Kicking Back

The Joys of Jeju

Those days are long gone, but as the country’s only special self-governing province, Jeju’s autonomy is to some degree still intact. That status, bestowed on the island in 2006, was intended to facilitate foreign investment and commercial activity for the development of a so-called “Free International City.” The $3.6 billion project, currently underway, seeks to transform Jeju into a kind of Korean Hong Kong, featuring high-tech industry, finance, medical services, higher education and additional resorts.

In the not-too-distant future, tourists wanting a tummy tuck with their sun ’n’ surf will be able to get the procedure done in “Health Care Town” — a 370-acre complex of medical clinics and upscale apartments surrounded by beaches and an 18-hole golf course. And a short drive away, “English-only Town,” a collection of language schools for up to 9,000 Korean students, will ensure that Jeju’s future plastic surgeons are as fluent as their patients.

After descending Sunrise Peak, I made my way back to the Shilla Jeju, one of the Leading Hotels of the World and one of four luxury properties in the Jungmun Resort Complex, Jeju’s largest. Before turning in, though, I stepped out on the patio for a snack under the stars — some soju, Korea’s ubiquitous rice alcohol, and a plate of fresh abalone. The most succulent of summer shellfish, it was once served as a gift to Jeju’s kings. And centuries later, when the Korean government forbade women from diving, gifts of abalone helped officials forget there was a problem.

A harpist played to a crowd indoors, but I could still hear the waves, and I pictured the sea women I’d seen the day before, splitting spiny urchins for a taste of the sea. There’s nothing like an island.

Info To Go

Jeju is a two-hour (or less) flight from 18 major cities, including Seoul, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, with 40 daily flights between Jeju International Airport (CJU) and Seoul’s Incheon International Airport (ICN) and Gimpo International Airport (GMP). Renting a car is the easiest and, at about $40 per day, most cost-efficient way to get around the island. The Jeju Airport Limousine bus No. 600 departs every 15 minutes, stopping at popular destinations. The 40-minute taxi ride from Jungmun to the airport costs about $30. Visit english.visitkorea.or.kr.

Diversions

If golf is religion in Korea — and indoor hotel driving ranges would indicate

that this is so — the island of Jeju is mecca, full of emerald fairways and immaculate greens. Tee off at the Pinx Country Club. The superbly maintained 27-hole course, set among lava outcrops near the slopes of Mt. Halla, features nine holes open to the public.

Nearby, the Spirited Garden, lifework of bonsai tree-artist Bum Young-Sung, is an enchanting sanctuary of sculpted trees, stone walls and trickling streams.

Elsewhere, nature remains gloriously untamed. Take a tour of the stunning seaside cliffs at Jungmun Jusangjeollidae inside the Jungmun Resort Complex, and be sure to stop by Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, perhaps the prettiest on the island. Of course, soaring Mount Halla, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a perennial outdoor option, with great hiking, horseback riding and rock climbing. The mountain’s majestic crater lake Baengnokdam is considered a holy site by many Koreans, and its elaborate system of lava tube caves is a rare geological treasure.

Further down Halla’s slopes, Gwaneumsa Temple, Jeju’s oldest Buddhist temple, was built during the Goryeo Dynasty, from which the English “Korea” deriv es. It was destroyed and rebuilt in the 20th century. There’s also the famed Yakcheonsa Temple — the name means “where the medicinal water flows” — with its four-story prayer hall housing the largest Buddha statue in all of Asia.