RyRy's in Korea: Jeju-do: Part 3: Saturday: Lava tubes

We woke up and got ready to meet our driver at 9:30. We had the contenential breakfast up in the club room which was rice/fish porridge, yogurt, cereals, breads, ham & cheese, fruit, salad, and sushi. Then we went downstairs to meet our cab driver for the day. As I said in the last post, our hotel was at the bottom of the island, and lots of stuff is somewhat far away. When mom was talking to the managers, they told her that you can hire a cab to take you all over for basically $120. So we decided to have him take us to the Manjang Caves, Seongsan Ilchulbong (a crater) and drop us off at the dolphin/monkey show. When mom was telling the conceierge that we needed to be back by 4 to go to the show for her son, he asked how old her son was and she was like, 29, and the guy just kind of looked at her. Then when we went to book the car, a different guy was there and when we said we needed to be back in time for the show he said, oh I heard about that and then knew our itinerary. The driver spoke very little English, but was very nice. When we got in the cab, the day conceierge, named Amy, gave us some umbrellas and cards to call her if we had any problems.

When we set out it was very cloudy and looked like it was going to rain (that was the forecast too). Manjang Cave was about an hour and a half ride, and for part of it, it felt like gorillas in the mist or something because there was all this fog and we couldn't see anything. Then, when we got close, the sun came out and cleared away the fog. This made mom happy.

We got to the cave, which is the world's largest lava tube cave, and went inside. This tube connects to a bunch of others, but is the only one that you can actually walk in and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. We walked to the "end" of the cave where there is a large pillar and then walked back.

Pictures of all the lava tubes on Jeju

It is much colder in the tube than above ground and you can feel the temperature change as you walk down the stairs. There are a bunch of different formations, including lava shelves, flows and rocks. There is one large rock called "Turtle rock" which also apparently mimics the shape of Jeju island.

Mom with the flowers outside of the cave entrance

Me and Jeff on the steps right before you enter the cave

Entrance to the cave from the top of the stairs

Jeff in the lava tube

Lava shelf - the horizontal stripes on the wall

Turtle rock

Lava pillar/column at the end of the walkable part of the cave

After walking through the cave, we went to a small gift shop/cafe and got some postcards and mandu (dumplings). There was a fish tied in a cloth hanging on the wall and I have yet to find out its meaning. As we were leaving the cafe, one of the ladies who worked there came out and wanted to take a picture with mom.