At the end of October, several of the Korea Blog's Worldwide Korea Bloggers and I had the chance to visit Jeju-do (Jeju Island), courtesy of KOCIS (Korean Culture and Information Service) who runs the websites.
Jeju-do was chosen as a finalist for the New 7 Wonders of the World (Nature) and our visiting the island matched the timing of the last few weeks of voting.
I've been to Jeju-do multiple times: on school trips, with family, with colleagues, with friends. However, every time I visit, I'm always amazed at the amount of things yet to see and experience. The scenery itself is breathtaking, the local food absolutely yummy, the tropical tinged air is crisp and clean, the lack of high-rise buildings give you such an ample view of sky your heart soars, and the surrounding ocean both lulls you and excites you depending on the season and weather. It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
Upon our arrival, we were invited to the government office for a brief meeting about the efforts of Jeju-do for its quest to become one of the 7 Wonders. (I was very happy with the provided Vita 500 drink, by the way, because the members of SNSD are on it. I traded mine to get my favorite member Taeyeon. Heh.) Being Korean, I certainly know why Jeju-do should be selected as one and I'm quite sure that anyone who had the occasion to visit would know as well, but some of the reasons that were stated in the pamphlet were:
Jeju-do is a geopark. Dubbed a "volcanic museum", Jeju-do is an island covered with small hills and the large mountain Halla which are volcanic cones. Lava tubes are scattered around the island and the botanical sights are amazing to behold. Mountains, hills, beach, forest, caves, volcanic remnants - Jeju-do has them all. UNESCO has already designated Jeju-do as a Biosphere, Natural Heritage and Geopark.
The island has natural swag, I'm telling ya.
Getting Jeju-do selected would do wonders for the island; it's not only the honor, but also the very practical economic effect caused by the boom in tourism that results from the vote.
How to vote? Either go to the website for the New 7 Wonders of the World and vote online, or if you're in Korea, text "Jeju" to 001-1588-7715. It's as simple as that. Voting is until November 11th!
We all voted. And with Mr. Kang Seong Hoo, the government official who headed the informative meeting, we took an obligatory (well, in Korea at least) "Fighting!" photo.
The bloggers who participated in this trip (not all in the photo above) and their blogs:
Alex - http://chooseyouradventure25.blogspot.com/
Paul - http://www.paulajosshi.com/
Eleonora - http://ellacino.blogspot.com/
Annie - http://kimchisoul.wordpress.com/
Asif - http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/londone7/1/tpod.html
Chris - http://www.chrisinsouthkorea.com/
More to come. In the meantime, please vote for Jeju-do and also visit the Korea Blog.
http://blog.korea.net/
2 comments:
Love your blog! At our ESL school in Atlanta, GA USA, we have several Korean students. I noticed that your English is very good. Did you learn English in the States? Anyway, thanks for the great post on Jeju-Do and photos.
Thanks for sharing this, it was useful for me in preparing for higher studies in USA.
Study in USA after 10th
Study in usa without gre
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