For the last part of my adventure in South Korea, I wanted to visit Jeju. In order to get there I went to Mokpo, where I spent a few rainy and uneventful days before taking the ferry. The basic rooms on the boat didn’t have chairs in them, so the only option there was to sit on the floor, or lay down and try to get some sleep. I wasn’t interested in any of them, so I just used the room as a place to store my luggage and sat down in the public area, passing the time until the ferry got to the island. As the weather was unpleasant and the hour was getting late, I didn’t do much on that day.
When the weather finally got better and the sun was out, my first destination on the island was the Manjanggul Lava Tube, and it is part of the Geomunoreum Lava Tube system. The whole cave was kept very dark, which might have been in order to preserve and protect it, but it also made it very difficult to have a look around the place, which took away some of the excitement and fun of the experience. More than that, there were puddles of water all over the ground, and in order to make sure I didn’t set foot in them I had to slow down my pace as I went along. Thankfully, some parts had bridges, and in those parts the way was faster and easier.
What I did like about the cave were the signs they put in various points, which talked about different parts of the lava cave and explained how different elements were formed. At the end of the cave there was a big stone pillar which is the tallest in the world, standing at the height of 7.6 meters. That final part of the cave, for some reason, was fairly well lit, and it was a nice break from the darkness. After taking a look at that stone pillar, I turned around and carefully made my way among the puddles until I was out of the cave and back under the sun.
As the whole experience in the lava tube was over faster than I expected, and as it was within a walking distance, I walked over to the Gimnyeong Maze Park. At the entrance I was told that the goal is to find a way to the end of the maze and ring the bell, and that the whole thing can be done in under 10 minutes, if I’m quick enough. I was given a map of the area and was sent on my way.
The map didn’t look too complicated, and when I looked at it I thought it would be possible to take a road around the park and get to the bell in that way. It might not have been the fastest way, but I thought it would be the easiest option. So I aligned the map at the entrance to the maze and started walking. It didn’t take more than a few minutes for me to get too confused with the map, and it very quickly decided to ditch it and take a gamble on where to go.
After going over the same route twice, I went on for a third attempt, and this time I turned around the first corner that I saw, which was clearly a good decision, as I didn’t find myself at the starting point this time. I went on and on into the maze, turning around on a whim, trying to figure out where the sound of the bell was coming from and heading in that direction. Every now and then other people would pass by me on their way to find the correct path.
Eventually I went up a set of stairs and got to a small bridge from which I could see the bell, although I couldn’t quite figure out how to get to it. So I went back down into the maze, trying to find the path that will lead me to my goal. From there on I felt my progress was a bit faster, and I was sure I’m not too far away. A few minutes and quite a few turns later, I went up another set of stairs and finally rang the bell.
As I didn’t set the stopwatch before I started, I had no idea how long it actually took me to finish the maze, but it was probably more than 10 minutes, especially after getting lost along the way. However long it was, I enjoyed it a lot more than I enjoyed the cave, and I was glad I decided to go there. The price seemed to be a bit steep, but the experience was quite a lot of fun.