good. Especially when you wrap it in the fresh green lettuce leaves and eat them together – the lettuce provides a counterbalance to the heatiness of the grilled pork. The final bill came up to 127,000 won (S$127), slightly pricey but great value considering the quality. It was a fantastic dinner and we enjoyed it tremendously. This was perhaps the best meal of the entire trip.

After dinner, there was nothing else to do so we went back to our hotel to shower and gathered in PL’s room to play Bridge, our favourite pastime, until 10pm before we called it a night. Another great day in Jeju but it’s almost the end of our trip, boo hoo!

Here’s a video clip of the highlights from Day 5: