Jeju Island Day 3: Seongsan Ilchulbong

Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Monday, 20 Oct 2014

Operating Hours:
Winter : 1 hour before sunrise - 20:00,
Summer : 1 hour before sunrise - 21:00
Closed: Not allowed to enter during bad weather

Entrance Fee: Adult 2,000 won (Group over 10: 1,200 won)

Seongsan Ilchulbong... our first agenda for today.


Facts...

Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. Also known as Sunrise peak is new 7 wonders of nature. Located on the eastern end of Jejudo Island, there is a huge crater at the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak. The crater is about 600m in diameter and 90m high. With the 99 sharp rocks surrounding the crater, it looks like a gigantic crown. While the southeast and north sides are cliffs, the northwest side is a verdant grassy hill that is connected to the Seongsan Village. (source)

Seongsan Ilchulbong from the air (source)
The Center is the Volcanic crater of Seongsan Ilchulbong

From Ilchulbong Tourist Hotel, it took us less than 5 minutes by car to reach the entrance to this 7 wonders of nature. Since, Seongsan Ilchulbong terkenal dengan the magnificinet view during the sunrise, so, the best time kalau nak datang ke sini confirmlah before sunrise. Kami bertolak just nice after Solat Suboh dari Hotel & langit masih gelap lagi masa kami sampai sini. Tapi otw nak naik tu pun dah ramai orang. Semua dengan tujuan & impian yang sama... nak catch the sunrise.

Kalau tengok dari atas memang sangat cantik Seongsan Ilchulbong ni. Tapi memang mustahil lah kami nak tengok dari atas kan, so, terpaksa lah aku acknowledge image dari wikipedia ni (pic above) nak tunjuk actual view volcanic crater of Seongsan Ilchulbong from the air yang dikatakan muncul dari bawah laut akibat letupan gunung berapi kira-kira 100,000 tahun yang lalu.

 

Seongsan Ilchulbong sunrise viewpoint

From main entrance nak sampai ke puncak Seongsan Ilchulbong ni bukan lah semudah yang disangkakan. Kena lah merasa azab naik tangga yang agak steep sikit. Eventho, aku dah biasa hiking tapi aku tak berapa nak suka part naik tangga ni. Sebab aku rasa penat dia lain macam sikit compare to normal hiking trail yang steep. Anyway, the trail heading to top is well marked and well maintained, so, don't worry. Alhamdulillah, I took about 40 minutes to walk up which is not that bad considering a few stops along the trail. Trekking from the main entrance to the top will take you approximately, 30min to 1 hour but still depends on individual stamina too.

The sunrise from the crater is magnificent

Subhanallah...

Sunrise agak lewat sikit. Anyway, Alhamdulillah, sempat juga kami catch the sunrise moment eventho not the perfect one. Maybe sebab awan agak tebal pagi tu, cahaya matahari pun agak terhalang. Tapi memang takde aktiviti yang menarik pun di atas ni selain menyaksikan sunrise & melihat keindahan Jeju from top. Tempat nak view sunrise ni agak luas & panjang tapi akan jadi limited bila peak hours macam nak tengok sunrise ni sebab orang terlalu ramai. Masa kami sampai pun dah penuh dengan orang & jalan nak masuk ke sini pun sesak, masing-masing pun berebut nak dapat seat & angle yang best, huh.

Viewpoint on the other side

After spend about 1 hour on top of Seongsan Ilchulbong , kami pun turun semula. Laluan nak turun tak sama dengan laluan nak naik, so, sila follow the right direction. Tangga dia agak steep, so, please be careful. Otw nak turun dari puncak ke bawah, view memang sangat awesome.So, take your time & enjoy the view.

Nak turun juga kena guna tangga macam nak naik

Laluan nak turun tak sama dengan laluan nak naik

Bayangkan tangga macam ni jugalah yang kami gunakan untuk naik ke puncak Ilchulbong

Spectacular view of Jeju Island from top of Sunrise peak

Sambil turun sambil menikmati keindaham Jeju Island

Half way down view

Perfect view from top

Laluan turun & naik

If time permits, you could also catch the Jeju Woman Diver (a.k.a Haenyo) in action on your way down from Seongsan Ilchulbong. Masa ni, show masih belum buka lagi, too early. Kalau kami nak tunggu performance "Haenyo" ni, confirm tak sempat lah sebab flight kami 12.30pm & estimated time dari Ilchulbong nak ke Airport about 1 hour. Actually, boleh sampai lagi cepat kalau tak banyak speed trap. Kalau ikutkan, women diver ni salah satu benda yang aku nak tengok sangat kat Jeju tapi apa kan daya masa yang terhad & perjalanan yang jauh dari satu destinasi ke satu destinasi lain, menyekat keinginan itu. I wish I could do on my next trip, hehehe, berangan dulu.

Ada laluan ke bawah untuk menyaksikan Women diver performance show

Special place for women diver or "Haenyo" performance

Pemandangan otw nak turun memang sangat layan

Semakin jauh meninggalkan sunrise peak

A must see place in Jeju

Trail menuju Seongsan Ilchulbong

We ended the tour around 8am. We returned to Hotel, breakfast & packed up for preparation back to Seoul. Lepas ni destinasi kami ke Airport Jeju. Sebelum tu, kami kena pulangkan kereta sewa kat KT Kumho dulu. And from there, kami akan naik bas yang dah disediakan KT Kumho untuk ke Jeju Airport.

Emmhhh... sedihnya, rasa macam baru semalam jer sampai sini, hari ni dah nak ke balik kan. Rasanya macam tak puas lagi nak menikmati keindahan Jeju to the fullest. Masih banyak lagi tempat yang aku missed nak pergi disebabkan kami tak cukup masa, so, priority to tempat-tempat yang wajib. InsyAllah, jika ada rezeki, pasti aku akan ke sini lagi.

To be continued...