40th Wedding Anniversary - Jeju, Korea (April 2023)

Kristin and I got married in Seoul on April 25, 1983. So this year marks the 40th anniversary for our wedding. 40 years ago, we went to Jeju Island for our honeymoon like everyone else at that time. We made a trip to Jeju to celebrate God's blessings over our marriage for the past 40 years. It was short but we had a wonderful time.

We stayed at Aewol Resort with a nice ocean view.

One day, it rained the whole day. But, the following day was bright and sunny. We rented a car and drove around the entire island stopping over a few iconic places.

Jeju has quite a few windmill installations in the sea. It made sense to me because wind is one of three things that are abundant in Jeju, along with rocks and women.

We stopped over at Jusang Jeolly where you can see a hectagon-shaped rock formation. It was a small version of what we saw at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. 

Also was a place with Harubang, a rock statue that is one of the landmarks that represent Jeju. 

Kristin and I visited one of her college friends who, after retirement, has been living in Jeju for the past nine years with her husband. They bought a piece of land of approximately 36,000 sq. ft. covered with trees. They cut them off and dug out all rocks in the land before they planted tree sidlings. Now the land is a miniature botanical garden with 300 different species. That was amazing.

We had lunch at a buckwheat noodle place inside Jeju Folk Village. 

After lunch, we were invited to visit their botanical garden. It was nice and well-organized. They must have invested a lot of time, energy, and resources to come up with this beautiful garden. One more surprise to me was how much her husband is into collecting everything. I was shocked to hear that he has brought 10 tons of stuff from the main land. He intends to establish a family museum that covers five generations. He has saved even all sneakers of his children and grandchildren, totaling 100 pairs.

On the way back, we stopped over at one of the beaches called Ham Deok. It was too windy to hike around. 

Also, we stopped over at Sungsan Sunrise Summit, one of the Unesco Heritage sites. We did not have time to hike the dead volcano crater.

 

We had dinner at Aewol Jjim, one of the must-experience restaurants. We ate seafood jjim. It was good..

As we were returning to the hotel, we saw the last-minute sunset. As always, it looks beautiful.

We spent some time at a cafe called Paper Clock. It was a nice place.

Like one of the catchphrases displayed on the wall, the time we have lived together for the past 40 years as well as in this island was all brilliant. May we finish our lives on earth well together before we stand before our Lord Jesus Christ! - Jeffrey