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niori_1709We were getting to the end of our Jeju vacation, with only a day and a half left before we got back on the ferry to head back to the mainland. Our travel plans, by this point, had slowed down a bit- instead of hopping to a few different places for a few hours each, we were going to spend the whole day at one place.
Hallim Park is an 80-acre themed nature park/garden in the north west of the island, about 33 Km from Jeju City. It was built in 1971, when the entire area was nothing more than barren land. By the time I got there, so many years later, you’d never believe that last fact. When I told the hostel owner that we were going there, he dismissed it as ‘fake nature’. While that is true -everything was put there intentionally by people- the fact that the nature was ‘fake’ didn’t take away from the park. The nature was planned to a tee, and whoever did the planning knew exactly what they were doing. The park is divided into nine different themes, each with their own area, with two caves breaking up the middle. When you first enter the park, it’s on Palm Tree Road. It’s exactly as it sounds- the path (which runs through the whole park and is clearly labeled. You’re not getting turned around or lost here. It’s also beautifully designed. It’s not just the flowers that make the park lovely. Stones are used to create a mosaic pattern that looks quite neat) is lined with palm trees. It’s not only palm trees of course. There are bushes, grass, and more flowers than you can count. Some of these flowers I recognized, but many I did not. It’s a very, very green place. The path here also leads into a hedge lined area (it wasn’t a maze since the hedges were about waist high). The leaves on the smaller non-palm trees are cut into swirly patterns. They look really cool, with no twig out of place. Whoever’s job it is to keep everything trimmed is on top of it. There’s not anything overly exciting about this area since it’s just your basic entrance. It’s when you get further into the park where it gets really interesting.
The second area of the park was the herb garden. I fully admit that herbs aren’t usually going to catch my attention all that much. Herbs are great in food and medicine, but usually not the prettiest to look at. The area was mostly green, but there were flowers there as well. Those flowers were the ones you see taking over fields in the wild. There are patches of bright red poppies, violet irises, and orange-red spider lilies, to name a few. This is the most wide-open area of the park. It’s not as highly designed, but more like they let some flowers spread and run wild. The path crosses through small fields of daisies, sunshine bright marigolds, and violet coneflowers, while being hedged in by green herb arrangements in ordered areas. The flowers are lovely and worth a wander on their own, but they’re not the only thing making the path interesting. In order to enter this section, you branch off from the main round path up another one. That path is through a small stone garden. The flowers and greens fall away, with dark crushed rock replacing them along the walkway. Standing on those rocks, clustered unevenly on both sides, are statues, dozens and dozens of statues. They’re small, only about knee height, chunky, and look more than a little odd. They’re not really carved, for the most part, but two rocks piled on each other, standing upwards. The bottom rock is vaguely the shape of an upper body, broad and misshapen in shape, with a smaller, rounder rock making up the head. Some of the statues have rudimentary carved faces -just eyes and a mouth- while others just have natural marks that kind of look like a face. Even more still have no markings at all. They seem like little guardians standing along the path. For all they’re small, they do seem fierce- you can imagine them, during the dark of night, turning their precariously perched heads as someone tries to sneak down the path, small protectors keeping track of those up to no good. I love them. Can you tell?
Next up is what makes this park unique compared to others of its kind. Part of the path that runs through the park is underground- in order to get through the rest of the park, you need to travel through a couple of caves. The caves are Hyeopjaegul and Ssangyonggul. The caves were formed by lava moving under the earth long ago, back when Hallasan was still active. The caves are natural, but they had to be excavated by people to make sure they were safe and easy to get through, because you go in one side of the cave, walk through, and then come out the other side. You then walk a few metres under the sky, walk down some stone steps and enter an archway at the bottom, and then repeat the process in another cave system. Inside the cave they’ve put down sheets of metal to act as a walkway, with rope barricades to make sure you know not to wander off. The cave is also well lit by lamps (on the ground and embedded in the wall near the ceiling). While you always need to keep an eye out for falling rocks, the only real danger here is the possibility of slipping- condensation gathers on the rocks above you, drips down, and gets the metal walkway wet. You need to watch your footing because it can get slippery. For all that they can get crowded (especially in summer- the caves are cooler in temperature than outside and offered blessed relief from the unbearably hot summer sun that day. I nearly wept when I felt chilly for the first time in months), the caves still have a mystique to them. There are shadows everywhere, with the sound of water drops hitting the ground echoing through the space. The rough grey walls still sparkle because they’re wet, almost convincing you you’re catching a vein of exposed precious metal. There are narrow pathways, and then you come to a wide-open cavern, with stalagmites and stalactites jutting up and down like sharp teeth. There are massive stone pillars and pools of water scattered throughout. If you speak, your voice begins to echo. I’ve always loved caves, always found them to have a touch of mystery. That crack in the wall over there, the one that leads to another section- where exactly does it lead? The sound you hear from the dark path you’re forbidden to go down- what was it? What caused those rocks piled up in the corner to collapse and what are they now blocking from view? Those were all questions I asked myself while walking through.
