Rose
23rd September 2024
Waking up I felt a weight on my left side, slowly my eyes open to discover it was Yun. Glaring at Yeon {stop thinking so loud and remove the smile from your face.} His attempt to stop his laughing woke Yun in the process. Glancing back at my niece, it seems she picked up on my pre breakfast mood. This made her father crack up even more, the two of us shared a look. Grabbing a pillow, we launched them at Yeon.
He was about to return the favour, when both of our stomachs made their I’m hungry noises. Yeon grabbed Yun and we headed towards the kitchen. After breakfast we headed to the airport for our 1h and 15m flight to Jeju Island. I have no memory of take off and was woken up by Moo-young gently shaking me. “We’ve arrived. Take your time when getting out please.”
He waited till I was ready to get up, offering up his elbow. On the safe side I accepted not knowing how my legs might react after the flight. Yeon, Ji-ha and Yun were waiting for us outside Sono Belle Jeju, our accommodation.
After getting the front door key we headed to the apartment which was on the ground floor to make it easier for me to access. There were three bedrooms with a double bed as it was easier to put Yun with me because everyone knew if she had her own bed, she wouldn’t sleep in it. We left our belongings in the apartment, grabbed our day bags along with my mobility aids and headed to the hired cars. The first place we headed was Hamdeok Beach and I discovered that Yun loved playing on the beach, along with cooling down in the water.
Moo-young, Yeon, Hong-ju and myself sat on the beach with our bags. Ji-ha and Yun went to get changed into swimming costumes. Once they came back we watched them play in the water.
Hong-ju
Around lunchtime I headed to an Australian style fish and chip shop, stepping inside the scent was nostalgic. A few minutes later I was ready to order. The guy behind the counter smiled, “Eoseo oseyo, would you like to order?” “Annyeonghaseyo. Two family packs, please.” I replied. “Two family packs.” half speaking out loud and to himself. “how would you like the dim sims?”
Answering him,”I will have half of them steamed with the other half fried. One tub of tomato sauce and chicken salt on the chips and potato cakes.” With a knowing eye he commented “spoken like a person who’s lived in Melbourne.” Putting my order into the computer, “that will be 85,243.32 won.”
I was excited to introduce a classic Australian summer food to the non Aussies. Rose noticed my return and as I got closer, the smell wafted toward the group. A few stomachs started to growl. Setting down the food, I explained what fish and chips were and how to eat them. After Yeon, Moo-young and myself dug in, everyone else joined in.
After lunch Rose was changing the positions of her legs every two minutes. “feeling restless? Would a walk help?.” A single nod of the head was all I needed. Moving her rollator close to her and putting on the brakes. She grabbed my hands to stabilise herself as she got up. Her movements were stiff and slow over the looser sand. The longer we walked, the smoother her movements became and she relaxed. I was proud of how far she had come in three months.
Halfway down the beach we turned around and headed back towards our group. They were waiting for us at the beach entrance, and we made our way back to the cars.
Rose
I was looking forward to arriving at Bijarim Forest because Hong-ju, Moo-young, Yeon and myself were feeling drawn to it for some reason. The moment we pulled up the four of us felt a pull towards a certain direction so we got out and headed towards the north east of the forest. We found a few local spirits waiting to greet us, especially after the news of my adoption filtered down to them as there weren’t many female nine tailed foxes left in the world.
We were told of other spirits in this forest that wanted to pay their respects so we were given directions to their trees. The other spirits had the same reactions and made sure that we would be comfortable while we walked around the rest of the forest. The forest terrain had tested my stamina, my pace slowed down to a snail’s pace with my rollator.
After an hour my niece was showing the signs of needing a nap so we headed back to the van, with Yun falling asleep. Back at the apartment Yeon suggested a short nap for the both of us. As I took off my coat and shoes, Yeon moved the covers back with one hand.
He laid his daughter down on the left side of the bed allowing me to lay down on the other side. He covered us with the doona cover, turned off the light and told me we’d be woken up in time for dinner.
Two hours later we were woken up by Ji-ha turning on the bedside light, telling us it was dinner time. My body was sore and stiff after all the walking today, so I opted to use my wheelchair.
Ji-ha got out fresh clothes for both of us, then helped Yun get changed in the bathroom while I changed my clothes and reached for my shoes. Ji-ha grabbed them, placed them on my feet, zipped them up. We left the apartment and met everyone at the restaurant. Dinner included dishes such as Manong Chicken, Grilled Mackerel, Boiled Pork Hock, Seafood Soup and Meat Noodles which were local to Jeju island.
