it was with a heavy heart that I headed to the airport………the sun was shining and the sky was blue and the typhoon had disappeared and it was a perfect day for walking up to the top of the mountain or just to go for a walk along the coast.The air is fresh and clean and there are not many people here. When you are on one of the walks you will not meet many Chinese because they don’t like to walk as a rule, unless of course there is a big shiny shopping centre for them to swan about in.

I was about to return to the heart of the beast which for the last few months I have been struggling with. Many Chinese act in a manner that I find quite distasteful and annoying and when I go on a visa run to another part of the world and I don’t have to deal with them every day, I feel so much better for it. The last week in Jeju has been really enjoyable and I am sure they also have their fair share of dickheads like any other place, but most people are polite and look out for others. When they navigate through their day they are conscious of others, what they are doing, where they are in respect to themselves…………you know just like any other civilised society………….but in China there are many people as I have said before that are utterly selfish, ignorant and are just concerned with themselves and don’t give a fuck about anyone else, their safety and just don’t care about rules.

We boarded the plane in the usual chaotic way, people will stand in the aisle blocking it and don’t get out of the way to let others through. When they do sit down they recline the seat, then when they do sit down some will then think “oh I need to go forward to see my friend and try to push through the tide of people boarding. it must be hell for the flight crew on these flights, sometimes you only have to look at their faces to see the agony of their situation.

When the plane begins to taxi for takeoff they get up to retrieve something from their bag, they are still using their phones, the tray tables are down once more and we are having a picnic, someone wants to use the toilets. After takeoff I took this picture and as you can see there are many that just don’t like to follow the rules when it comes to safety…………..this is the Chinese way.

Most of the Chinese on the plane are part of a tour group and they are led around and spoon fed and told what to do most of the time, don’t think too much………..if only they were educated on these tours to be more considerate to others and told put your phone on to fuckin’ flight mode.

In the picture below you can see the woman holding her daughter after the plane has just landed while we are taxing back to the terminal, maybe one or two minutes have passed. The other woman beside her has already taken off her seat belt and is talking to the people in the row behind her. The guy beside me is on his phone and you know they are not the only ones on the plane. On the last flight that I had a guy stood up to retrieve his bag literally seconds after the wheels hit terra firma……….this is the everyday situation on a Chinese flight

From Pudong airport I took the bus to me bring me back to Suzhou, it’s takes about two hours which is longer than it took me to get from Korea back to China. it drops me about 3 km from home and so I use a local bus to take me the rest of the way. As the bus arrives there is a mad dash by the locals to get on board first. I wait for a couple of people that were before me to jump on and then I take my turn. My case is in my left hand as I move to the door, out the corner of my eye I see someone trying to sneak passed me and so I put my hand on the bus and nearly choke this old woman as her throat catches my forearm…………I look at her and smile………..she is not happy and starts to rant to me………………I’m not sure what she is saying but I’m sure I can guess. In amongst all the chaos of China at least I get a bit of a kick when I stop someone dead in their tracks like this, they were shocked when they were stopped and more so by a foreigner. I guess they don’t expect us to be as rude as them and so at times I do delight in these occasions and this is one thing that I do enjoy about China and I also feel that I am doing them a service by educating them on a little bit of etiquette…………..I know it may sound a bit sick but it keeps me amused and this is something I would never dream of doing or would have to do do in many other parts of the world………………maybe I’ll stay here a little bit longer 🙂

Now I have met quite a few tubes in my time but not one as big as this. This was on my to do list for Jeju. The rain was still lingering about this morning but a quick check of the weather forecast app informed me that after 9am all should be well and it was. There were patches of blue sky, the rain had cleared but the wind was still very strong.

I went to the lava tubes first and then planned to do a bit of walking afterwards, although it was still about 3km from the bus stop which meant I had a short walk to begin with.

I saw this beautiful spider eating a recently caught fly, they look very similar to spiders that I get at my house in Australia.

There is a single strand anchored onto this pot plant keeping the whole web in tension, they are amazing engineers.

The lava tube is about 1km long and you need your brolly when you go inside, especially after all the rain we have had over the past few days. The surface underfoot is amazing, the rock was once a river and you can see the eddies and all kinds of formations and textures along the length of the cave. It’s not well illuminated inside and there are not colourful crystalline structures to see, but you can see the power of nature when she gets very hot and bothered. It’s fascinating and well worth a visit, but bring your brolly just in case and a jacket because it was very cool inside only 15c.

I enjoyed going here and as you leave your subterranean experience the humidity is overwhelming but short lived. My specs steamed up but all I had to do was face the wind for a few seconds and I was defrosted.

They predicted huge winds and about 600 mls of rain but thankfully in the north of Jeju it did not turn out that way. We had squally showers and a few at times felt like you had walked through a waterfall, but I was not concerned because I had waterproofs and they worked a treat……..however not the same can be said for my waterproof hiking boots that I bought in the Mountain Warehouse in Glasgow….. After five mins or so of torrential rain my socks were soggy but the rest of me was dry and so I made for the hotel and changed into my training shoes and this is why I don’t feel so stupid for packing so much for a one week holiday…… I have two pairs of boots and one pair of training shoes and its just as well I brought then all.