There are also some interesting rock formations littered throughout the caves. Most of them are natural, though one was a man-made statue. Of the natural ones, there are rocks that look like a bear, a turtle, and an owl. I must admit that those ones took a little squinting and head tilting to make out, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed the resemblance if handy signs hadn’t been there pointing them out. One of them, however, was plain as day to see, and that was The Mother. It’s a tall stone that curves to the left and then rounds out into ‘shoulders’. At the very top, there is a small ‘neck’ that attaches to a lumpy circular ‘head’ (it reminds me of ET’s head). There’s one section of the ‘body’ that sticks out in an oval pattern, and that all makes up a woman holding a baby in her arms. This one I could see very easily, even without the sign. As for the man-made statue, it’s not very large, smaller than me. It shows two people- one is a man, standing up and holding a round object above his head, and the other is a woman, lunging and reaching up to grab the thing from his hand. It’s a scene from a Korean folk tale. It’s the story of a doctor who wished to understand animals. He found a magic stone that would give him that power if he swallowed it. He knew a lovely young lady, who unbeknownst to everyone was actually a fox in disguise (a common thing to happen in Korean legends), and she panicked, knowing that if he ate that stone, he could expose her. That’s why she’s frantically trying to take it before he can. It’s a great statue, even if it seems a bit out of place in these natural caves.
After venturing out into the sun once again, you come to the part of the park that is dedicated to the flora of Jeju Island. Since Jeju is a tropical island, that means that there’s a lot of tropical plants here. The way this is set up isn’t like the rest of the park. The plants on display here aren’t sprawled all over the place, but instead, it’s like a bonsai garden. While not bonsai trees, all the trees/bushes in this space are done in a way that looks like bonsai- a short plant in a large pot. Some of these are flowering trees, some just have green leaves, and others have berries. Since these don’t take all that much room, there’s also a lot of giant stones set up to act as decoration. Close to it is the spring flowers grove, which I skipped, given it was summer and none of the flowers were out. However, if you’re there in cherry blossom season, do yourself a favour and go explore.
Nearly dead centre of the park is a traditional folk village. I’ve written about traditional Korean villages before, and when you normally see a folk village, you’ll come across hanok buildings. Here, because the history of Jeju was separate from the Korean mainland in a lot of ways, the traditional buildings are different. The homes of Jeju were thatched straw cottages, called Chongajip. There are about half a dozen of them. They’re all one floor, with only a few rooms in them. The walls are made of mud and large stones. Most of the buildings are empty, but some are set up to show what the rooms would have been used for in the past. While I like the straw cottages, I must admit that I like the hanok style buildings more. Architecturally, they just look so much more interesting. But it’s not just the buildings that make up the village. They also have vegetable gardens separated by chest high stone walls. There are pots out, designed to catch rainwater. The small courtyard in front of the buildings was lined with small pots, filled with water and a single lotus flower floating on the surface. There are statues set up all around, everyday things meant to represent life as it was: pigs eating from a trough, horses by the fence (big enough that a kid could sit on their back). At the outside corners of the houses there are piles of kimchi pots.
In the middle of the village there is one more giant statue. It has nothing to do with village life exactly, and it’s one you’ve not only seen multiple times in the park, but all over Jeju (albeit much smaller in size). That’s because it’s a plus sized version of the Dol Hareubang, the stone grandfather. He’s made from basalt, which is volcanic rock, thus he’s black, bumpy, and pockmarked. It’s legless, so its body makes up the statue and then the head (much like the stone statues along the path earlier). Its arms are bent at its side and tucked in with hands resting on the belly. One hand is always higher than the other. His head is round at the top and phallus shaped, to be frank. It has bulging eyes, a big nose, long ears, and an almost grin on his lips, like he has a secret he’s not going to tell. While I’m not going to go all conspiracy theory and say they’re related, these statues do remind me a little of the Maori of Easter Island. These grandfathers are the symbols of Jeju and they’re all over the island because of it. While they’re basically anywhere, traditionally you’ll find them placed outside the gates in order to grant protection against demons. They’re also a symbol of fertility. If a woman wants to get pregnant with a boy, she’s supposed to rub the statue’s nose. If she wants a girl, it’s the ears. I was told that it was good luck to rub the stomach, which I did on the big one in the village (but made sure not to go anywhere near the nose or ears). There’s also some mystery behind the Dol Hareubang because no one is completely sure where they came from. Experts have ideas of course, including they were introduced by sea travelers who come to the island, that they developed in the same thread as the protective totem poles on the mainland, or they were created and spread through the island by the old shamans of the traditional Jeju religion. Wherever they came from, they’ve been embraced by the locals and visitors alike, including me. While I profess to like the smaller stone guys a bit more, I love the Dol Hareubang as well. He is most certainly an imposing figure, standing tall amongst the buildings. As for his lucky stomach rub, well looking back at all I’ve done, accomplished, and seen since that fateful day, I have to say it seemed to work. I can in good conscience recommend it, at the very least.
After leaving the folk village you must walk down the path to make it to the next area. Along that path there are a number of really neat statues to gaze upon (so many statues, so little time). The first is a group of five Haeyo (the women divers from a couple travel guides ago) standing together. They’re all smiling brightly, looking like they’re in the middle of a friendly chat. One has her fishing basket slung over a shoulder, one has it hanging at her side, and the rest have their equipment resting at their feet. If the Dol Hareubang are the primary symbol of Jeju, then the mermaids are the secondary ones. The second is a statue of the two dragons who, legend has it, used to live in the two caves. It’s a tall narrow statue, with the two dragons entwined with each other going downwards, heads and necks twisting back up near the bottom to look up. It’s traditional Eastern dragons, with their lack of wings, snake-like body, and square face. The details carved into the statue, from the scales on their legs to the frills on the tails and around the face, are well done and give dimension to it. The faces have a mouth half open and narrowed eyes, like the dragons are growling at you. They’re fierce looking enough that it makes you glad you never ran into their inspiration while passing through the caves. This statue is unique to the other ones in the park because it has some colour in it. It’s not a lot, with the pupils black and the rest of the eyes and tongue red. Those colours really pop against the slate grey of the rest. It adds immensely to the fearsomeness.
You then come to what is unequivocally the most fun place in the park, the bird park. There are peacocks, all sorts of parrots, ostriches, ducks, and so many more. Some are in large cages, others in wide pens, and others floating freely in the pond. As always, my favourite remained the blue peacock (I’ve always found the white ones boring). The existence of these birds themselves isn’t what made it fun. What makes it fun is the aviary, where at least fifty or so adorable love birds are flitting about. They’re those small multi-coloured birds that can sit in the palm of your hand. They’re round little things, with feathers that go from orange, to yellow, to green. They’re cute and squeal worthy, and I’m not even that much of a bird fan. Inside the cage, the birds are hanging out on branches or ropes when they’re not flapping from place to place (and there is LOTS of room for them in there). For a small fee, you’re handed a handful of bird feed in each hand and you’re sent into the cage. Then they flock to you. The birds descend on you, like they’ve been waiting for it. They probably have been. With your hands palm up and flat, a few birds can land and feed at once. They like to get close to wait as well, so they’ll land anywhere they can. I had birds on my arms, shoulders, and one perched on my head thar proceeded to hop around a bit to get comfy. They were so light you could barely feel them there, with only their little talons leaving a bit of a prick while they stood. It actually hit my ticklish reflex and I had to hold in my giggles so not to scare away the birds. You’re supposed to hold completely still, but these birds are used to people enough that some movement isn’t going to startle them. My friend and I were able to move enough for her to get out her phone and then the two of us get close enough for a selfie. The birds only stayed as long as there was food, and then they were off to wait for their next meal ticket. All in all, we were in the cage with them for about five minutes. I highly recommend this activity. It’s one that makes Hallim Park more than your run of the mill garden.
Just past the birds is the seventh section of the park. Unlike the rest, this is a building. Inside the building is an exhibit. Inside is a collection of rocks from all over the island. I promise it’s more interesting than it sounds. The rocks are in some sort of odd or cool shape. There are stones in the shape of eagles, mandarin ducks, turtles, a snake head, and even one that bears resemblance to one of Van Gogh’s famous self-portraits. There’s an alien head and a rock with discolouration that makes a white horse appear in the grey. These are all natural, though some have been set on a metal stand. While a curiosity, these aren’t the best examples in the exhibit. The best are the various bits of lava that have cooled into crazy formations. They’re these pillars of streams of lava pouring over each other and then frozen there as it rapidly cooled. They’re all oddly formed and irregular, and you can see the places where the lava was bubbling. Some were big and some were small, and all showcase one of the wonders mother nature thought up for the world. For all that, if you find yourself needing to skip something for time, this is the place to choose.
After getting back outside, take a few steps and you’ll come to the water garden. As the name implies, you’re going to find aquatic plants in this place. There are four ponds, three for plants and one is a koi pond. The first one you come to, well calling it a simple pond doesn’t do it justice. The makers of the park built it up to look wilder, where the water runs down a small stream. It’s layered in multiple spots, so the water falls in minuscule waterfalls. It’s uneven and rocky, before it empties into the first real pond. The sound of running water (the babbling brook kind, if you will) was a nice touch and soothing in comparison to the sounds of the crowds. The three ponds are filled with one of my favourite flowers, the lotus. If you’ve spent any time in Asia, you’ve definitely noticed the common motif of lotus flowers. This is because the lotus is an important symbol in Buddhism. It symbolizes rebirth and enlightenment since it’s a flower whose roots take hold in the mud and murky water, but still opens into a beautiful blossom every morning. It’s why they’ve been brought into so many manmade ponds, alongside their beauty. And beautiful they are, from the spaces where lily pads blanket the water like a carpet and the flowers are everywhere, to the times a single pad and flower floats alone in the dark water. Some of the flowers are pure white with only the yellow centre, while others were purple and pink. I’ve always found lotuses to be elegant and the perfect representation of a simple beauty. I enjoyed taking a moment to pause and gaze out at them and feel the gentle calm. The last pond was not a calm one, because it was full of fish. They’re pretty fish of course, all shiny gold or orange with white spots, a beauty skimming the surface of murky water. That’s when you see them from a distance. Then you get close to the water and majestic they are not. They all pop up at the side, practically swimming over each other at the surface, wide mouths gaping open and closed like they’re gasping for breath. They know that people close to the water might mean someone throwing food down and they’re not taking chances of missing it. They’re smarter than people give them credit for, I’ll give them that.
There are some other things of note in the water garden. Standing in the middle of the pond on top of the water and with lily pads covering the base, are statues. There’s a beautiful young woman sitting down and gazing at her reflection in the water, an old woman pumping water using an old-fashioned pump, and another mermaid holding her equipment. There’s a fountain designed to look like a waterfall. It’s a tall rock face, uneven in a way that looks like uneven steppingstones across the front. It makes sure the water cascades down and out, not in one large jet but spreading out like a curtain. Along the edge of the water garden is also an add on topiary garden. There are hedges in the shapes of dinosaurs (including my favourite, the triceratops), an octopus, peacocks, an elephant standing on its hind legs, horses, and pigs. They’re well kept and without a twig or leaf out of place. They’re an interesting addition to the park, but I find their addition in this particular area a bit baffling.
