#제주도

Continued from Solo in Jeju Again – The Main Story . I'm a P to begin with, but I become even more of one when I travel. I decided to take this trip three days before leaving, and didn't start looking into accommodations, transportation, and everything else until the day before. To be fair, I'd done the same thing on my last bike trip around the island without any problems, so I wasn't worried. But wouldn't you know it: there were no spots left in the Hallasan hiking reservation system. With a daily limit of 1,500 people, I never thought it would fill up. Apparently more people like mountains than I'd realized. I poked around for a few minutes, but there was no sign of a spot opening up. After a moment of wondering what to do... I ended up writing a macro. It repeatedly sent POST requests to retrieve the capacity and number of applicants. I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat, so I made sure it wouldn't put too much strain on the server. Whenever I felt like it, I'd run it once through every date–time–trail combination in my schedule, then let it stop. I also put a 0.5-second gap between requests. When the capacity and applicant count differ, it helpfully lets me know like this This does bring to mind a writing assignment from last semester's Computer Ethics and Social Issues class... But I didn't run it constantly, and I made the reservation manually, so please let me off just this once. And it worked! Before long, I found an open spot and snapped it up. I ran the macro a few more times in hopes of getting a better date or trail. From what I saw, cancellations seemed fairly common—the spots just filled up again in the blink of an eye. With my spot secured, the trip was on, and before I knew it, hiking day had arrived. Here's what I packed: Polyester T-shirt - hiking jacket - hiking windbreaker - lightweight puffer jacket Knee braces - Heattech leggings - hiking pants Hiking socks - hiking boots Crampons , trekking poles , gloves , sunglasses , hiking backpack , stick-on heat packs Long energy bars × 4, bite-size ones × 8 500 ml bottles of water × 4 I'm not a regular hiker, so I borrowed a lot of things from my dad . I rented the snow-mountain gear from a local shop , and some things were given to me by the older guys staying at the guesthouse the night before . Not that I'd asked them for anything... There were three middle-aged men in my room, and when I first arrived we just exchanged quick hellos. But as soon as I started packing, all eyes turned to me. It began with simple questions like, “Going up Hallasan tomorrow?” and “Did you make a reservation?” Then it became, “Have you packed this and that?” and “You'll be in trouble if you wear a cotton T-shirt underneath—it'll get soaked with sweat.” Eventually, we unpacked everything I'd already packed and started over together. When they gave me the T-shirt and energy bars, it felt less like “These might come in handy” and more like “You'll be in serious trouble without these.” They also gave me loads of advice about the hike—too much to list here without getting boring. Most of it was incredibly helpful, but some of it wasn't quite right. So throughout this post, I'll be testing their advice and marking it True or False . Surprise Mystery TV Cute --> The first piece of advice was... Your entry time doesn't matter! Sprint up like a ninja the moment the clock strikes six and claim your photo with the summit marker. My entry time in the reservation system was 8 a.m., but according to the guys, only the date mattered. Besides, if you arrived late, you'd face a long line for a photo in front of the summit marker, so getting to the top before everyone else was crucial. I found it strange that this wouldn't be a problem when they clearly scanned your QR code, but all three of them agreed... So I took their word for it and left the guesthouse at 5 a.m. It was before the first bus, so I paid a whopping 18,000 won for a taxi and reached the entrance to the Seongpanak Trail at 5:55. I got in line, and then it was my turn. I zoomed in on the QR code before showing it to the attendant—5% so it would scan properly, 95% to hide the entry time printed underneath. But the attendant promptly asked to see my entry time and turned me away with, “Come back at 7:50.” I'd had my doubts, but still... I ended up waiting at the information center for about two hours. So the very first piece of advice was False! While wondering how to pass the time, I remembered that <Love and Leashes> was coming out on Netflix that day, so I opened the app. It wasn't available yet. Turns out the release time was based on Pacific Standard Time. Two disappointments before the morning was even over—not a great start. I tried watching it back at the guesthouse that night, but this time I couldn't handle the cringe and gave up before the 30-minute mark. Still, time flew by while I watched YouTube. I gathered myself, and now it was time to actually set off! 7:50 a.m. Entered via Seongpanak I still wasn't sure whether I wanted to wait ages for a photo with the summit marker. But if I did, I figured new hikers would arrive faster than people finished taking their photos and left ( ṁ in > ṁ out haha... ), so I headed up quickly for now. The cold drains your phone battery fast. If you want to take photos at the summit, turn your phone off as soon as you start hiking. That was another piece of advice. So I didn't take any photos on the way up and focused solely on walking. The first time I switched my phone on and took a picture was in front of the Jindallaebat Shelter, about two-thirds of the way up. 9:47 a.m. Jindallaebat Shelter <

