Day 116: Mulder? Scully? Is That You?

Today was Day 2 of our Jeju Island Adventure. Andrea and I woke up bright and early and took a cab to the nearby ferry terminal in Seongsan so that we could catch a ferry to Udo Island. Udo is a very small island just off-shore from Jeju and is very rural, but is very beautiful as well and something not to be missed. The ferry ride was only about 20 minutes long or so and when we go to Udo we were a little unsure as to how to tackle the sights of the island. Luckily some Korean guys who operated a bus tour of the island solved that problem for us! For only 4000 Won (less than $5 CDN) we got a 2 hour bus-tour of the island that stopped at three scenic points of interest on the island. What a deal!

The first stop was these massive cliffs that rise up high above the rest of the island. We could see all of Udo's lush green pastures from the top as well as Jeju in the near distance. What's really cool about Udo is that the whole island is full of graves! The Koreans bury their ancestors just about wherever they feel like it on Udo, and mark the grave with granite tombstones, but what's really unique about these graves is how they're guarded. In order to keep wandering livestock from trampling onto the sacred ancient graves, small stone walls made of volcanic rock have been built around the gravesite. The result is a landscape full of green pastures dotted by stone squares with a grave in the middle. Very eerie, very cool.

After that we went to a beach that was made up of black volcanic sand just like the one we saw the day before. On the way to our third site I experienced another one of those random "OMG I'm in Korea moments!" that seem to hit me like a tsunami now and then. We were on the bus, which was filled entirely with ajimas (older Korean ladies - average age probably around 50 or 60) when the driver decided to put on some K-pop (Korean pop music) at full blast. Suddenly the ajimas started to cheer out in excitement over the music and they all began to clap and chant in time with the song! It was completely unexpected, and so funny to see a bunch of old ladies rocking out to cheesy techno pop music!

Our third stop was a beach made up entirely of CORAL! I guess storms and ocean currents wash up all these shells and coral from the strait separating Udo from Jeju and its apparently one of the only coral beaches in the whole world! This coral beach is pure white (quite a contrast from all the other black beaches on the island) and it was really cool to walk around the beach and examine the coral beneath our feet. You almost feel bad about walking on top of it, but surprisingly none of it breaks under your weight. All the coral pieces look like tiny white brains when examined up close - quite a curious sight. After exploring the coral beach for a while we got back on the bus which returned us to the ferry terminal. We boarded the boat again and headed back to Jeju.

We left Seongsan and travelled back west across the island until we reached Sangumburi Crater. Sangumburi is unique amongst the island's craters as it is the only one located in the middle of a field and not on top of a small mountain. Its also supposed to be the widest of all the craters and really beautiful. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of it! We hiked up to the edge and looked out...but all we could see was FOG! It was a super foggy day on the island and this crater is notorious for 'collecting' fog that roams across the island. All we could see was a wall of grey. It was a bit disappointing but ahhh well, you can't control these things.

We then decided to head back to the capital. We caught a bus and cruised into Jeju City and got another motel room for the night. It was only late afternoon so Andrea and I decided to go and check out Mysterious Road. Oh, the magic and marvels and mysteries of...Mysterious Road...that lay waiting for us....sooooo strange! On Jeju Island are two roads where a very strange phenomenon occurs - something that exists in only a few odd, random locations scattered around the planet. These are sites where the laws of gravity are defied before your very eyes, and that challenge you to question the so-called notions of physics. Mysterious Road is one of these sights, and let me tell you it is SO WEIRD to watch what happens when you're there...

Mysterious Road is on a hill, and the perplexing phenenomon that occurs there is that if you drive to this one spot on the hill, and put the car in neutral, it will ROLL BACKWARDS UP THE HILL!!! I KID YOU NOT!!! It sounds crazy but I saw it for myself! You stand on the side of the road and watch as people pull up, put their vehicles in neutral, and sure enough, each and every time, the car or truck will roll backwards up the hill. It's only a 200 metre stretch but it's the freakiest thing to watch! Even TOUR BUSSES that come get pulled UP the hill! What's even freakier is that when you're standing in 'the zone' where this occurs you experience strange headaches! You feel drowsy and tired and disoriented - almost dizzy - but as soon as you step out of 'the zone' the headache disappears instantly. HOW WEIRD IS THAT!!!???

Apparently the truth behind Mysterious Road is that its an optical illusion. The cars *appear* to be rolling uphill, but in reality its actually downhill. But it sure is a convincing sight otherwise let me tell you - it damn well looks UPHILL to me! It's a totally freaky place - you can even try the experiment in other ways. If you pour water on the road it flows in the opposite direction you think it would. And if you drop a plastic bottle onto the road it pauses for a second or two and then also rolls up the hill. WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD! Andrea and I thought the whole place had a very 'X-Files' feel to it. We kept expecting Mulder and Scully to show up to investigate! As a joke we had me lay down on the road and pretend to be 'sucked up the hill' by the supernatural forces of the hill, all the while screaming in mock fear, and Andrea filmed the whole thing. SO HILARIOUS!!! (and yes I'll do *anything* for the camera, it seems!)

After our encounter with Mysterious Road we headed back into town to grab some dinner. We went to a nice Western restaurant that was right on the waterfront and had a delicious meal. We tried to go and see a movie after dinner, but there was nothing in town playing that we wanted to see. Instead we bought more cookies (we're ADDICTED to these Pepperidge Farm cookies that are sold only at LG25 convenience stores in Korea) and went back to the motel to watch a movie on TV. We watched 'Planet Of The Apes' (not bad actually!) and then went to sleep. Another awesome day!