Saturday, April 23, 2011

Je-ju Island

 Hello, everyone :)
 This is my first post in my blog, and I want to tell about Jeju Island in Korea.
 Jeju Island is a very beautiful island and it was listed UNESCO World Natural Heritage in 2007. Jeju Island is the largest island in South Korea, and many Korean visits Jeju for honeymoon or travel. My parents came to Jeju in their honeymoon, too. :)
 The island is 73km wide and 41km long, and it was created 700 to 1,200 thousand years ago when lava spewed from a sub-sea volcano and surfaced above the waters. Then 100 to 300 thousand years ago, another volcanic eruption formed Mt. Halla. Mt. Halla rises in the center of Jeju to 1950m above sea level. The final volcanic eruption created Baekrok-dam,the crater lake, at the summit mountain, again.


 Jeju island is much warmer than land, and natural environment has been preserved well. Because of the weather, we could see many different kind of plants and animals.

 Jeju island has different culture, Jeju is very unique. For example, they had different traditional clothes, different style of life and house and different language. Dialect of Jeju is hard to understand for Korean, too. "Samda" which means "Three abundance" is a famous term in Jeju. Three things are rocks, wind and women. Jeju has many rock because of eruption. The wind is also very strong, and last thing which is women shows us that many men were lost at sea. "Sammu" is also famous. It means "Three non-existence". Three non-existence thins are thief, gate and baggar. Old Juju people regarded "deligence, thrift, interdependence" as their virtue. They didn't steal or bag,so they did not need to make a gate.

This is a "Dol Hareubang". Dol Hareubang is a stone statue presenting Jeju island. You can see many Dol Hareubang in Jeju Island!! :))