Work in progress Continued from Jeju Island Solo Again - The Main Story . I found Hallim Park while looking for things to do in Hallim. It was winter and there was an admission fee, but the reviews were so good that I decided to go. I was very glad I did. I should have known when they said it covered 100,000 pyeong Apparently, many of the park’s trees, including this palm, grew from seeds planted when the park first opened. The park was established in 1971, so this tree is the same age as my school. Mr. Buffett preaching the importance of long-term investing With someone who has such lovely hair,,,^^ All the signs are made of pottery with blue lettering written in permanent marker. They remind me of white porcelain and are really pretty. Next up, a cave. It’s surprising enough to find a cave inside a privately run park, but Hyopjae Cave is apparently of great academic value: shell powder blown in from the sea gives it features of both a lava tube and a limestone cave. Cave coral like I saw in <Survival in a Cave> when I was in elementary school 🌻🌻🌻 🌻🌻🌻 That’s just mean They even misspelled “bald.” They didn’t know how to spell it; they just wanted to make fun of him somehow.. bayum~

Back to Jeju. Since my first visit after COVID broke out last August, this was my third trip in six months—and my second solo trip. Like my last bike trip around the island , I had a clear goal this time: climbing Hallasan. But making a round trip to Jeju just for that seemed like too much trouble, so I made time to spend three days in Hyeopjae before the climb. Hallim Park , which I visited while staying in Hyeopjae, and Hallasan each have enough material for their own posts. This post covers the rest of the trip. Day 1 Let's go → Hallim Strange graffiti I spotted on the way to my accommodation Turns out it was a brand-new piece What a view from my room But the wind was absolutely wild... From the next day on, I had little choice but to skip the hair wax and layer up with a hoodie It was already 4 p.m. when I arrived, so I decided to just visit the Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road and rest at my accommodation on the first day. The timing was awkward, so my first meal was ramen I walked about 3 km to the Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road. I felt pressed for time with sunset approaching, but the evening light ended up giving me the best possible view. It's a strange feeling to realize I've already traveled most of the roads marked by that blue line at least once Bomal kalguksu on the way back Day 2 I had black pork noodle soup for brunch, looked around Hyeopjae Beach for a bit, then headed to Hallim Park. See the separate post for Hallim Park. Hallim Park preview 1 Hallim Park preview 2 A Geumneung Sandwich after leaving the park I grabbed my MacBook from my accommodation and headed straight back to Hyeopjae. I stopped at a café to enjoy the view somewhere warm and sort through my photos. I ordered a Udo peanut croffle . Just as I thought when I tried a croffle for the first time, it was insanely sweet. Which made it delicious. My last meal on day two was a salmon and avocado rice bowl at a place with great reviews . With an extra serving of rice, it was just the right amount, and the fresh salmon was delicious. The interior was very cozy too, but there were a lot of people, so I didn't take a photo. They also have a solo dining set with sashimi and drinks, so it might be worth another visit if I come to Hyeopjae alone again. I'd assumed the guesthouse had fixed rooms for men and women, but they switched between its two differently sized rooms depending on the guests. On the first night, I shared the larger room with three others. Several women were arriving the next day, so as the only guest staying a second night, I moved rooms. In the new room, I met a 31-year-old vocational high school architecture teacher and a 23-year-old university student. The student seemed distraught from the moment he walked in and soon admitted he'd had an accident in his rental car on the way over. I'd heard plenty of times that driving in Jeju was difficult, but I hadn't expected to meet someone who'd had an accident so soon. Fortunately, it was a minor one: he'd scraped a wheel against a landscaping stone by the road. It was his first driving trip since getting his license, and he must have been looking forward to it. I hope he didn't let it ruin the rest of his trip and managed to have fun... Day 3 Geumneung was every bit as beautiful as Hyeopjae Soy-marinated shrimp set meal Seven-layer ganache cake Yesterday I'd visited a café to try something new. Today, with my suitcase in tow after checking out, I went into a familiar Starbucks . With a sweet slice of cake, I breezed through <If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light>. Time to head into Jeju City.

Originally posted on Instagram on September 26, 2021