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Yongduam Rock, listed as a "must-visit" on almost all the travel guides i read on the island, was our first destination in Jeju after collecting the rented car from KT Kumho.
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The busloads of tourists went in from the supposedly main entrance, took million of pictures at the namesake as shown in my first photo for this post, and then left. That's the reason why most people returned home disappointed as it was simply just a jagged rock from that angle!
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See this pathway partially blocked by the icon of Jeju; not my young sister but the dol hareubang (grandfather stone statue)?
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Follow the path and in a short while, you would come to another staircase.
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This is when you would be rewarded by a splendid view of the Yongduam rock and from this angle, you would also truly appreciate the origin for the name Dragon Head Rock.
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Notice the similarity?! At 10 meters above the sea and 30 meters in length, legend has it that a dragon from a nearby dragon king's palace had a burning desire to ascend to heaven and hence decided to steal a sacred jade stone from Halla Mountain. It was turned to stone after the guardian of the mountain found out about the thievery and struck it with a magical arrow.
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Legend aside, Mr Kon had notified me before the trip that in an episode of "we got married", he noticed a place very near to Yongduam, by the seaside, that served fresh seafood and suggested we checked it out! I found the place!
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Given it was coming to 6pm, the ahjummas were in fact already packing up to go home! Sad..... For those who are planning to make a trip to Jeju, hopefully you would be luckier than us.
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The strong waves were pounding relentlessly on the rocks and i wonder how many people would actually attempt to swim in the water! Weak swimmers like me would likely drown in no time.
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We were obviously not keen to be wet. Jeju Island is famous for three "abundances" and one of them is wind which we were looking forward to. The "wind" unfortunately only appeared on our first night and was conspicuously missing in the next few days.
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Another view (of the sunset) with a routine photograph of the excited sisters!
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Most of the tourists were concentrated on the platform right above the dragon head and i didn't see many of them making their way to where i stood.
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This would be the best spot to take photographs of the rock! Again, i have to blame it on the tight schedule for many tour packages; you often see something yet don't really see it in its entirety due to a lack of time.
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Since Jeju International Airport is pretty close to Yongduam, you can also see many aeroplanes preparing to make a descent.
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The pathway i took has a few shops where you can purchase souvenirs, get a drink and even eat some grilled squid. We didn't as we were looking forward to our black pork street (likely would be covered in my next post).
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Jeju oranges, in my opinion, should be another "abundance" of Jeju. You can see them for sale almost everywhere you go and mandarin orange orchards can be found even in private estates!
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This is the alternate entrance / exit which would guarantee a better view than the "main" entrance. To get here, just note that it would be at the other end of the carpark (to your left) once you enter.
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For self-drive individuals, you can input (728-3918) as the contact number of the attraction and note that the parking fee was a mere ₩250 in the twenty to thirty minutes i parked there.
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Location
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Yongduam, Yongdam 1-dong, Jeju-si
For the summary of my inaugural South Korea trip
(Seoul and Jeju Island), click HERE