2014 March 14-20 - Shanghai 上海 & Jeju Island (S. Korea) 제주도 / 濟州島 Fly-drive trip

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14 March 2014

Singapore->Shanghai 上海

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We arrived at the Terminal 3 of Changi International Airport at about 10am in the morning and took a 5-hr China Eastern flight to Shanghai.

Arrival at Pudong International Airport.

We took a chartered MPV to the hotel.

After we checked in to the rooms and it was close to dinner time. We walked 10 mins to the Yu Garden 豫园

Yu Garden 豫园 was first built in 1559 during the Ming Dynasty by Pan Yunduan as a comfort for his father, the minister Pan En, in his old age. Pan Yunduan began the project after failing one of the imperial exams, but his appointment as Governor of Sichuan postponed construction for nearly twenty years until 1577. The garden was the largest and most prestigious of its era in Shanghai, but eventually its expense helped ruin the Pans.

The gardens suffered damage numerous times during the 19th century. During the First Opium War, the British army used the Huxinting Teahouse as a base of operations for several days in 1842. During the Taiping Rebellion, the Small Swords Society ran its headquarters in the Dianchun Hall; by the time Qing troops recovered the garden, the original structures had nearly all been destroyed. They were damaged again by the Japanese in 1942 before being repaired by Liangshun Han appointed by the Shanghai Government from 1956 to 1961. They were opened to the public in 1961 and declared a national monument in 1982.

Here we had the famous xiao long bao 小笼包 meal at 南翔馒头店 restaurant

This is 汤包 where there is pork broth inside, and you need to use straw to suck out the pork broth.

We took a subway train to The Bund 上海外滩

The Shanghai Bund 上海外滩

It was already quite late and we slowly walked back to the hotel, since it was not that far and the climate was cooling. We rested well for the night.

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15 March 2014

Shanghai 上海

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We woke up early and took a subway train to Nanjing Road Shopping Street.

Nanjing Road (南京路) is the main shopping street of Shanghai, China, and is one of the world's busiest shopping streets. The street is named after the city of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu neighbouring Shanghai. Today's Nanjing Road comprises two sections, Nanjing Road East and Nanjing Road West. In some contexts, "Nanjing Road" refers only to what was pre-1945 Nanjing Road, today's Nanjing Road East, which is largely pedestrianised. Before the adoption of the pinyin romanisation in the 1950s, its name was rendered as Nanking Road in English.

We had our brunch at the famous fried dumpling shop 小杨生煎

Another famous 小笼包 shop

We stopped at a dessert shop for ice cream.

Next, we took the subway train to the central business district at 浦西

We took an elevator to the top of the Shanghai Stock Exchange 上海证券交易所

From the top, we can see the panoramic city view of Shanghai

Oriental Pearl TV Tower 东方明珠电视塔

For dinner we went to Wanda Plaza of上海五角场

Here we had grilled fish for dinner. After that we walked around the shopping malls there.

We went back to the hotel to rest for the night.

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16 March 2014

Shanghai 上海 -> Jeju 제주도 / 濟州島

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Early morning, we went to Yu Garden 豫园 again for breakfast and morning stroll.

Locals doing taiji

We went back to the hotel and checked out.

From there we went to the airport, and boarded a flight to Jeju.

After we landed after an hour and a half's flight, we took a shuttle bus to KT Kumho Car Rental office near the Jeju Aiport to collect our car.

From the car rental office, we drove for an hour to our Jeju Airbnb residence.

Welcome to Joandola!

There were two traditional Korean houses in the compound. Joaquim Kim and his wife (Anna) stayed in one and the other was rented by us for a 2-night stay.

Cosy interior. 3 bedrooms, a dining area, kitchenette and bathroom, fully furnished and WIFI.

Their pet dogs and cat also lived in the compound.

Joaquim recommended us to have dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant. He drove his car and led us there.

Seafood Fisheries Restaurant very near to Seongsan Ilchulbong 성산 일출봉 (Sunrise Peak)

Freshly caught fish from the shop's aquarium.

After dinner, we drove back to the house to rest for the night.

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17 March 2014

Jeju 제주도 / 濟州島

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Early morning at 6am, Hwee Ling and I set off to Seongsan Ilchulbong 성산 일출봉 (Sunrise Peak).

Seongsan Ilchulbong, also called ‘Sunrise Peak’, is an archetypal tuff-cone formed by hydrovolcanic eruptions upon a shallow seabed about 5 thousand years ago. Situated on the eastern seaboard of Jeju Island and said to resemble a gigantic ancient castle, this tuff cone is 182 meters high, has a preserved bowl-like crater and also displays diverse inner structures resulting from the sea cliff. These features are considered to be of geologic worth, providing information on eruptive and depositional processes of hydromagmatic volcanoes worldwide as well as past volcanic activity of Seongsan Ilchulbong itself.