I was happy when I read that Manong Chicken used chicken salt which was also used on chips in Australia. They had special flavours of ice cream, so we tried one or two new flavours with Yeon having his normal mint chocolate. After this we went back to the apartment to spend the rest of the evening as a family.
25th September 2024
We woke up around eight am to have breakfast before we headed to our first sightseeing location, which was the Play Kpop Museum. Inside the museum there were images and information about the groups and artists that had visited Jeju island to film variety programs and music videos, with those music videos playing on the screens. I saw videos and images from SKZful Days in Jeju episodes 20-24, which made me happy as a Stay.
We went to the Teddy Bear Museum which was walking distance, to use it as an educational moment to teach Yun and I the history of Korea. Halfway through the tour, Yun’s legs were getting tired so she asked to sit in my lap because I was using my wheelchair to save my legs for the temple. She got permission from Ji-ha and Yeon to sit on my lap. I held her tight so she didn’t fall off while Hong-ju took over pushing the chair.
Yun could tell something wasn’t right with me and wanted to keep close to me. The two of us forgot the world around us existed, making yeon asking if we were ok.
I assured him we were good, so we switched to speaking out loud to show others we were engaging with the tour. As we went along I asked Yun to point out her favourite teddy bears so we could look at them. By the time we got to the end of the tour we heard a small grumble from Yun’s stomach, this was the sign we needed to find a cafe.
Lunch consisted of themed meals based on the nearby museums we had just visited, with Teddy Bear themed food and a K-pop inspired drink for me. After this we got back in the van to head to the temple where I knew my walking stick would be used due the amount of stairs. It was a longer trip between the Museums and Yakcheonsa Temple, so the two of us took a post lunch nap.
The temple looked amazing, we entered the grounds and we saw there were lots of little nooks and crannies to be explored. We started on the lower level, while enjoying the surrounding views. All the stairs were missing handrails, so I used my walking stick and held on to Hong-ju.
We took our time to climb to the second level. I needed to catch my breath at the top of the stairs before we continued to the top level where the actual temple was located. This was good training to build up my stamina especially with climbing up and down stairs.
The interior of the temple was blinding and very impressive to the eye with all the treasures and the many statues of Buddha. It was getting towards late afternoon when we started the trek back to the van.
Yun was worn out so she went down on her dad’s back. Hong-ju kept a firm hand on my non walking stick side, as we went down the steps. Halfway before we reached the bottom I mistook a step and found myself in the arms of Hong-ju. I felt my body go completely stiff, while I freaked out in my mind palace.
On ground level Moo-young made sure I was feeling ok after my almost fall. He did a full check up back at the resort to make sure that I didn’t have any bruises. He restricted me to my wheelchair for the rest of the night. Dinner was really nice for the last night of the trip. I was told to take it easy with Yun, while everyone else packed up our bags.
26th September 2024
On the last morning of the trip, we decided to have the western breakfast menu which consisted of cereal, toast, bacon and eggs. Hong-ju and I added Vegemite to our toast while everyone else had jam or just butter with their toast, got our bags and checked out of the resort.
The first stop on our last day was the Jeju Folklore & Natural History Museum, allowing us to learn about local folklore of Jeju island. We were able to recognise some of the spirits that were mentioned as we had met them in Bijarim Forest and learnt about their backstories.
After this we headed to the Samseonghyeol Shrine to learn about the legendary birthplace of three demigods Goeulla, Yangeulna, and Bueulna. The walk around the forest was the perfect activity to end our three day and two night Jeju island trip.
We ended our three day and two night Jeju island trip with a walk around the surrounding forest. No one was taking any chances, so I was back in my wheelchair.
We headed to the airport for our flight back to Seoul, checked in with disability assistance. Our bags and rollator were checked in leaving us with our carry on bags, walking stick and wheelchair. I was able to keep my wheelchair till the boarding gate. We headed to the first class lounge to get lunch and wait for priority boarding. After lunch we headed to our gate and fifteen minutes later we were boarding our flight.
We landed at Incheon airport, collected our bags, my wheelchair and rollator in one piece. Yeon and Moo-young collected their cars from long term airport parking and the four of us went our separate ways from Hong-ju and Moo-young. An hour later we were back home, after the bags were unpacked we decided to get take out because we had nothing to cook. That night Yeon and I dreamed about the Jeju forest spirits we had met in Bijarim Forest and the blessing they gave us for our upcoming trip/mission.
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Chapter 22: Melbourne Preparations
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Chapter 24