I went to an indoor market for a look and had a lazy lunch and then a coffee at BooBu cafe and then it was back to the hotel for a quiet night, not much point wandering about considering the weather and I fancied find nothing anyway…

I’m a coffee snob and I always struggle to find a good coffee wherever I go. At home I have my own Italian blend which I have drunk for many years and it has a rich flavour and strong coffee taste without the bitterness and so for me quality outweighs quantity.

So far on Jeju the coffee has been mediocre and expensive, mind you I did go to the CU convenience store and their coffee was surprisingly good and cheap. But yesterday I stumbled upon this little gem of a cafe with a very interesting decor and atmosphere, old 20’s and 30’s music playing in the background and the coffee was served up on a wooden platter in a lovely wee expresso cup and it was great.

I could have sat here all day just drinking coffee but alas I would have been too hyper and climbing the walls for days, I had finally struck gold….. black coffee gold that is……

A full flavour, not bitter and with a viscosity that allowed you to extract every part of what it had to offer, the taste flowing around from taste bud to taste bud……. Perfect.

One more day here and I’ll make sure I have one more coffee before I go.

I like some Korean food but I’m not a lover of seafood unless it’s fish’n’chips of course and I’ve eaten pork noodles for three days and I really just want some solid food, rice would be fine but it’s not easy to find…..but then again I can’t read Korean and there is very little English which makes it a tad difficult.

I arrived at my hotel around noon and I was a bit peckish and so as I left my hotel I stumbled on a McDonald’s and I stood outside for a minute or two before finally succumbing to a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. It’s been years since I’ve eaten one but I’ll tell you this, it hit the spot 😊

However for some reason I’m having a guilt trip 🤔

I got the bus here this morning and it dropped me about 10 km from my hotel. The connecting bus was a few streets away and so I headed in that direction and was lucky to come across a tourist information centre and they were very helpful, they wrote out my hotel for me in Korean so that I could give it to the taxi driver because by the this time the rain had begun and I was over riding on the bus. It turned out to be about $7 and well spent I may add.

I asked the young lady a few questions about Jeju and mentioned that I want to climb Mount Hallasan tomorrow or the day after and then she told me that this was not going to be possible because later today the Typhoon will arrive and this is the 18th of the season and so it looks like I will have to find a plan B, but I’m sure there are plenty other things to do but I’m a bit disappointed that I’ll be unable to climb and so I guess I’ll have to come back……… what a pity 😊

This morning I was awoken by the sun streaming in the window and the next thing the alarm went off, which was a surprise because I don’t remember setting it. Anyway the sun was shining and I decided to go for a walk and so I went to trail number 6.

There’s a waterfall that falls into the ocean and it’s near the beginning of trail 6. I was going to go for a look but it seemed that half of the island had the same idea and so I gave it a miss and continued on to the trail and was rewarded with another amazing waterfall just five minutes down the trail.

This trail is only around 10 km, which is a lot shorter than the other two trails but this one was a lot easier in comparison. I didn’t know what to expect but I was hoping for a repeat performance, similar to day one and at times it surpassed it in many ways.

The trail dropped down to the water and onto the amazing volcanic rocks that dominate this coast. The path leads to a set of stairs where I was supposed to cross over the small river, but it was in spate due to the torrential rain that has been falling every evening and so I went to plan B and found another path across the river as it entered the sea where the rocks were larger.

The coastline here is also spectacular and as you leave this part we move through a small fishing village and thankfully there is a 7/11 because my stomach was beginning to rumble.

So another trail finished and I check Google Maps for the bus home. There is one bus in twenty minutes and I’m at the bus stop in no time. Bus 231 is on its way and so I’m looking forward to heading back but you know after 30 mins the bus has still not arrived. I check Google Maps again and I only get one option.

I decided to walk and then as I was between stops and the bus went passed. I see plenty of 510 buses but Google doesn’t tell me where it’s going and so I don’t get it, I keep walking. The next 231 is not for 3 hours, well that’s what Google says and then guess what? A 231 runs passed once more. Fuck! I hate Google.

Google and Korea don’t seem to mix too well which is quite a surprise because even in China when I use my vpn I can get good directions at least. Google seems to give some information but not very detailed for some reason and so I end up walking a further 6 km or so back to the market near my hotel. My short walk nearly ended up double.

Are a series of walks around this lovely wee island and yesterday I did #7, which is along the beautiful coastline and today I did #7-1 which starts near the main stadium and then heads up to the top of the mountain. It’s uphill from the moment you get off the bus, entry is via the park and then you just keep climbing the roads and off course try to keep your eyes peeled for the route markings which is easier said than done.

The first point to head for is Eogtto Waterfall, which was dry. It was a little confusing here but I soon got back on the route and headed through the car park before turning left up the side of an olive Grove and then the climb was on.

The route zig zags up the mountain and every so often you need to use the main roads before you are directed once more up to the summit.

This walk was not as enjoyable as yesterday’s walk, one because of the scenery and secondly because this route was a little harder on the feet because of the road surface. My legs and feet certainly took a pounding today, I think I’ll see if I can get a bike tomorrow.