Hareubang Grandfather Statues Jeju Island

Hareubang Grandfather Statues

Hareubang known as "Grandfather Statues" can be seen all over Jeju Island in South Korea.

Hareubang Grandfather Statues

These odd-looking statues are carved from the porous basalt volcanic rock of Jeju and are found outside homes, on bridges and now in the foyers of hotels and in front of restaurants and shops.

The statues are carved from the local volcanic rock

Though the origins and symbolism of the Hareubang statues is obscure it is thought they are guardian gods of homes and may also have a phallic (hence fertility) symbolism. The mushroom shape of the carvings may also be associated with an ancient magic mushroom cult practiced by shamans on Jeju Island.

Grandfather and son

Hareubang of various sizes can be purchased in souvenir stores throughout Jeju as garden ornaments, phone straps, or keyrings. Bukchon Dol Hareubang Park on Jeju has a collection of 48 Dol Hareubang and information on these curious carvings.

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Gimnyeong Maze Park

Gimnyeong Maze Park 김녕미로공원

Gimnyeong Maze Park on the island of Jeju (Cheju) is a fun experience for visitors to the island. The maze was the brainchild of the American professor Frederic H. Dustin, a long-term teacher at Cheju National University.

Gimnyeong Maze Park, Jeju

Shape

The maze is in the shape of the Jeju Island and has a number of symbols of this beautiful island embedded in its layout: a serpent, an historic object of worship on the island until recently, Jeju horses first brought here by Mongolian invaders in the 13th century; the Sparrowhawk, shipwrecked on Jeju along with Dutch mariner Hendrick Hamel and Bronze Age dolmens.

Gimnyeong Maze Park, Jeju

Challenge

The Gimnyeong Maze is quite a challenge to get out of and some visitors have been known to take an hour to exit or have been forced to call for help. Usually, though 20 minutes is enough to navigate yourself around the immaculately kept hedges.

김녕미로공원

Bell

Ring the bell when you finally get out. Gimnyeong Maze Park can easily be visited on a half day or full day taxi tour from either Jeju City or Seogwipo taking in the nearby Manjanggul Cave and Gimnyeongsagul Cave.

김녕미로공원

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Chinese Refugee Boat in Jeju City

Chinese Refugee Boat in Jeju City

A quirky tourist attraction in Jeju city on the island of Jeju (Cheju) in South Korea is a Chinese junk on the waterfront in which around 100 Chinese families fled civil unrest in China in 1950.

Chinese Refugee Boat in Jeju City

Tour

For a nominal fee visitors can tour the reconstructed boat to see how the Chinese asylum seekers fled the turmoil of their own country to find sanctuary in South Korea.

The boat is a short walk north of Dongmun Market towards Raw Fish Town and the port.

Jeju is home to a number of immigrants and their families who left China for a better life in Korea in the 1940s and 1950s.

Chinese Refugee Boat in Jeju City

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Hallabong Mandarin Oranges

Hallabong Mandarin Oranges 한라봉

Jeju is famous for its production of citrus fruits and the island produces a number of varieties including the hybrid Hallabong, so-called after Mt. Halla and Gamgyul.

Hallabong Mandarin Oranges 한라봉

Hallabong are known for their sweet flavor and are more expensive than normal mandarin oranges.

Hallabong have a distinctive bump at the top and are used to make Hallabong tea and even chocolate. Jeju's varieties of citrus fruit are a popular souvenir and are exported as far as the UK. You can purchase them in boxes from roadside vendors or in Jeju's market not far from the port area.

Hallabong Mandarin Oranges 한라봉

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Black Pork Pig Jeju

Black Pork Pig Jeju

"Black Pork" from the meat of black pigs is a specialty of Jeju Island off the south west coast of South Korea.

Traditionally the porkers were kept in volcanic stone pens to be slaughtered for special occasions such as weddings, births and funerals.

Black Pork

Black Pork is eaten in kebabs and as a barbecue, traditionally roasted over charcoal with garlic.

Black Pork

Up until the 1960s in some areas of Jeju Island the pigs were human waste disposers, with latrines emptying into their sties, as the image of a stone statue at Geumneung Stone Garden graphically shows below.

Statue

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