Craggy Peak and 'haenyeo'. Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeju Island, South Korea
Jutting out into blue waters - rather cold at this time of the year to swim in - of the Strait of Korea on a peninsula is Seongsan Ilchulbong, The so-called Sunrise Peak of Fortress Mountain. The path up is well-trodden by countless walkers and hikers, and very well maintained; in fact, it's paved all the way to the crater rim at about 180 metres height. The crater floor is about 90 metres down, and is a wonderful 'pasture-like' green, dotted with a variety of wildflowers (among which the Korean Thistle). Very different I would hazard from the red inferno of 100,000 years ago during its explosion. It's all a wonderful sight to behold. Many people - like your photographer - climb during the day. But the thing to do apparently is to come up here very early in the morning to view the Sunrise. The Sunlight here is the very first to illuminate Jeju-do from the East...
As high as we are here... the famous haenyeo have one on their diving sites at the foot of this crater. They are the women-divers of this island. A matriarchal society, they numbered until quite recently 40 or 50 thousand, but today about 4500 remain. Their ancient expertise is oysterfishing deep under water, octopus spearing, and collection of delicious seaweeds. A bit to the west we could see a group of these intrepid divers every morning from our hotel balcony even in the chilliest of seas.
Craggy Peak and 'haenyeo'. Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeju Island, South Korea
Jutting out into blue waters - rather cold at this time of the year to swim in - of the Strait of Korea on a peninsula is Seongsan Ilchulbong, The so-called Sunrise Peak of Fortress Mountain. The path up is well-trodden by countless walkers and hikers, and very well maintained; in fact, it's paved all the way to the crater rim at about 180 metres height. The crater floor is about 90 metres down, and is a wonderful 'pasture-like' green, dotted with a variety of wildflowers (among which the Korean Thistle). Very different I would hazard from the red inferno of 100,000 years ago during its explosion. It's all a wonderful sight to behold. Many people - like your photographer - climb during the day. But the thing to do apparently is to come up here very early in the morning to view the Sunrise. The Sunlight here is the very first to illuminate Jeju-do from the East...
As high as we are here... the famous haenyeo have one on their diving sites at the foot of this crater. They are the women-divers of this island. A matriarchal society, they numbered until quite recently 40 or 50 thousand, but today about 4500 remain. Their ancient expertise is oysterfishing deep under water, octopus spearing, and collection of delicious seaweeds. A bit to the west we could see a group of these intrepid divers every morning from our hotel balcony even in the chilliest of seas.