124 Travel | Jeju Island
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There are three things – according to a well-worn saying – that are plentiful on Jeju : stones , winds and women . Known as the samda , these seemingly disparate abundances come together along the island ’ s remarkable 250km-long coastline .
A coastline that is both beautiful and bountiful gives ( in one way or another ) hard-working islanders a living , and is a reminder of the volcanic fury that has been vented here .
When hot lava met the sea at Jusangjeolli , on Jeju ’ s southwestern edge , it created a headland of hexagonal basalt columns . Molten rock made cliffs full of faults at Cheonjiyeon and Soesokkak so that they aged into coastal caves , gorges and waterfalls . Elsewhere there are white- , black- and yellow-sand beaches , or shores roughed up with knuckles of basalt . And , most spectacularly , rising out of the waves at the eastern end , Seongsan Ilchulbong is a 180m-high ‘ tuff cone ’.
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1 Mrs Kang , a haenyeo , with her taewak float and net .
2 A haenyeo ’ s prized harvest : abalone .
This cliff-sided spout – resembling an ancient circular fortress – is the scar left by a massive eruption out of the seabed relatively recently , about 3,000 bce . Recent , that is , when you consider that the island first took shape a million or so years ago , with the volcano Hallasan forming at the centre of the island about 300,000 years ago .
At 1,950m , Hallasan is the highest point in South Korea . And it ’ s much of Hallasan ’ s unearthly activity that has lent Jeju its stunning terrain . Seongsan Ilchulbong – or Sunrise Peak as it is known to us tourists – is just one of Hallasan ’ s 360 parasitic cones . And there is a vast underground network of lava tubes too , including Manjanggul , which at 7km long is the largest on the planet .
Aside from the debate as to whether Hallasan is dormant or active , there is a more pressing downside to living on top of a big lump of volcanic rock : it is porous . Rainwater runs through it like a kitchen sieve . So there are no rice paddies here ; the grain crops that are harvested on Jeju – barley , millet , buckwheat – can withstand being blown about and being a little thirsty .