Finally, we have come to the end of Hallim park. Last, but not least, is the subtropical garden. This is where you’re going to find the more ‘exotic’ plants from around the world, and the biggest variety- there are trees, fruit trees, jungle flowers, and cactuses. A lot of these plants are in two separate green houses, one for fruit and the other for everything else. They grow bananas, pears, pineapples, and most importantly, the famous Jeju tangerines. Korea is not a country where a lot of fruit is grown, let alone fruit that originally grew up naturally. Jeju and its tangerines are the exception. They are all over the island and there are trees cultivated here. I am not usually all that much of a fruit person- I like a handful of them and will eat it if it’s there but rarely seek them out as a craving. If someone offers me a Jeju tangerine though, I am in the camp of give me more and I want it now. They are delicious, the perfect blend of tangy and sweet. They’re so juicy that it’s as refreshing as drinking juice. Granted, I wasn’t able to get any at Hallim Park, but you can pick them at lots of orchards on Jeju (I did just that on my second trip to Jeju) and I HIGHLY recommend that as a side trip. When it comes to other plants, you’re going to see a lot of flowers (and tropical flowers always seem to have the most vibrant colours. The reds and oranges will remind you of sunset, and you’ll take a moment to feel a bit of awe at the beauty of the world) and cactuses in the second greenhouse. There are big ones and small ones, ones that are round balls close to the ground and the classic ones out of a cartoon. A cactus is also the best plant in the whole park. This is the Old Man Cactus, called so because -surprise- it looks like an old man. It’s a long cactus, taller than me. There is a layer of soft brown fuzz around the top. It’s thin at the very top, with a small tuff as ‘hair’. There’s more tuffs right beside each other, which are the bushy ‘eyebrows’. Further down, where the ‘chin’ would be the fuzz goes crazy, not so much fuzz anymore but a shag carpet growing there. It’s his ‘beard’. There’s the upper part, a gap where a mouth would be, and then it traveled further down in a rough triangle shape like he’s some sort of ancient wizard. I adore this cactus more than I have ever cared for a desert plant before. There’s no stretching for this- it looks like an old man. He’s pretty adorable actually, so be sure to be on the lookout when going through the subtropical garden.
You also get some more animal interactions here. To go with the theme, they’re all reptiles. They have the whole gang here- turtles, lizards, and snakes. If you’re a reptile fan, I have the place for you. If you’re feeling particularly brave and are lucky enough to be there when the keepers are looking in on them, you can even hold one of the snakes. It’s not one of the huge snakes (or venomous, obviously), at only about the size of an open hand and forearm together. I couldn’t tell you what type it was, only that it had a yellow belly and brown stripes and it was as friendly as a snake is going to get. The keeper tells you how to hold it, which is gently with both hands. The snake can still move a little, at least enough to wrap a bit of itself around your wrist (at least in my case). The snake was completely unbothered by me and just went about its business. The keeper watches you like a hawk to make sure you don’t do anything to hurt the snake or stress it out. Snakes feel strange to the touch if you ask me, what with somehow managing to be smooth and yet able to feel the scale pattern at the same time. While I enjoyed interacting with the birds more because it was more dynamic, there is something just a little bit thrilling to be holding something so many people are afraid of (thankfully snakes aren’t one of my phobias). It’s a case of fake danger sure, but still one that gives you a shot of rush that makes people feel a little wild. That’s a feeling I know and love, so it’s lucky this can be one of the last things to finish your visit. What a way to top it off, eh?
To get through the whole park takes about an hour and a half to two hours. If you get there early enough, it means you might have a good chunk of the day left to find a way to entertain yourself. If you’re not in too much of a rush to get back to the city, you can find something close to Hallim Park. Right across from the entrance is Hyeopjae Beach. While not technically part of the park, they are often packaged together, and many -like my friend group and I- go to both, one right after the other. The beach is different from the first one I went to on day one. Unlike that one, this isn’t all golden sand and cliffs behind it. The sand here is white because of the crushed shells that are mixed in. The beach is flat, save for the groupings of large volcanic rocks spread out all along the beach. Swimming is permitted (and you can get away with swimming out further than most beaches in Korea, but still not that deep). There’s no sharp drop off and the water is clear. At 9 km long, there’s more than enough space for you to put down a towel to relax after your walk through Hallim Park. By the time we reached the beach, the sun had disappeared behind grey clouds and rain was threatening. Therefore, when my group decided to find a place to rest and relax, I wasn’t feeling it. Sitting on a beach on an overcast day kind of depresses me, so I didn’t need to stay all that long. For a bit at least, exploring it was. I went right to those rocks and began to go up, down, and around them. They weren’t near the water so there were no tide pools to look into, so that meant there was less to keep my interest. There were lots of cool formations that the rocks were in, like little jagged islands of black that jut out of the white sand. There were little crawlies scampering around the rocks, so if you’re jumpy about them, then maybe avoid, or at least don’t look down too closely. People also took time to make piles of rocks, some of them fairly high. The little pyramids are steady enough, and though many of them looked like they would blow over in a strong wind, they stayed strong while I was there. I was only at the beach for about half an hour when sprinkles of rain began to fall on and off. While my friends wanted to stay and hope the skies would clear (spoiler: it didn’t), I felt no need to wait it out. I agreed to meet them later that night back in Jeju City, and then got back on the bus to where I came from. My day was done.
Hallim Park wasn’t what I was looking forward to the most when I was planning my Jeju trip, but I’m glad it was on the list. It was a really good walk with cool things to see and do while getting exercise. While it wasn’t my favourite place I visited in Jeju, it made a great day trip and I had a really good time while there. If you do ever find yourself in Jeju and have an afternoon to kill, I highly recommend you kill it at Hallim Park and Hyeopjae Beach.
