The last time my mom, sister, and I were together was 4 years ago. We reunion-ed in Minneapolis, during the summer of 2018, when travel was MUCH breezier. It was the same year my sister and her husband moved to Jeju, South Korea for work.

Since then, nestled among sweet potato and cabbage fields, and a short walk from the coastline, they put down roots on this stunning little island. They bought a house in May 2020, did a big renovation, quite hopeful family would start booking trips and then… you know what happened.

Finally, in the autumn of 2022, South Korea lifted covid related travel restrictions for tourists, and my mom and I jumped on the chance to visit!

While this was my fourth time to visit them on Jeju, this was my mom’s first trip, which made it extra special. We flew over together, navigating two domestic flights, one South Korean flight, one train, and finally, one bus to get to their home. I was reminded of how much easier (and cheaper) it was to get everywhere in Asia when we lived in Taiwan. Traveling in Asia again felt so comfortable and exciting, like home. I really miss it.

SENSITIVE CONTENT: This blog post contains images of corgis which some people may find disturbingly cute.

The ‘Hood

We hung out at their house a lot, I mean… look at it! Wouldn’t you? It’s a relaxing sanctuary and the views didn’t suck. NOTE: We fought jet lag by watching Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. If you haven’t seen it, STOP EVERYTHING AND GO WATCH IT. I’ve seen it 4 times and will happily go for round 5.

Take your mom to work

Tati and Joe had to work a couple of days before their week off kicked in, and so they invited us for a classic “mom tour” of the school where they teach.

Special Events

Tati arranged a couple of special events for us. One was sister hair cuts by a humble hotshot named Jessie who works as a stylist during Fashion Week (trained in Vidal Sassoon School and London School of Fashion). She lives in Seoul and flies to Jeju every 4-6 weeks to do “western hair”.

The other special event was arranging to have our portraits water colored by a local artist and publisher, Nika. Her work captures the sweetness and magic of Jeju life. Check out her work on Instagram: @jeju_draw

Daily Doses of Nature & Corgis

Aside from seeing my sister and mom, the other VERY high ranking event was being with TWO corgis: Tanuki (mischievous raccoon-dog in Japan) and Toki (rabbit in Korean). Daily walks up to the rocky coastline look-out was bliss.

The trail circumnavigating Jeju Island is called the Jeju Olle Trail – and if you look closely at my fun tights, they have Ollie Trail graphics and “Passport Stamps” that one can collect for finishing 1 of 26 segments. I did none of that because these tights were gifted to me by the designer, MY SISTER!  Her company is called Tu-Tiki. Check it out! She’s very fashion forward and knows a thing or two about the fashion supply chain.

Dolphins & Hanyeo

A Favorite Memory

Tati and I spotted a pod of dolphins while on a chill coastal drive and immediately zipped home to grab her wetsuits, with hopes we could swim near them. Katy set up a chair to watch while we waded in. Feeling the magic that dolphins were near, we imagined what it must be like for the hanyeo to collect seafood. What hard work! We held hands, floated and made underwater dolphin calls, but the pod must have moved on, so we enjoyed snorkeling and looking at other sea life.

Light Pillars & Lunar Eclipse

Two special natural phenomenons occurred, well, technically four if you count dolphins and corgis, but we covered those already.

Coastal & Forested Walks

Aside from hiking Mount Hallasan, the Saryeoni Forest near Mt. Hallason is a favorite trail system. It’s stunning in autumn and alive with bird life.

Nestled in parts of the forest are human memorials (mounds of earth). All across Korea, the eldest sons of the family will clean and prepare the burial mounds of their most recently deceased ancestor. Koreans traditionally buried the dead under mounds standing upright in coffins made from six planks of wood. These represent the four cardinal points on the compass plus a plank for heaven and the other for earth. Corpses either face south or toward some important spiritual part of the landscape such as mountains because these are said to be the homes of the spirits of the land and sky. Even in these modern times ancient symbolism remains important in burial and memorial traditions. SOURCE: pbs.org/hiddenkorea/chusok.htm

The Local Yums

Fashion Not Forward

We did a little shopping, and if you ever imagined what we would look like as grannies…

 – THE END –
xoxo

Even though our travel adventures have dwindled since we’ve returned to the USA, the blog is still alive! You can still sign up for the freshest Pickles & Passionfruit blog posts here (remember to check your email for confirmation).

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