October 12,

Up and about by 0630. Jeff used the TENS unit- he was sore a tiny bit, but the use was more preventative. We move on today, so he’ll be schlepping the bags. We had our Javas and breakfast of Muesli and yogurts; packed our stuff; checked out; and into a taxi. There has been a taxi outside of our hotel each morning and conveniently it was there again this morning. The air is crisp-cool and the skies are loaded with layers of white clouds. It must have rained sometime early this morning as everything is still damp. We were blessed with awesome weather in Jeonju! The dampness was a surprise.

We arrived at the train station by 0930, early. Our taxi driver was a speed demon! He was an older man, kind of hunched over… didn’t expect him to drive fast. At one point he was cruising at 95 kph, this is just under 60 mph, but this is fast for Asia in general. We sat as our train didn’t have an assigned platform yet. About 0940 our train was assigned a track, so we went there. I got a few steps in and the train arrived three minutes late, at 1000. We boarded and had not even sat before it took off. A car attendant confirmed where we were going and left, not looking at our tickets. At least someone checked with us- no one ever did on our previous train.

Underway, we are on a high speed train with stops. We pass through many tunnels, and go by endless villages all connected by a two lane divided highway, mingled with small plots of farm land being worked on rolling hills. We arrived in Suncheon just after 1100. We hired our second taxi to take us to the airport. We arrived at the airport and sat for a few minutes as the place for checking bags was still closed. Finally we checked them – no problems.

We stopped, before security, at a little cafe, SSOJA Toast. for lunch. We both had a Toast sandwich of cheese, ham, egg with corn, and bacon with red sauce slaw. It was not too bad, and made us realize we were missing sandwiches! It cost us 10,400 KRW, or $7.32. After we finished, we went through security and boarded our plane by 1300. We are flying Korean Air. Our plane backed up at 1330, and took off by 1341. I think we were seven minutes late. Right away the flight crew offered juice from trays, not a food cart! I had OJ, Jeff had Tomato Juice. We just finished and had given our trash when it was announced to prepare for landing!! It was just 1356! Landed at 1415. That was probably one of the shortest flights I have ever taken with an air time of only 34 minutes!!! The plane unloaded on the tarmac. It is warm!

     Welcome to Jeju, Korea!!!

We exited and collected bags, by 1430. The airport here on Jeju is an international one and substantially larger than Yeosu Airport where we left from. We found the taxi stand and we loaded in one at our turn. Jeff gave him our hotel name, and showed him the location on the map. The taxi driver pulled over on the shoulder and played a recording along the lines of don’t get mad, cuss, etc. then a lady operator connected over the speaker. He talked with her and she asked for the name of our hotel and address. Jeff was frustrated as we were paying while sitting on the road – going nowhere. Finally the operator found the hotel and told the driver in Korean, and we went the 2 km or 1.2 miles to our place, Hotel B. The ride cost 6400 KRW or $4.49. We walked into the hotel to find check in at a kiosk, with a person talking to us remotely through CCTV. This is crazy, but we got to our room on the second floor. Jeff unloaded as I started noting stuff down..

We went out, walking to the 5 Day Market. The market is open on days ending in a “2” or “7,” as today is the 12th. It was back near the airport, so we got steps in. We arrived and meandered through the large open air covered space. Everything was for sale here: clothes, household goods, fresh fruit and veggies, beans, and all kinds of food stands. We bought an ear of corn from one stall and then Bingddeok, or a Buckwheat Cake, which was like a crepe filled with white shredded veg (maybe radish or potato and chive) from another stall. Each item cost us 1,000 KRW or 70 cents. We were still hungry, but most of the other hot foods were fried so we left. We found a place called Nanta Pizza 5000. We ordered a veggie pizza and got it as takeaway. We paid 12,000 KRW or $8.42 and took it back to our place for supper.

Then we talked with my mother and turned in.