There wasn't enough time. In the first place we didn't know the places were so far apart, or that it would take so long to travel from one point to another. On top of that several times we ended up staying longer than expected at some locations. Like our genial fast-talking Korean van driver/tourist guide put it colloquially , we take 'many many time'. And of course we were just too lazy to wake up earlier. After all we were on vacation.
It was also the first time we tried out Airbnb accommodation overseas. Both places turned out very clean, comfy and decent. Seems Koreans are pretty hung-up about cleanliness; we even had to separate our own trash - it's an expected thing. Some of the apartment blocks have strategically placed big trash compactors for people to dump their separated rubbish. Public toilets are 1st class; the taps and toilet flush work, there is adequate toilet paper, no stuck bowls or stinking smells, plus there's piped-in-music to boot - even on a mountain top. And they are absolutely free.
Malaysia should learn from Korea. Even the iconic river that flows right through the heart of Seoul city is so clean you can see fishes swimming in the waters - literally a river of life.
The 2 princesses had done their home-work well, each taking the trouble to research and draw up a list of places to visit and things to do in both Seoul and Jeju. So it was a good balance between city and country. Seoul is... Seoul, with her high-rise towers, tons of shopping malls and ever efficient LRTs, with some 70 (or is it 90) lines criss-crossing all over the districts. A journey by LRT from one airport to another can take close to 1 hour - a crucial fact which we overlooked and therefore almost missed our connecting flight to Jeju. Not that we could do much shopping, for things are so expensive. Even essentials like food. Still we had good meals, sourcing out the little eateries along the roads and open stalls right inside their giant market-centers.
I was surprised by how big Jeju island is. Ignoramus as I am, I thought we could just hire a car and self-drive round the island. In my mind, it would be like Penang, So what if it's right-hand drive, no sweat, so I even paid for an international driving license before leaving Msia. As it turned out, we only managed to cover 1 itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie bit of Jeju, and that also thanks to a God-sent Korean, out looking for some easy money at the airport. We had first rejected his offer to transport us to our Airbnb place, but we gave up after trying to catch the local bus. There wasn't anything wrong with the bus system, the problem was us; obviously we couldn't understand the language and we didn't know the roads.
So in the end, as the guy was still hanging around patiently, we decided might as well take up his offer. And what a blessing he was to us... because his vehicle was a luxury MPV, big, nice, and definitely very comfy plus the tour-hire price was most reasonable. This was a definite bonus because we had problems with some taxis who didn't want to risk overloading with all 5 of us. Mr Pak was such a funny character. He mistook us for Indonesians at first. His English was very limited, so he would chatter away in Korean. Sometimes he even talked to himself.
Obviously he found us amusing because he would point to my children, say something and then laugh heartily. He even 'scolded' my son who was always sleeping at the back as he drove us around; but he gave the mum thumbs up because I was the only one interested enough to look around all the time. When we mentioned we wanted cheap cheap Korean food, he took us to a local eatery, instead of the fancier restaurants. He didn't complain at how long we took or how slow we were. We had booked him to cover the whole of Jeju in 1 day; but by mid-day, he pointed at the map to show us where we were, shook his head and laughed. On the last day we were wondering how to get to the airport with all our luggage, but without us contacting him, he had already turned up early at the door to fetch us. That's service indeed. When I told him Jesus loves him, he didn't understand, so I pointed to the cross on my neck and said Halleluia - immediately he grinned and said "wife, halleluia, many many halleluia " So cute...
