The last three weeks have been crazy! So much stress-inducing business mixed with awesome adventures. At the end of February, I completed my contract at the school I was working at in Gwangju. In the future, I will write a farewell to Gwangju, but this post will focus on a single adventure. On Saturday the 24th, I packed my bags and moved up to the Seoul-area where I took a new job teaching.  Having a week before my new job started, my girlfriend and I decided to visit Jeju Island, a first for both of us. We caught a 6:20 AM flight to Jeju, trying to make the most of three days.  We landed and hit the ground running. Our first mission was to visit an abandoned circus, a place I was made first aware of by fellow explorer friends a few years ago.

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I highly recommend renting a car on Jeju. The buses are infrequent, and the rides are long.

Traveling by bus can be an ordeal. Buses are far and few between with the average wait interval being 20-40 minutes between coaches. Also, the travel time between stops can be up brutal ordeal. It’s not like Seoul or even Gwangju where you have multiple bus options.  In my opinion,  the worse thing is that not every bus on a particular route stops at the same stop. Before stepping on, you must ask the bus driver if it drops off at specific locations, each bus skips spots along the route.  My wonderful girlfriend and I were groggy from the early flight. Some additional bus mishaps challenged our desire to find the circus, but our patience paid off.  I  am grateful to have a girlfriend that is willing to go on explorations with me. 

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The first of many horses we would encounter on that day.
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Near the site of the abandoned circus is pasture full of friendly horses. In the background, was once an abandoned resort. It has since been repurposed as a cafe.
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Later on in the day, after we checked in to our hotel, we would see people charging money to tourists to have a trot along the beach.
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We found the horses’ stash!

Here is the piece de resistance. Now I can tick this off of the list of must-dos in Korea. I still have a few more locations, but the abandoned circus was the strangest I needed to see. Also, Jeju is a beautiful place. Lots of natural beauty to encounter. I definitely want to go back in the near future.DreamlandDreamland4Dreamland6Dreamland3Dreamland7Dreamland2000026Dreamland11Dreamland9Dreamland12Dreamland13Dreamland8Dragonhead1Dragonhead2IMG_8776IMG_8777IMG_8778IMG_8784IMG_8771IMG_8772

I should also mention that I recently wrote a Layman’s Guide to Urban Exploration for the March issue of Gwangju News. If you are curious about what the world of Urban Exploration entails, please have a gander.

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