Temple visit followed by sashimi

After visiting a local temple we spent our last day on Cheju island feasting on the local produce of sashimi, baby crabs, octopus, sea cucumber, urchins and other delicacies that I couldn't quite identify.

This cheeky Bodhisattva kept his eye on me the whole time I was busy inspecting the digs... I wholeheartedly promised him I woudn't steal anything.

The inside of the temple was sumptously decorated with gold and silver, fragrant woods, lanterns and many wood carvings everywhere. I find the Chinese-inspired dragons climbing up the pillars overkill and frankly tacky but it seemed to have the desired effect on the temple devotees, who were busy prostrating themselves in front of the altar below the Buddha image.

This is a huge temple complex built only around 10 years ago although it has been designed to look much more venerably older.

Of tortured tree limbs, sprouting leaves, and exploding blossoms

Cherry blossom viewing was two weeks late this year although it did eventually come as I stood out on a balcony overlooking the campus with some fellow colleagues and took a long, hearty swig of rice wine.

Bonzai trees or 'Bunjae" as they are called in Korea are carefully tortured with thick wire and regular clippings until they are molded into the exact form of their master's whim. On the one hand I feel sorry for the long servitude they are subjected to (hundreds of years in many cases where they outlive their masters), but on the other they take on a miniature magnificence all of their own.

I know, I know, too much Photoshop dazzles the eyes and the senses to boot, but I just can't help myself at times.

Green tea has become part of my regular caffeine fix these days and green tea lattes are a common sight on trendier cafe menus in and around Seoul. While in Chejudo I had a chance to find out where much of it originates from while on a hike up through the tea plantations.

More from Cheju Island

All these rock pools end in a waterfall that falls straight into the sea and its many islets. Impressive enough, but this was part of the garden in front of the hotel where we stayed. Magical waking up to this and doing some rock pool hoping.

Nothing better than looking out to sea with the wind in one's face and all cares left behind on the mainland. Perhaps I should think about a teaching job on the island, although I'd probably die of bordem in the evenings.

This view somehow reminds me of New Zealand or even part of Australia where I grew up. The mounds in the middleground are family ancestral tombs surrounded by stone walls.

Climbing one of hundreds of extinct volcanoes the intrepid three set forth

Escape from Seoul to Cheju Island for a weekend

This is a standard shot of the rape fields, sea and rugged islands around Cheju, but it was still impressive to witness first hand. I was lucky to have arrived on the island just as the flowers were in full swing. Wasn't so enthralled by the thousand won privelege to photograph the scene, even though I didn't trapse out into the fields which is why the farmers started charging tourists the "damages" fee in the first place.

Cheju island is the only place in Korea where you can find emerald seas, and thus the hordes of tourists from the mainland swarm down to enjoy the balmy weather and hint of tropical paradise. Hawaii it ain't but certainly the island has a charm all of its own. Mobile phone camera technology now means that individuals are happy to snap away their own photos of themselves without the groupie thing. There was a certainly poetic quality about the way the two women in the background were waltzing around on their own searching out the best vantage point before snapping away for posterity.

Flying over the islands (yes, as in my dreams a constant preoccupation) I was amazed at all those artery-like roads leading to villages with their bright red and blue roofs that came into vogue during the "modernization" era of the 70s - wish they'd bring back in the old, slightly more modest grey tiles of the past.