Hallim Park is an 80-acre themed nature park/garden in the north west of the island, about 33 Km from Jeju City. It was built in 1971, when the entire area was nothing more than barren land. By the time I got there, so many years later, you’d never believe that last fact. When I told the hostel owner that we were going there, he dismissed it as ‘fake nature’. While that is true -everything was put there intentionally by people- the fact that the nature was ‘fake’ didn’t take away from the park. The nature was planned to a tee, and whoever did the planning knew exactly what they were doing. The park is divided into nine different themes, each with their own area, with two caves breaking up the middle. When you first enter the park, it’s on Palm Tree Road. It’s exactly as it sounds- the path (which runs through the whole park and is clearly labeled. You’re not getting turned around or lost here. It’s also beautifully designed. It’s not just the flowers that make the park lovely. Stones are used to create a mosaic pattern that looks quite neat) is lined with palm trees. It’s not only palm trees of course. There are bushes, grass, and more flowers than you can count. Some of these flowers I recognized, but many I did not. It’s a very, very green place. The path here also leads into a hedge lined area (it wasn’t a maze since the hedges were about waist high). The leaves on the smaller non-palm trees are cut into swirly patterns. They look really cool, with no twig out of place. Whoever’s job it is to keep everything trimmed is on top of it. There’s not anything overly exciting about this area since it’s just your basic entrance. It’s when you get further into the park where it gets really interesting.
The second area of the park was the herb garden. I fully admit that herbs aren’t usually going to catch my attention all that much. Herbs are great in food and medicine, but usually not the prettiest to look at. The area was mostly green, but there were flowers there as well. Those flowers were the ones you see taking over fields in the wild. There are patches of bright red poppies, violet irises, and orange-red spider lilies, to name a few. This is the most wide-open area of the park. It’s not as highly designed, but more like they let some flowers spread and run wild. The path crosses through small fields of daisies, sunshine bright marigolds, and violet coneflowers, while being hedged in by green herb arrangements in ordered areas. The flowers are lovely and worth a wander on their own, but they’re not the only thing making the path interesting. In order to enter this section, you branch off from the main round path up another one. That path is through a small stone garden. The flowers and greens fall away, with dark crushed rock replacing them along the walkway. Standing on those rocks, clustered unevenly on both sides, are statues, dozens and dozens of statues. They’re small, only about knee height, chunky, and look more than a little odd. They’re not really carved, for the most part, but two rocks piled on each other, standing upwards. The bottom rock is vaguely the shape of an upper body, broad and misshapen in shape, with a smaller, rounder rock making up the head. Some of the statues have rudimentary carved faces -just eyes and a mouth- while others just have natural marks that kind of look like a face. Even more still have no markings at all. They seem like little guardians standing along the path. For all they’re small, they do seem fierce- you can imagine them, during the dark of night, turning their precariously perched heads as someone tries to sneak down the path, small protectors keeping track of those up to no good. I love them. Can you tell?
Next up is what makes this park unique compared to others of its kind. Part of the path that runs through the park is underground- in order to get through the rest of the park, you need to travel through a couple of caves. The caves are Hyeopjaegul and Ssangyonggul. The caves were formed by lava moving under the earth long ago, back when Hallasan was still active. The caves are natural, but they had to be excavated by people to make sure they were safe and easy to get through, because you go in one side of the cave, walk through, and then come out the other side. You then walk a few metres under the sky, walk down some stone steps and enter an archway at the bottom, and then repeat the process in another cave system. Inside the cave they’ve put down sheets of metal to act as a walkway, with rope barricades to make sure you know not to wander off. The cave is also well lit by lamps (on the ground and embedded in the wall near the ceiling). While you always need to keep an eye out for falling rocks, the only real danger here is the possibility of slipping- condensation gathers on the rocks above you, drips down, and gets the metal walkway wet. You need to watch your footing because it can get slippery. For all that they can get crowded (especially in summer- the caves are cooler in temperature than outside and offered blessed relief from the unbearably hot summer sun that day. I nearly wept when I felt chilly for the first time in months), the caves still have a mystique to them. There are shadows everywhere, with the sound of water drops hitting the ground echoing through the space. The rough grey walls still sparkle because they’re wet, almost convincing you you’re catching a vein of exposed precious metal. There are narrow pathways, and then you come to a wide-open cavern, with stalagmites and stalactites jutting up and down like sharp teeth. There are massive stone pillars and pools of water scattered throughout. If you speak, your voice begins to echo. I’ve always loved caves, always found them to have a touch of mystery. That crack in the wall over there, the one that leads to another section- where exactly does it lead? The sound you hear from the dark path you’re forbidden to go down- what was it? What caused those rocks piled up in the corner to collapse and what are they now blocking from view? Those were all questions I asked myself while walking through.
