13 December. A seafront breakfast, a city market run and Black Pork Street

Since we have a car, we decided to start the day some couple of miles eastwards for a taste of breakfast by the sea. Eomar was selected because I spied it on google, has a great review and provides decent parking off site. Nearby, the first mini hike will be off Seobung Peak, just off Hamdeok Beach.

Then it is back to park the car and raid Dongmun Market and whatever we fancy. I hope 200K ￦ will be enough.

We fell asleep super early the previous night , tired from the flight and whatnots. Tuesday morning, sunrise can be seen from our hotel room. The day looks promising.

I thought some driving orientation is in order. We set off to Eomar(u) as planned, taking the motorway on a slow, careful drive. We parked at the public carpark nearby and got all excited seeing the beach in front of the cafe. A massive beach cleanup was in operation. Now already 10am, we needed to get into the breakfast business before our meals get all haywire.

Eomar was a big disappointment, just like Antoinette. There was not as much pastry as they said in Google. 2 fancy breads and 2 coffee (29000 ￦ ) was quite an anti-climax to start the day. We ate on the top floor. We saw the waves come in and went away ad-infinitum.

The place has not much of a vibe. We were the only folks there. We checked out the beach, took some selfies and headed east to Hamdeok Beach.

Pat has already got the hang of driving on the 'wrong side' of the road and was quite good by now. We reached the beach without issue. Hamdeok is not very big and there are as many cafes as there are people. It must be the school break; it was like a huge graduation outing for lots of youths to the beach. It was nice to see so many young people.

We walked the length of the beach and made our way to the hill (Seubong Peak). The trail is part of the Olle trail but it was closed for construction. A lady fully clad in windproof clothing from face to toe stood behind the barricade explaining that it was not passable.

It looked like I have an extra hour since the hill is off limits. We trooped back to the cafe, passed a new batch of 'graduation party' and made up for the lack of hill walk with lots of selfies.

With that, we headed back to Regent Marine. It was a straight forward drive, almost, because just 400 m near the hotel, we took a wrong turn and made loops. Still, the auto driving made undoing a wrong turn easy work.

We parked back at the hotel and lightened our load in our room. We took a now familiar shortcut towards Daiso near Dongmun market. The cooked food section proved impossible to locate. Pat wanted somewhere to sit and eat. Thankfully we chanced upon a so-called food court that sells only seafood fare. 2 groups of ladies pulled me left and right to persuade us to eat from their store. It was stressful.

We said yes to the one who approached us first. I had seafood stew (3 abalones, assorted clams and crabs in jigae style) for 12000 ￦ and Pat had sashimi bibimbap for 8000 ￦. On top of that, the lady gave us a dish of sashimi and a fried fish, all on the house. It was becoming excessive so I forgo the rice that came with my jigae. All for 20000 ￦ , lunch was  lip smacking good.

We were full but I saw the 'oppa' making black pork roll so expertly I needed one. 10000 ￦ for a spicy pork roll, with shredded cabbage so thin they could thread needles. It was very good. And spicy. At the rice cracker store, I got Pat a crispy sek-kemah, Jeju style, for 3500 ￦. It was mixed nut type,  a snack he likes. 

We went down to Jungang Underground mall, and I 'raided' the beauty stores. Nature Republic, now defunct in Singapore, still has their presence in Jeju. I got a coconut cream and a mud foam cleaner. 12000 ￦ and it made me happy my mission was accomplished.

SAEN masks. Underrated but better than some known brands

Further down the underground alley, I grabbed 40 packs of face mask, 4 different flavours, for 20000 ￦. It was a fair deal until 50m down the alley, someone was selling similar masks for half the price. I couldn't cut loss. 80 packs may mean I need to distribute some to the lady security guard in the condo was well.

We walked towards Yongduam beach by way of Yongduam valley (the exiles in Joseon times prayed for rain here). The hanging bridge was a nightmare to be, and caused seasickness as it swayed left and right. 

We saw the Yongduam rock from afar. It was the furthest west we wanted to go. The sun was setting and the mega  waves were crashing inland trying to make landfall along the walkway. 

We walked towards Ramada, now parched from too much kimchi and salt in our diet. We headed into Emart and realised there was no sitting area for a drink. In the end, we got each a bottled drink (2000 kwn without tax) and finished them in one gulp outside Emart. We found out there were no dried persimmon nor ginseng jelly to be had. Not good, it looks like a mini crisis is looming. We have to be on the lookout in the days to come.

Jeju was whipped by a gale without respite from the west. The crosswind above the road made a whooshing sound as if a plane is about to land. Non stop! We followed Naver and got to Dombedom, the most popular store in Black Pork Alley. 6pm and it was already half full.

We chose the smallest set and thankfully the meal did not come with rice. It was just enough and we were very happy.

On the way back, Pat got me a strawberry soft cone from Macs (1200 ￦ ). It was a perfect end to the dinner.

Back in the hotel, I tried the ginseng mask (SAEM). It was just right, not too drippy and not too sticky after   the mask was removed. It was modest sized and just right for my face. 

My app announced that I walked 14 km. or 20 000 steps today. And we were worried that we would not have enough exercise.

Our Jeju city walking tour

Our Tuesday outing