We parked the car at the open car park at the entrance of Seongsan Ilchulbong 성산 일출봉 (Sunrise Peak) and climbed up to the summit. It took half an hour and we reached the peak.

Too bad the fog was too thick and cloudy as well, we could not see the sunrise at the peak.

Hence we slow descended the mountain.

Misty view of the Seongsan Peninsula coastline

By the time we got back near the entrance, we could see the sun slightly above the horizon.

We got back to the car and drove back to the house.

A simple breakfast was prepared and the girls woke up just in time for breakfast.

Abby played with the dogs outside the house.

After breakfast, we set off to Seopjikoji 섭지코지

Seopjikoji is renowned for its scenic view of rapeseeds field (canola) and lighthouse by the cliff. It is often used filming site with Seongsan Ilchulbong as the backdrop.

Next to the Jeju Folk Village 제주민속촌.

If you watched Korean Drama "Dae Jang Geum", some scenes were taken here. It speak volume of this museum. The whole walk may take 2 hours or so if you read the description.

We bought some locally-made cactus candies from here.

Next off to Manjanggul Cave 만장굴

Manjanggul Cave is one of the top ten lava tubes to visit that was formed about 200,000-300,000 years ago. It is one of 7 Geomunoreum lava tubes of Jeju Island and located in the North East area.

Next stop was the Kimmyong Maze Park.

The girls made it through successfully in good time.

It was getting late, we drove back to the house and cooked a simple dinner.

After dinner at about 8pm, Hwee Ling and I drove ourselves to Jeju Loveland, near Jeju-si City.

Jeju Loveland (제주러브랜드) (also known as Love Land) is an outdoor sculpture park which opened in 2004 on Jeju. The park is focused on a theme of sex, running sex education films, and featuring 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions.

By the time we got back to the house, it was past midnight.

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18 March 2014

Jeju 제주도 / 濟州島

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Rise and shine! We would be shifting to another Airbnb house closer to Jeju-si City, and served as a base to visit the western part of Jeju Island. We said goodbye to Joaqium and Anna and thank them for their warm hospitality.

We started driving westwards through the country roads.

And our first stop was the Jeju Mini Land (Miniature Park) 제주미니랜드

Next we visited the Sangumburi Crater 산굼부리山君不离, not far from Miniland.

Sangumburi Crater is the crater of an extinct volcano. Unlike its brethren Halla-san and Seongsan Ilchubong, this one exploded quickly, but did not spew much lava nor did it form much of a surrounding cone. This phenomenon is called maru in Korean, and Sangumburi is the only one of its kind in the country, making it Natural Monument #263. The remaining crater is 100 meters deep and an average of 350 meters across. Over 400 species of plants and animals live inside the crater.

See how big the crater was.

We proceeded to have lunch at a local eatery.

After lunch, we drove on towards Jeju-si.

We drove through Jeju-si and stopped over at Lotte Mart to buy groceries. We arrived at Gwoo's House (another Airbnb house).

The owner's family stayed at the ground floor, and we occupied the entire unit upstairs.

Fully-furnished: 3 bedrooms, a hall and kitchen

We went back to Lotte Mart for dinner and came back to Gwoo's house to rest for the night.

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19 March 2014

Jeju 제주도 / 濟州島

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Our first stop was the O'Sulloc Museum 오설록 티뮤지엄

Exhibits about green tea, an observatory with countryside views & a popular gift shop & cafe.

Rows of tea plantation.

The girls learnt to design their own greentea soap

Here's the retail shop inside the museum that sold Innisfree products.

After soap-making and purchase of Innisfree items, it was dessert time.

Next we visited the Cheonjeyeon Falls 천제연폭포

Next we visited the 正房瀑布 Jeongbang Falls 정방폭포

Jeongbang Falls (정방폭포) is only waterfall in Asia that falls directly into the ocean. Jeongbang Waterfall is situated by a high cliff by the sea.

Next we went to the Mystery Road.

Mysterious Road 신비의도로 (도깨비도로)

Nothing is more baffling than the strange movement of things on the Mysterious Road of Jeju Island. Objects on the road roll up the hill instead of moving downwards. How could this be possible? On the surface, this upward movement appears to defy the laws of gravity but in reality, the phenomenon is just a mere optical illusion.

The Mysterious Road or the Dokkaebi Road in Jeju Island is one of the numerous magnetic hills scattered around the world. A slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope due to the seemingly high surroundings, creating an optical illusion that objects roll uphill.