There are also some interesting rock formations littered throughout the caves. Most of them are natural, though one was a man-made statue. Of the natural ones, there are rocks that look like a bear, a turtle, and an owl. I must admit that those ones took a little squinting and head tilting to make out, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed the resemblance if handy signs hadn’t been there pointing them out. One of them, however, was plain as day to see, and that was The Mother. It’s a tall stone that curves to the left and then rounds out into ‘shoulders’. At the very top, there is a small ‘neck’ that attaches to a lumpy circular ‘head’ (it reminds me of ET’s head). There’s one section of the ‘body’ that sticks out in an oval pattern, and that all makes up a woman holding a baby in her arms. This one I could see very easily, even without the sign. As for the man-made statue, it’s not very large, smaller than me. It shows two people- one is a man, standing up and holding a round object above his head, and the other is a woman, lunging and reaching up to grab the thing from his hand. It’s a scene from a Korean folk tale. It’s the story of a doctor who wished to understand animals. He found a magic stone that would give him that power if he swallowed it. He knew a lovely young lady, who unbeknownst to everyone was actually a fox in disguise (a common thing to happen in Korean legends), and she panicked, knowing that if he ate that stone, he could expose her. That’s why she’s frantically trying to take it before he can. It’s a great statue, even if it seems a bit out of place in these natural caves.
After venturing out into the sun once again, you come to the part of the park that is dedicated to the flora of Jeju Island. Since Jeju is a tropical island, that means that there’s a lot of tropical plants here. The way this is set up isn’t like the rest of the park. The plants on display here aren’t sprawled all over the place, but instead, it’s like a bonsai garden. While not bonsai trees, all the trees/bushes in this space are done in a way that looks like bonsai- a short plant in a large pot. Some of these are flowering trees, some just have green leaves, and others have berries. Since these don’t take all that much room, there’s also a lot of giant stones set up to act as decoration. Close to it is the spring flowers grove, which I skipped, given it was summer and none of the flowers were out. However, if you’re there in cherry blossom season, do yourself a favour and go explore.
Nearly dead centre of the park is a traditional folk village. I’ve written about traditional Korean villages before, and when you normally see a folk village, you’ll come across hanok buildings. Here, because the history of Jeju was separate from the Korean mainland in a lot of ways, the traditional buildings are different. The homes of Jeju were thatched straw cottages, called Chongajip. There are about half a dozen of them. They’re all one floor, with only a few rooms in them. The walls are made of mud and large stones. Most of the buildings are empty, but some are set up to show what the rooms would have been used for in the past. While I like the straw cottages, I must admit that I like the hanok style buildings more. Architecturally, they just look so much more interesting. But it’s not just the buildings that make up the village. They also have vegetable gardens separated by chest high stone walls. There are pots out, designed to catch rainwater. The small courtyard in front of the buildings was lined with small pots, filled with water and a single lotus flower floating on the surface. There are statues set up all around, everyday things meant to represent life as it was: pigs eating from a trough, horses by the fence (big enough that a kid could sit on their back). At the outside corners of the houses there are piles of kimchi pots.
In the middle of the village there is one more giant statue. It has nothing to do with village life exactly, and it’s one you’ve not only seen multiple times in the park, but all over Jeju (albeit much smaller in size). That’s because it’s a plus sized version of the Dol Hareubang, the stone grandfather. He’s made from basalt, which is volcanic rock, thus he’s black, bumpy, and pockmarked. It’s legless, so its body makes up the statue and then the head (much like the stone statues along the path earlier). Its arms are bent at its side and tucked in with hands resting on the belly. One hand is always higher than the other. His head is round at the top and phallus shaped, to be frank. It has bulging eyes, a big nose, long ears, and an almost grin on his lips, like he has a secret he’s not going to tell. While I’m not going to go all conspiracy theory and say they’re related, these statues do remind me a little of the Maori of Easter Island. These grandfathers are the symbols of Jeju and they’re all over the island because of it. While they’re basically anywhere, traditionally you’ll find them placed outside the gates in order to grant protection against demons. They’re also a symbol of fertility. If a woman wants to get pregnant with a boy, she’s supposed to rub the statue’s nose. If she wants a girl, it’s the ears. I was told that it was good luck to rub the stomach, which I did on the big one in the village (but made sure not to go anywhere near the nose or ears). There’s also some mystery behind the Dol Hareubang because no one is completely sure where they came from. Experts have ideas of course, including they were introduced by sea travelers who come to the island, that they developed in the same thread as the protective totem poles on the mainland, or they were created and spread through the island by the old shamans of the traditional Jeju religion. Wherever they came from, they’ve been embraced by the locals and visitors alike, including me. While I profess to like the smaller stone guys a bit more, I love the Dol Hareubang as well. He is most certainly an imposing figure, standing tall amongst the buildings. As for his lucky stomach rub, well looking back at all I’ve done, accomplished, and seen since that fateful day, I have to say it seemed to work. I can in good conscience recommend it, at the very least.
After leaving the folk village you must walk down the path to make it to the next area. Along that path there are a number of really neat statues to gaze upon (so many statues, so little time). The first is a group of five Haeyo (the women divers from a couple travel guides ago) standing together. They’re all smiling brightly, looking like they’re in the middle of a friendly chat. One has her fishing basket slung over a shoulder, one has it hanging at her side, and the rest have their equipment resting at their feet. If the Dol Hareubang are the primary symbol of Jeju, then the mermaids are the secondary ones. The second is a statue of the two dragons who, legend has it, used to live in the two caves. It’s a tall narrow statue, with the two dragons entwined with each other going downwards, heads and necks twisting back up near the bottom to look up. It’s traditional Eastern dragons, with their lack of wings, snake-like body, and square face. The details carved into the statue, from the scales on their legs to the frills on the tails and around the face, are well done and give dimension to it. The faces have a mouth half open and narrowed eyes, like the dragons are growling at you. They’re fierce looking enough that it makes you glad you never ran into their inspiration while passing through the caves. This statue is unique to the other ones in the park because it has some colour in it. It’s not a lot, with the pupils black and the rest of the eyes and tongue red. Those colours really pop against the slate grey of the rest. It adds immensely to the fearsomeness.
