Cheju (part 1)

Up early and on the subway to Kimpo Airport. How many hours, days did we spend there waitng for our beloved children in and out of Japan? Tears when they left and Terry would say tears when they came back, with all that art work from school which liberally shed it bits all over the floor when we unpacked the cases! The subway was amazing. At the airport within the hour from Bangbaedong!

Munching on our snacks we watched the inaugural flight of a new airline. All the lovely Korean girls out to clap and cheer as the plane took to the air for Cheju. 

And we too took flight in the old familiar blue colours of Korean Air - service second to none. They managed to serve drinks with charm and poise to a whole flight within 50 minutes of taking off and landing. Korean efficiency at its best.

And so to Cheju where the slogan "We love having you here" met us at every turn and made us feel welcome and adored!! We had some idea of what we wanted to do but ...

... we had reckoned without Onesimus! There he was to be our constant companion for the next two days. What a lovely man! Such fun to be with. He drove us round in a Bongo and made our time in Cheju a box of delights! We have a rental phone from the airport which frequently rings as so many people now have our number. Great when Onesimus is there to interpret!

The harubangs - strange inhabitants of Cheju Island. Nobody knows where they came from or who they are. Onesimus pointed out to me more than once that the females are strangely absent. I told him that as ever they were somewhere else getting the job done while the men just stand around! But we thought Terry ought to see which man I had my arm round!

And here she is with her arms round another man. On the edge of San'gumburi, the second largest of Cheju's 100+ volcanic craters. We were all set to climb Halla-san but it would have taken too much time. Well that's our story and we are sticking to it!

Not again Mum!

Now here's a sight for people with rough heels - a roof covered in pumice stone. All rock on Cheju is volcanic. And there are even dry stone walls but all with the same rock!

Broiled pork for lunch with Tim as the sous chef. Korea may be modern but we are still sitting on the floor in many restaurants and for this woman it has been surprisingly hard to do. I know now that I am not as young and supple as I think I am! Great meal - the first of many Tim is managing to tick off his list of one hundred things I need to eat before I leave Korea. We have discovered that "Korean style coffee" comes free wherever you eat. Two inches of hot very sweet coffee made with a packet mix. No wonder I am putting on weight!

A sensible man our Onesimus! Very into the occasional put your feet up place. So while I fell asleep momentarily on my own platform under the glorious pines of Cheju the two men sat around putting the world to rights on a platform with knobs on designed to massage whatever anatomy was in contact - or at least to leave a pattern! No they didn't show me!

Close up of the boy relaxing. This is definitely the life.

You go through life discovering so much that you didn't know. Cheju is a world heritage site but also a centre for peace. In 1948 there was a terrible incident when thousands of islanders were slaughtered because the South Koreans and the occupying Americans decided they were Communist sympathisers. Whole villages torched and appalling things happened - truly Korea's own Killing Field. All now well documented and in a beautiful though harrowing museum. A sober reminder of man's inhumanity to man.

Liz, Steve and Tim all went to boarding school in Japan, which made our Korean friends feel sorry for them and want to spoil them when they came home. They also had Korean friends of their own age and played together happily without a common language other than a shared childhood. So here they are - still not able to communicate much but enough to remember "when we were two little boys." Jin U is the son of my closest Korean friend. Now a Chinese medicine doctor, as is his sister in the USA, and as was his dear grandfather.

What a cute child. Jin U's daughter aged 7. Her name is Chey Young. Her eyes were very wide as this strange woman spoke Korean and her father explained to her who we were and why we were special.

Jin U invited us to dinner at a very wonderful and tiny traditional restaurant where every dish was amazing. You can see that we made short work of this plate of abalone which is a special dish on the island. Space forbids us letting you see the rest!

And so to bed at the end of our first day on the island. Luxury indeed - a room each at the Navy Hotel. It was a bit dated but for us just great with a proper bath and shower! Onesimus and his church had decided that it was just the place for us to stay, their treat - in other words, yet another expression of the hospitality and generous love that is our lot in this country.