Jeju has lots to offer indeed. From volcanic caves with deep dark tunnels where it's so cold fingers grow numb to steep treks leading to cloud-covered mountain ranges, running so close to the edge I had butterflies in my stomach as I climbed, trying to keep as far away as possible from the ropes, down to the winds of Jeju which are so strong, especially up on the mountain they literally can blow you off your feet. Yes I enjoyed Jeju, but I had one regret - we could have made better use of the time. If we had dawdled less in the museum or the maze, if we had woken up earlier.... we could have done the waterfalls which were right at the other end of Jeju. If we had not spent 5 hours climbing a mountain, we could have squeezed in a ferry trip to explore a light-house, something we have never done before. After all there are lots of mountains to climb back home in Malaysia, and as our dear guide put it succintly, "all same same". But I was taken up by the promotional blitz on the website - they claimed this was the most beautiful trail, as the whole mountain would be covered in blooming flowers. Well, they neglected to say when this would be. And of course, being taken in by the very pretty picture, I quite forgot flowers only bloom in ...spring. So nope, we didn't get to see the fantastic blooming mountain. Ahh, for the "what could have been mine....if only...."
Those must be the saddest words in human vocabulary. The chances we didn't take, the relationships we didn't have, the decisions we waited too long to make, the choices we didn't consider, the things we said or didn't say... Missing out on some of Jeju's highlights is sad, but it's no big deal. I can always take another trip another time. But missing out on the best of what God has for each of our lives on earth and in the hereafter is a totally different thing. It's so easy to miss God. After all the physical and logical world can appear so much more believable and reliable than an unseen God.
I was chatting with the ailing father of an old friend. He's hooked up on a machine that helps him breathe because he can no longer breathe on his own. He talked about how he has got nothing to live for in this world anymore, because his work is done, his children are all grown and doing well. He only wants to die, because he doesn't want to be a burden, even though he doesn't know and doesn't really care what happens after that. He's not sure this Jesus I talk about all the time is for real. He cannot grasp the love of an invisible Jesus who loves him so much as to have died for him, to save him from hell's fire. He wrinkles his brow when I speak of the joy of living that overcomes all suffering and the peace that surpasses all understanding. He smiles when I talk about a place where there's no sickness, pain, tears or sorrow, where death is conquered, time is eternal and life is forever. When I ask him if he wants to go there, he shakes his head and mutters "I don't know". I show him the packets of green tea I had brought for him, and I tell him he would never get to taste of it if he just left the tea bags lying unused. If he didn't choose to make the effort to take 1 tea bag, put it into a cup and pour hot water over it, he would truly never know.
2000 years ago, 2 common criminals hung on their cross beside Jesus Christ. One mocked Him. The other acknowledged his sin and simply asked Jesus to "remember me". And Jesus promised the latter, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) I wonder how the other criminal felt as he died without hope... remorse, anger, scorn, despair, hate..??
Life isn't about flowers or tea bags. It's dead (pun intended) serious. We only get 1 shot at it. No return trips. No second chances as we draw our last breath. It would be too late then to say ...what could have been mine.. if only....I had believed.
"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death" .... 2 Corinthians 7:10
Fotos
I was surprised by how big Jeju island is. Ignoramus as I am, I thought we could just hire a car and self-drive round the island. In my mind, it would be like Penang, So what if it's right-hand drive, no sweat, so I even paid for an international driving license before leaving Msia. As it turned out, we only managed to cover 1 itsy-bitsy-teenie-weenie bit of Jeju, and that also thanks to a God-sent Korean, out looking for some easy money at the airport. We had first rejected his offer to transport us to our Airbnb place, but we gave up after trying to catch the local bus. There wasn't anything wrong with the bus system, the problem was us; obviously we couldn't understand the language and we didn't know the roads.