You then come to what is unequivocally the most fun place in the park, the bird park. There are peacocks, all sorts of parrots, ostriches, ducks, and so many more. Some are in large cages, others in wide pens, and others floating freely in the pond. As always, my favourite remained the blue peacock (I’ve always found the white ones boring). The existence of these birds themselves isn’t what made it fun. What makes it fun is the aviary, where at least fifty or so adorable love birds are flitting about. They’re those small multi-coloured birds that can sit in the palm of your hand. They’re round little things, with feathers that go from orange, to yellow, to green. They’re cute and squeal worthy, and I’m not even that much of a bird fan. Inside the cage, the birds are hanging out on branches or ropes when they’re not flapping from place to place (and there is LOTS of room for them in there). For a small fee, you’re handed a handful of bird feed in each hand and you’re sent into the cage. Then they flock to you. The birds descend on you, like they’ve been waiting for it. They probably have been. With your hands palm up and flat, a few birds can land and feed at once. They like to get close to wait as well, so they’ll land anywhere they can. I had birds on my arms, shoulders, and one perched on my head thar proceeded to hop around a bit to get comfy. They were so light you could barely feel them there, with only their little talons leaving a bit of a prick while they stood. It actually hit my ticklish reflex and I had to hold in my giggles so not to scare away the birds. You’re supposed to hold completely still, but these birds are used to people enough that some movement isn’t going to startle them. My friend and I were able to move enough for her to get out her phone and then the two of us get close enough for a selfie. The birds only stayed as long as there was food, and then they were off to wait for their next meal ticket. All in all, we were in the cage with them for about five minutes. I highly recommend this activity. It’s one that makes Hallim Park more than your run of the mill garden.
Just past the birds is the seventh section of the park. Unlike the rest, this is a building. Inside the building is an exhibit. Inside is a collection of rocks from all over the island. I promise it’s more interesting than it sounds. The rocks are in some sort of odd or cool shape. There are stones in the shape of eagles, mandarin ducks, turtles, a snake head, and even one that bears resemblance to one of Van Gogh’s famous self-portraits. There’s an alien head and a rock with discolouration that makes a white horse appear in the grey. These are all natural, though some have been set on a metal stand. While a curiosity, these aren’t the best examples in the exhibit. The best are the various bits of lava that have cooled into crazy formations. They’re these pillars of streams of lava pouring over each other and then frozen there as it rapidly cooled. They’re all oddly formed and irregular, and you can see the places where the lava was bubbling. Some were big and some were small, and all showcase one of the wonders mother nature thought up for the world. For all that, if you find yourself needing to skip something for time, this is the place to choose.
After getting back outside, take a few steps and you’ll come to the water garden. As the name implies, you’re going to find aquatic plants in this place. There are four ponds, three for plants and one is a koi pond. The first one you come to, well calling it a simple pond doesn’t do it justice. The makers of the park built it up to look wilder, where the water runs down a small stream. It’s layered in multiple spots, so the water falls in minuscule waterfalls. It’s uneven and rocky, before it empties into the first real pond. The sound of running water (the babbling brook kind, if you will) was a nice touch and soothing in comparison to the sounds of the crowds. The three ponds are filled with one of my favourite flowers, the lotus. If you’ve spent any time in Asia, you’ve definitely noticed the common motif of lotus flowers. This is because the lotus is an important symbol in Buddhism. It symbolizes rebirth and enlightenment since it’s a flower whose roots take hold in the mud and murky water, but still opens into a beautiful blossom every morning. It’s why they’ve been brought into so many manmade ponds, alongside their beauty. And beautiful they are, from the spaces where lily pads blanket the water like a carpet and the flowers are everywhere, to the times a single pad and flower floats alone in the dark water. Some of the flowers are pure white with only the yellow centre, while others were purple and pink. I’ve always found lotuses to be elegant and the perfect representation of a simple beauty. I enjoyed taking a moment to pause and gaze out at them and feel the gentle calm. The last pond was not a calm one, because it was full of fish. They’re pretty fish of course, all shiny gold or orange with white spots, a beauty skimming the surface of murky water. That’s when you see them from a distance. Then you get close to the water and majestic they are not. They all pop up at the side, practically swimming over each other at the surface, wide mouths gaping open and closed like they’re gasping for breath. They know that people close to the water might mean someone throwing food down and they’re not taking chances of missing it. They’re smarter than people give them credit for, I’ll give them that.
There are some other things of note in the water garden. Standing in the middle of the pond on top of the water and with lily pads covering the base, are statues. There’s a beautiful young woman sitting down and gazing at her reflection in the water, an old woman pumping water using an old-fashioned pump, and another mermaid holding her equipment. There’s a fountain designed to look like a waterfall. It’s a tall rock face, uneven in a way that looks like uneven steppingstones across the front. It makes sure the water cascades down and out, not in one large jet but spreading out like a curtain. Along the edge of the water garden is also an add on topiary garden. There are hedges in the shapes of dinosaurs (including my favourite, the triceratops), an octopus, peacocks, an elephant standing on its hind legs, horses, and pigs. They’re well kept and without a twig or leaf out of place. They’re an interesting addition to the park, but I find their addition in this particular area a bit baffling.
