Nature and I had a much needed date today on this clearest and sunniest of March firsts. I slept in until about 11:30, and was on my scooter an hour later, and ten minutes thereafter I arrived at my destination, what I will call the Oedolgae nature-enjoyment area. I parked my yellow beast and, dressed too warmly in my heavy coat, began the short trek up a very steep set of stairs that leads to another pathway on the Sammaebong (well, I guess it's an) oreum, the large hill overlooking the Oedolgae area. I found myself finally at the top of the hill, where I was to find a large, dated picnic platform, and an exercise area for those who made it to the top of the hill and aren't quite satisfied with that bit of a workout. I found a few ajumas (Korean married-age women, if that makes any sense to you) in typical workout gear giving themselves a real workout with the twist-your-arms-and-body machines. The view was nice...I headed back down, to the bottom of the hill, and then decided to take an off-the-path trek through a construction site down to another wooden trail that I could see below, across the sea cliff. Once I made it down there, I realized that the trail hadn't been maintained (the trail itself wasn't closed, it had more like an "enter at your own caution" look). So of course I set on my way along the course, finally coming to a sign that was something like "stop right there, don't come any closer!", along with a second barrier lacking a sign but making up for the warning in circulets of barbed wire. I would have gladly headed these barriers due to lack of interest in the beyond, if the beyond had not looked so interesting. Beyond the barriers, I saw over the crest of the hill the tops of bright yellow flowers, a LOT of them, so I violated the barriers and quickly found myself standing at the edge of a gorgeous field of (I think) canola flowers! It was hard to ignore the mass of bees busily buzzing about their business (say THAT five times fast), but put aside my bee phobia I did in the interests of getting some nice shots of the flowers (I found out, AFTER I got back home and was looking at my photos from today, that I HAD MY CAMERA ON THE LOWEST IMAGE QUALITY SETTING! ACK!!). Of course I didn't walk INTO the field, I just stayed along the edge where there weren't any flowers...or bees...to step on. On its own, a single canola flower isn't really anything special, but it is in their sheer quantities crowded together that makes them collectively beautiful. I was so happy to stumble upon this little treasure today.
I then made my way down to another popular spot with a small cafe and picnic area, where there was a sort of outdoor karaoke event taking place in a clearning among the pines. A small group of mainly middle-aged Korean women, all decked out in their windsuits and tennis shoes and visors and all with short, curly black hair, were singing into a mic and amp while reading the lyrics on a TV that had been brought out for the occation, while the others sat around watching or danced and clapped along with the music and laughed at the singers, most of whom were not good by either my nor Korean standards, but it was all in good fun and was hilarious just the same. One of the few men with the group, who had a huge camera around his neck, walked over to a sack of oranges the group had with them and gave me a handful...really sweet. This has happened many times, wherever I've gone, wherever I've been (once in the elevator of my apt building) in Jeju. The generosity of Koreans, whether residents or tourists, to me has been one really cool and positive part of my stay here, and I hope I'll always remember that. After watching the odd sing-a-long spectacle in this forest, I wandered down to an open cliff that juts out from the forest and gives you a nice view of the surrounding coastline and islets. Because it was so sunny and clear today, the ocean was a very bluish blue, and sparkled where the sun hit it. I then found a walkway that leads all the way along the cliffside for quite a ways, and I didn't feel like doing the whole thing so I just went a bit to check it out. There's also an open area at the beginning of the path where you can have a picnic or get some exercise on...you guessed it...more workout machines! They absolutely love those things here. You know, I saw some parents with their children playing on those things, and it made me think of something...I never see any kiddie slides or swings in the parks here like I would see in every park at home, but instead I see these workout machines, which serve as a kind-of playground not so much for kids, but for adults. I keep seeing more and more ways in which Korean adults are...well, more like children than adults! I suppose that post will come at a later time though. Anway, it was a lovely walk, I'm definitely doing it again soon! The only, only thing that put a little rain in my sunshine today was this: as I was walking along the path, a very obviously sober Korean tourist chose a bush that was out in the open, not five feet from the path, to take a pee. What...the...hell. No, this isn't the first time I've seen this happen...but I usually see it along the mountain road, where it makes more sense for someone to pee since along the road there aren't restrooms (hint: there were plenty along the path!).
I left the Oedolgae area and explored a bit with my scooter, and found my way to E-Mart to pick some things up for dinner, which turned out to be pretty yummy and definitely filling. But I feel great! I'm so glad that spring is on its way, because I've been suffering from a severe case of cabin fever and I need to get OUT! Mt. Halla, here I come...soon...
Oedolgae, the "Lonely Rock". 
My "Korean" dinner. 
Fun + English = Funglish? I don't know either...
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