7D Korea Golden Rama Tour: Dragon Head Rock, Jeju Island
Anyeong! After our first meal in South Korea, our tour with Golden Rama continued with a bus trip to Gimpo Airport, where we were going to take flight to Jeju Island. Gimpo Airport is one heck of a busy airport with most people queuing up to check in for their flights which are mostly heading to Jeju. I heard that flight ticket to Jeju Island is so highly in demand, one need to book in advance (like months) if want to fly to Jeju Island especially on a weekend. This is not a surprise as Jeju Island is a popular destination with local Korean tourists as well.
One of the perks of joining a tour group is that the tour leaders (in our case, Jenny and Nico) are the one who have to deal with our check-in for flight. We just need to pass our passports to them for administration purpose and wait at the side until they are done with the group check-in. They also assisted us to check in our baggages (which are usually done per family for easier logistic) and by simply waiting, we were done with our check in. Yeay!
The next thing to do after waiting and checking in baggages is to get our boarding pass from the tour leader. Nico has even arranged our seats to make sure everyone is seated next to their family members as the seating for tour groups is usually jumbled. Once everything is in order, we were dismissed to hang out in Gimpo Airport until our flight time is near. There are not many things that you can see at Gimpo Airport though as the airport is significantly smaller than Incheon Airport but if you are hungry, you can grab small bites and drinks from Dal Komm.
One of the perks of joining a tour group is that the tour leaders (in our case, Jenny and Nico) are the one who have to deal with our check-in for flight. We just need to pass our passports to them for administration purpose and wait at the side until they are done with the group check-in. They also assisted us to check in our baggages (which are usually done per family for easier logistic) and by simply waiting, we were done with our check in. Yeay!
The next thing to do after waiting and checking in baggages is to get our boarding pass from the tour leader. Nico has even arranged our seats to make sure everyone is seated next to their family members as the seating for tour groups is usually jumbled. Once everything is in order, we were dismissed to hang out in Gimpo Airport until our flight time is near. There are not many things that you can see at Gimpo Airport though as the airport is significantly smaller than Incheon Airport but if you are hungry, you can grab small bites and drinks from Dal Komm.
Their sandwiches looks seriously good but we were still full from our squid and pajeon lunch earlier.
If you have time to hang around in Gimpo Airport, make sure you pop by 7-11 and buy these yoghurt gummy (turns out they have them sold in Korean store in Singapore). Perfect to combat sleepiness at the office after lunch hour.
What happened after our simple excursion to 7-11 is one plastic bag full of snacks. We simply are a family who love to snack. The green tea kitkat is not particularly Korean but Mom has never tasted it before so she could not help but buy it.
Three hours later (which I spent by mostly dozing off), we have arrived at the sunny Jeju Island. It was so bright at 4PM I had to wear my sunglasses inside the bus. Oh yeah, bus will be your main transportation in South Korea although you will have chance to try out other means of transportation later on.
Golden Rama's tour itinerary in Jeju Island starts with a visit to Dragon Head Rock (which is locally known as Yongduam Rock). It is located merely 15 minutes drive from Gimpo Airport and hence, the reason of why we visited this attraction straight away after we landed at Jeju Island.
There are many legends and stories of how the rock formation in Jeju Island is formed. However, before we go into details on this story, you may want to start by securing the photo spot right at the viewing deck of Dragon Head Rock. You will be able to take picture with the coastal rocks and the ocean behind you as the background.
Okay, now let's go back to the story. Dragon Head Rock is famous for its coastal line and you can walk through the man-made pathway to the area nearer to the ocean. The walk is not particularly easy if you have problem with your legs as the pathway is not wide and it is so crowded with tourists. So do exercise caution if you decide to walk down there.
Ah right, so it's time to use a bit of our imagination here. The legend says that a dragon who stole precious jade from Mt Halla was shot down by an arrow from the mountain deity. When the dragon fell down on Yongduam, its body immediately sank into the ocean and his head rapidly froze looking at the sky. There are other versions of the story on how the rock formation is formed but since Jenny has told us the above version let's just stick with her version to avoid confusion. To be honest with you, I cannot really see the dragon head even with my imagination. I suppose I need to exercise a bit more effort in imagination department.
Jenny has told us that we had time until 5PM to hang around at Dragon Head Rock before heading out to the nearby restaurant to have dinner. We were pretty much done way before the appointed time so we decided to hang out at Dunkin Donuts which is located just next to the entrance of Dragon Head Rock. Dunkin Donuts in South Korea is so amazing, I am pretty sure the donuts sold here are way better than the donuts sold at Dunkin Donuts in Singapore, or even in Indonesia. The coffee mochi donut and chocolate almond donut did not disappoint us.
Mom, as usual, has the eye for snack and she managed to last minute added this pumpkin sweet potato snack on the tray right before I made payment. It tastes okay although not that fantastic.
There are many street food stalls located right beside Dunkin Donuts which sells local snacks such as squids, ice cream in J-shaped cones, and weird chips which I could not describe the taste as it is bordering between sweet, salty and spicy. Before heading out to the restaurant, I've managed to make friend with Dol Hareubang, a guardian deity of Jeju Island which can be spotted everywhere on all around this island. I believe this shall not be our final meeting, my dear new friend.
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