So in the end, as the guy was still hanging around patiently, we decided might as well take up his offer. And what a blessing he was to us... because his vehicle was a luxury MPV, big, nice, and definitely very comfy plus the tour-hire price was most reasonable. This was a definite bonus because we had problems with some taxis who didn't want to risk overloading with all 5 of us. Mr Pak was such a funny character. He mistook us for Indonesians at first. His English was very limited, so he would chatter away in Korean. Sometimes he even talked to himself. Obviously he found us amusing because he would point to my children, say something and then laugh heartily. He even 'scolded' my son who was always sleeping at the back as he drove us around; but he gave the mum thumbs up because I was the only one interested enough to look around all the time. When we mentioned we wanted cheap cheap Korean food, he took us to a local eatery, instead of the fancier restaurants. He didn't complain at how long we took or how slow we were. We had booked him to cover the whole of Jeju in 1 day; but by mid-day, he pointed at the map to show us where we were, shook his head and laughed. On the last day we were wondering how to get to the airport with all our luggage, but without us contacting him, he had already turned up early at the door to fetch us. That's service indeed. When I told him Jesus loves him, he didn't understand, so I pointed to the cross on my neck and said Halleluia - immediately he grinned and said "wife, halleluia, many many halleluia " So cute...
Jeju has lots to offer indeed. From volcanic caves with deep dark tunnels where it's so cold fingers grow numb to steep treks leading to cloud-covered mountain ranges, running so close to the edge I had butterflies in my stomach as I climbed, trying to keep as far away as possible from the ropes, down to the winds of Jeju which are so strong, especially up on the mountain they literally can blow you off your feet. Yes I enjoyed Jeju, but I had one regret - we could have made better use of the time. If we had dawdled less in the museum or the maze, if we had woken up earlier.... we could have done the waterfalls which were right at the other end of Jeju. If we had not spent 5 hours climbing a mountain, we could have squeezed in a ferry trip to explore a light-house, something we have never done before. After all there are lots of mountains to climb back home in Malaysia, and as our dear guide put it succintly, "all same same". But I was taken up by the promotional blitz on the website - they claimed this was the most beautiful trail, as the whole mountain would be covered in blooming flowers. Well, they neglected to say when this would be. And of course, being taken in by the very pretty picture, I quite forgot flowers only bloom in ...spring. So nope, we didn't get to see the fantastic blooming mountain. Ahh, for the "what could have been mine....if only...."
Those must be the saddest words in human vocabulary. The chances we didn't take, the relationships we didn't have, the decisions we waited too long to make, the choices we didn't consider, the things we said or didn't say... Missing out on some of Jeju's highlights is sad, but it's no big deal. I can always take another trip another time. But missing out on the best of what God has for each of our lives on earth and in the hereafter is a totally different thing. It's so easy to miss God. After all the physical and logical world can appear so much more believable and reliable than an unseen God. I was chatting with the ailing father of an old friend. He's hooked up on a machine that helps him breathe because he can no longer breathe on his own. He talked about how he has got nothing to live for in this world anymore, because his work is done, his children are all grown and doing well. He only wants to die, because he doesn't want to be a burden, even though he doesn't know and doesn't really care what happens after that. He's not sure this Jesus I talk about all the time is for real. He cannot grasp the love of an invisible Jesus who loves him so much as to have died for him, to save him from hell's fire. He wrinkles his brow when I speak of the joy of living that overcomes all suffering and the peace that surpasses all understanding. He smiles when I talk about a place where there's no sickness, pain, tears or sorrow, where death is conquered, time is eternal and life is forever. When I ask him if he wants to go there, he shakes his head and mutters "I don't know". I show him the packets of green tea I had brought for him, and I tell him he would never get to taste of it if he just left the tea bags lying unused. If he didn't choose to make the effort to take 1 tea bag, put it into a cup and pour hot water over it, he would truly never know.
2000 years ago, 2 common criminals hung on their cross beside Jesus Christ. One mocked Him. The other acknowledged his sin and simply asked Jesus to "remember me". And Jesus promised the latter, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) I wonder how the other criminal felt as he died without hope... remorse, anger, scorn, despair, hate..??Life isn't about flowers or tea bags. It's dead (pun intended) serious. We only get 1 shot at it. No return trips. No second chances as we draw our last breath. It would be too late then to say ...what could have been mine.. if only....I had believed.
"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death" .... 2 Corinthians 7:10
Fotos
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