Jeju Island

It's time to talk about something I wanted to write for quite some time.... Jeju Island!! :)

I -yet again- knew I wanted to go to Jeju since I saw it on My Name is Kim Sam Soon and hopefully I will go  there soon n_n

Or Island of the Gods as is also known, Jeju-do is the only special autonomus province of South Korea  is located in the Korea Strait (The Korea Strait is a sea passage between South Korea and Japan) southwest of Jeollanam-do Province and it became a separate province in 1946. It's capital is the city of Jeju.
It's one of the top honeymoon destinations for Korean Newlyweds because is very similar to Hawai due frequent rains and temperate climate, this Island is a volcanic Island dominated by Halla-San  (Halla Mountain), a volcano 1,950 metres high and the highest mountain in South Korea.

Gotjawal Forest is an area that remained untouched until the 21st century, as its base of "'A'a" lava ("stony rough lava",) and made it difficult to develop for agriculture. Thanks to this the forest remained untouched for a long time and it has a unique ecology, this forest is the main source of groundwater because the raingwater penetrates directly into the groundwater aquifer through the cracks of the 'A'a lava under the forest.

Gotjawal forest is considered an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, especially as Waterfowl Habitat) by some researchers because it is the habitat of unique species of plants and is the main source for the residents, although to date it has not been declared a Ramsar site.

According to the legend, 3 demi-gods emerged from Samsing-hyeol wich is said to have been on the northen slopes of Mt. Halla and became the progenitors of the Jeju people who founded the Kingdom of Tamna. It has also been claimed that three brothers including Ko-hu who were the 15th descendants of Koulla, one of the Progenitors of the Jeju people, were received by the court of Silla at which time the name Tamna was officially recognized, while the official government posts of Seong-ju, Wang-ja and Do-nae were conferred by the court upon the three. While this was the golden period of Silla, the exact data is as yet unknown. However, there is no concrete evidence of when the "Three Names" (Samseong-Ko, Yang and Pu) appeared nor for the exact date of when Ko-hu and his brothers were received by Silla.

In 1931, Jeju-myeon was raised to the status of Jeju-eup or 'township' which gave the island one township (today's Jeju-si area) and 12 'myeon'. On August 1, 1946, Jeju Special Autonomous Province was removed from the 'island' system under South Jeolla province and designated as an independent province with 2 counties, North County and South County, one 'township', today's present Jeju-si area, and 12 'myeon'.

The people of Jeju have developed a culture and language that are distinct from those of mainland Korea.

Jeju is also famous for hosting many conferences and international meetings, including the World Scout Conference in July 2008. Jeju has its own convention center called International Convention Center Jeju.

The most popular tourist spots on the island are Cheonjeyeon and Cheonjiyeon watterfalls, Mount Halla, Hyeobje cave and Hyeongje Islad. Depending on the season, Jeju hosts many festivals for tourists including a penguin swimming contest in winter, cherry blossom festival in spring, the midsummer night beach festival in summer, and Jeju horse festival in autumn, among others.


Jeju was chosen as one of the 28 finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature at www.new7wonders.com
(I didn't know it was nominated for be part of the New 7 wonders of Nature, it definetly has
my vote :) )

If after all of those pics you don't feel like going to Jeju Island...there's something wrong with
you!!! (lol).

-Gisela V.