Jeju Island, S. Korea

Almost two years ago, I attended the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, a 2 1/2 days conference in  the southern island of Jeju, South Korea. That was around May 29-31, 2013. Thanks to EFN Asia for that opportunity.

A day after the conference, June 01, 2013, the conference sponsors organized a free half-day tour of the island. Jeju may look small  on the map  but it is a big island, with many mountains, hills, meadows, flat lands, long coastal areas. We went to this area, the Yongnuni Oreum.

A guide explained to us the landmarks, some history of the place.

There are several hills to climb. The trail is not hard because there are mats that control or prevent soil erosion and degradation of the footpath.

In areas that are more steep, the mats are thicker. I like the wooden barriers here.

Many parts of the island are rocky. So the construction of rock walls is common in some parts of the road, or as fence and dividers among houses.

Overlooking a hill, then a valley, then another hill.

The hills are simply covered by grasses, not trees. I think trees cannot thrive naturally on those hills because they are rocky and have thin topsoil. Like the summit area of Mt. Apo in Davao and Mt. Pulag in Benguet, Philippines.

Trees thrive in gulleys and the lowlands, where there is thicker topsoil and can support the needs of thick and elaborate roots of the trees.

It is also good that trees do not thrive on the hills, otherwise they will block the view of the surrounding areas. Trees in the lowland  is great and perfect.

Haevichi Hotel & Resort, The Interiors

This sprawling hotel and resort has wide open space, wide alleys, and wide, big guest rooms.

This is my room. It has a complete kitchen facilities – stove, cooking pans, plates, knives, spoon and fork, cups, etc. They are all inside those cabinets. So if people want to cook their own food, they can buy raw food in nearby shops outside the resort, walking distance, and cook inside their guest room.

 The dinning table, which became my work area. There is wifi everywhere in the hotel – guest rooms, lobby, meeting rooms, grand ballroom.

I think all guest rooms have 2 or more bedrooms. This is my bed, with own toilet inside, own air-con, but no tv.

TV room, playroom. Inside the cabinets on the right are many pillows, blankets and bed sheets. So one can lay them down and watch tv or play in this area. One can also watch tv from the sofa, beside the dinning table.

The high tech toilet bowl, yes, this is what I always look forward to when I stay in a Korean or Japanese hotel. The seat bowl itself is heated, and see the various buttons on the left – just push any of them to choose washing your behind: warm water, room temp water, moving sprinkler, warm air to dry your behind, really cool. This same toilet bowl is also present in the toilet inside the bedroom.

The bathroom with two showers but no bath tub. Nice and cool. I like the warm water of course, it was still cold in Korea last month. 

They do not give complimentary toothbrush, toothpaste and shave for men though, only a liquid soap and shampoo.

The buffet breakfast restaurant of the Resort wing. Nice food. The cakes, cookies, other food on display though, are not part of the breakfast, for sale separately.

Haevichi Hotel & Resort, Part 2

When I posted Part 1 of this hotel, I did not realize that there is another swimming pool, an indoor with heated water, in the main hotel building. I was roaming around the resort building areas, in front of my room then.

Children would definitely love this pool as it is heated, so they can swim even during winter or spring time.

That's one beauty of this big and sprawling hotel, it has lots of open spaces.

Inside this structure. The water could be at 35 C or warmer, nice to take a dip. I discovered this after I have checked out, argh.

Side and back view of the hotel building.

Haevichi Hotel&Resort, Jeju

This is my first time to set foot on the beautiful island of Jeju, S. Korea. Our conference, the 8th Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, was held in this big and sprawling hotel.

The hotel is a rectangular building with wide open space in the middle of the four wings with a glass roof. I will post about the interiors of the hotel and resort in my next blog.

The second group of structure are the medium-rise (7-storey) and long buildings with huge rooms per unit. Below are those resort buildings.

A view from the balcony of my room on the 5th floor, I am staying at Rm 1513. Nice, cool view. Tomorrow morning, bye-bye room, I will check out to join a half day tour of selected scenic places of Jeju.

Continuation of the view from my balcony. A wide open grassland with cemented walkway, with short posts for evening lights + music, cool. There is a semi-wild area in the middle of the grassland where some wild species of flowers and short grasses are growing around a pond with naturally flowing water.

The swimming pool with a fountain in the middle. I did not have the chance to dip into this pool as time is limited, attending various panel discussions. Plus the fact that it's cold outside, should be around 20-25 C.

The glass structure below is a hallway adjacent to the grand ballroom. When there are hundreds of guests, the divider is folded and the dining tables are extended up to the hallway.

The kiddie playground with kiddie pool. If my two young girls are with me here, they might get sick as they might insist to take a bath in the cold but inviting pool.

After the bermuda grass in the resort is the road, then the black rocks and the sea. I should visit that place tomorrow before I fly to Jeju airport.

A view of the plains and the big mountain from afar, at the 5th floor of the resort building on the opposite side of my room.

I enjoyed my stay here. Very relaxing. Thanks again, EFN Asia and FNF for bringing me here for the conference.