Cheonjiyeon Falls, Jeju-do, South Korea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

I was lucky to visit Jeju Island, a Special Self Governing Province of South Korea, a tropical island in the East China Sea, this past fall. It is home to three...
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I was lucky to visit Jeju Island, a Special Self Governing Province of South Korea, a tropical island in the East China Sea, this past fall. It is home to three different UNESCO Sites. This is arguably the most touristy and visited site on the island, in my experience. It's a mob scene, even in the morning during the middle of the week - I cannot imagine it on a weekend during peak tourist season (I was there at the end of the season, too). Vantage spots are limited, the sun hits it full-on most of the day, but the water is stunningly beautiful and the landscape is eerily similar to my own home in the Pacific Northwest. The basalt rocks, the volcanic start, the ivy and moss and lichen, the blue-green water, the waterfalls - all remind me of home - but everything *smells* different, the PNW has a fresh, green smell - it's the only way I can think to describe it. The humid tropical location of Jeju-do has a warm, heavy scent that was very, very foreign to me. (I can't be the only one who notices how places smell, can I?) While beautiful, I think this waterfall pales in comparison to its nearly identically named relative, Cheonjeyeon Falls - but I was no less thrilled to visit this beautiful place and the surrounding area. I even got to see a Dol hareubang (돌 하르방) or "stone grandfather" nearby. I'd love to revisit Jeju some day...
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