There is no relationship comparable to the mother-daughter one. I actually got double the luck and share a unique relationship with both my mother and her mother. Then you can double that luck if you include my father-of-a-lifetime-dad and two sisters who are my best friends. But this is about my mom and her selflessness; her remarkable ability to make me feel like I am special, I am loved, I deserve to be happy, and I am making someone proud. I'm always thinking about her, but I've thought about her a lot more while being in South Korea. I spot mother-daughter duos all over the city. Typically they are arm-in-arm or holding hands and it has left me missing my mom more than usual. My mom has always been my backbone and my biggest ally. From being a difficult toddler, teenager - and, well adult too - I can be the child only a mother loves. And without hesitation - she pulls through. I always feel bad now for the awful fights we had and I hope one day to pass the unconditional love on to one of my own. She is the biggest supporter of most of my crazy, spontaneous choices. So when while in South Korea I mentioned to her how I kept hearing my students and some of the women I work with talking about Jeju Island, she replied - "well you have to go." And before I knew it, she had a ticket and room booked in Jeju City for me for the upcoming weekend. And so since mom couldn't go with me, I'll dedicate my trip on the local paradise island to her.
Being exhausted from teaching, the trip to the airport, flying, and the trip to the hotel, I went straight to bed. Plus I was getting up early for the destination I was most excited about - Hall Mountain, in Hallasan National Park. It is also referred to as Mt. Yeongjusan, meaning "mountain high enough to pull the galaxy." Mt. Halla is South Korea's tallest mountain at 6,430 feet. Considering that's the elevation I live at, it doesn't sound very high. But here in Korea, it would be the highest I could get and an extremely beautiful journey. Plus, after doing research on the only summit trail open - Seongpanak - I knew I could actually run up it, unlike Mt. Bukhansan. The hike averages 4-5 hours to the top and 5.8 miles. So I was aiming for a 2 hour run. I reached that beautiful summit view in 1 hour and 58 minutes. I got a lot of stares, but also a lot of smiles and cheers on the way down.
Since I was already in the middle of the Island, I decided to take the bus strait to the south end - Seogwipo. There are tons of attractions and secret spots I had read about. But the first thing on my to do list was get in that water! I read about Donnaeko and how you could escape 90% of the crowd there - sold. However, after a long bus ride and even longer walk - it was closed. I couldn't tell you why because I couldn't read the Korean sign - but it was clearly blocked off. So bummed out, I headed for the next beach - Jung-mun. Similar to hiking, Koreans dress head-to-toe to swim. So I just walked right into that East China Sea in my running attire. After cooling off I continued along the south coast line to observe the beauty including Odoelgae and Jeonbang waterfall.
Most popular waterfall - Jeongbang
Nothing has ever tasted so good, after the day I had.
East China Sea near Oedolgae
View of Mt. Halla as I passed it on the bus ride home.
Another one of the biggest attractions at Jeju Island is Sunrise Peak, or Seongsan Illchulbong. So at 4 a.m. Sunday morning I took a cab (it's about an our drive from Jeju City) to see the sunrise. I knew it was a risk with the consistency of fog in Korea, but I decided to give it a try since I was leaving Jeju later that day anyway. It's a pretty expensive cab ride, but the buses do not run that early and the cab driver was very kind and was going to wait for me while I visited the top and then take me back to the hotel for a really great price. Unfortunately, the fog did remain pretty heavy. But it was still beautiful and special experience.
I showed the cab driver my rather sad photos, he said, "oh, no" and then stopped here for me to capture this beautiful perspective of the peak.
After returning to the hotel, I rested up, packed, and checked out. The owner had told me the night before she wanted to take me to the airport so I left my bags there and headed to Dongmun Market. By the way the staff at Hotel Haru went completely out of their way to make my stay there as comfortable as possible. Anway - Dongmun is supposed to be the most traditional market on the island. So I did some shopping for the fam and my lovey. At the fresh fish section, the sweet Korean ladies waved me in a convinced me on a Korean Style meal. The. Food. Just. Kept. Coming. And I ate it all.
And as a beautiful ending to my trip, this was the sky as I flew out of Jeju and back to Seoul. Thank you mom not only for this special experience I will never forget, but for 30 years of being completely selfless & giving me a life full of blessings.