Finally, we have come to the end of Hallim park. Last, but not least, is the subtropical garden. This is where you’re going to find the more ‘exotic’ plants from around the world, and the biggest variety- there are trees, fruit trees, jungle flowers, and cactuses. A lot of these plants are in two separate green houses, one for fruit and the other for everything else. They grow bananas, pears, pineapples, and most importantly, the famous Jeju tangerines. Korea is not a country where a lot of fruit is grown, let alone fruit that originally grew up naturally. Jeju and its tangerines are the exception. They are all over the island and there are trees cultivated here. I am not usually all that much of a fruit person- I like a handful of them and will eat it if it’s there but rarely seek them out as a craving. If someone offers me a Jeju tangerine though, I am in the camp of give me more and I want it now. They are delicious, the perfect blend of tangy and sweet. They’re so juicy that it’s as refreshing as drinking juice. Granted, I wasn’t able to get any at Hallim Park, but you can pick them at lots of orchards on Jeju (I did just that on my second trip to Jeju) and I HIGHLY recommend that as a side trip. When it comes to other plants, you’re going to see a lot of flowers (and tropical flowers always seem to have the most vibrant colours. The reds and oranges will remind you of sunset, and you’ll take a moment to feel a bit of awe at the beauty of the world) and cactuses in the second greenhouse. There are big ones and small ones, ones that are round balls close to the ground and the classic ones out of a cartoon. A cactus is also the best plant in the whole park. This is the Old Man Cactus, called so because -surprise- it looks like an old man. It’s a long cactus, taller than me. There is a layer of soft brown fuzz around the top. It’s thin at the very top, with a small tuff as ‘hair’. There’s more tuffs right beside each other, which are the bushy ‘eyebrows’. Further down, where the ‘chin’ would be the fuzz goes crazy, not so much fuzz anymore but a shag carpet growing there. It’s his ‘beard’. There’s the upper part, a gap where a mouth would be, and then it traveled further down in a rough triangle shape like he’s some sort of ancient wizard. I adore this cactus more than I have ever cared for a desert plant before. There’s no stretching for this- it looks like an old man. He’s pretty adorable actually, so be sure to be on the lookout when going through the subtropical garden.
You also get some more animal interactions here. To go with the theme, they’re all reptiles. They have the whole gang here- turtles, lizards, and snakes. If you’re a reptile fan, I have the place for you. If you’re feeling particularly brave and are lucky enough to be there when the keepers are looking in on them, you can even hold one of the snakes. It’s not one of the huge snakes (or venomous, obviously), at only about the size of an open hand and forearm together. I couldn’t tell you what type it was, only that it had a yellow belly and brown stripes and it was as friendly as a snake is going to get. The keeper tells you how to hold it, which is gently with both hands. The snake can still move a little, at least enough to wrap a bit of itself around your wrist (at least in my case). The snake was completely unbothered by me and just went about its business. The keeper watches you like a hawk to make sure you don’t do anything to hurt the snake or stress it out. Snakes feel strange to the touch if you ask me, what with somehow managing to be smooth and yet able to feel the scale pattern at the same time. While I enjoyed interacting with the birds more because it was more dynamic, there is something just a little bit thrilling to be holding something so many people are afraid of (thankfully snakes aren’t one of my phobias). It’s a case of fake danger sure, but still one that gives you a shot of rush that makes people feel a little wild. That’s a feeling I know and love, so it’s lucky this can be one of the last things to finish your visit. What a way to top it off, eh?
To get through the whole park takes about an hour and a half to two hours. If you get there early enough, it means you might have a good chunk of the day left to find a way to entertain yourself. If you’re not in too much of a rush to get back to the city, you can find something close to Hallim Park. Right across from the entrance is Hyeopjae Beach. While not technically part of the park, they are often packaged together, and many -like my friend group and I- go to both, one right after the other. The beach is different from the first one I went to on day one. Unlike that one, this isn’t all golden sand and cliffs behind it. The sand here is white because of the crushed shells that are mixed in. The beach is flat, save for the groupings of large volcanic rocks spread out all along the beach. Swimming is permitted (and you can get away with swimming out further than most beaches in Korea, but still not that deep). There’s no sharp drop off and the water is clear. At 9 km long, there’s more than enough space for you to put down a towel to relax after your walk through Hallim Park. By the time we reached the beach, the sun had disappeared behind grey clouds and rain was threatening. Therefore, when my group decided to find a place to rest and relax, I wasn’t feeling it. Sitting on a beach on an overcast day kind of depresses me, so I didn’t need to stay all that long. For a bit at least, exploring it was. I went right to those rocks and began to go up, down, and around them. They weren’t near the water so there were no tide pools to look into, so that meant there was less to keep my interest. There were lots of cool formations that the rocks were in, like little jagged islands of black that jut out of the white sand. There were little crawlies scampering around the rocks, so if you’re jumpy about them, then maybe avoid, or at least don’t look down too closely. People also took time to make piles of rocks, some of them fairly high. The little pyramids are steady enough, and though many of them looked like they would blow over in a strong wind, they stayed strong while I was there. I was only at the beach for about half an hour when sprinkles of rain began to fall on and off. While my friends wanted to stay and hope the skies would clear (spoiler: it didn’t), I felt no need to wait it out. I agreed to meet them later that night back in Jeju City, and then got back on the bus to where I came from. My day was done.
Hallim Park wasn’t what I was looking forward to the most when I was planning my Jeju trip, but I’m glad it was on the list. It was a really good walk with cool things to see and do while getting exercise. While it wasn’t my favourite place I visited in Jeju, it made a great day trip and I had a really good time while there. If you do ever find yourself in Jeju and have an afternoon to kill, I highly recommend you kill it at Hallim Park and Hyeopjae Beach.
