The Olle Trails
Oct. 18th, 2011 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranThe thing I loved most about Jeju was the Olle trails. These are a set of fascinating walking trails that run almost all the way around the island.
Olle is the local name for a pathway from the road to the gate of a house, so the trails are a sort of invitation to explore. According to the website, Olle in Korean, also sounds like "would you like to come?".
The trails are marked by different symbols, orange for one way, blue for the other.
Sometimes, by arrows...
Sometimes by ribbons...
And sometimes by this little guy, Ganse. His name comes from Gansedari meaning "slow lazybones", and it's a hint that you're meant to amble along like a slow Jeju pony.
If you look closely, you can also see Ganse hiding in the previous two signposts.
Plus, there's also Accessible Ganse.
Even if you still get lost, there are extra markers painted on rocks. Although, as the website gently chides you "Enjoying the surrounding scenery and walking on the trail slowly is the best way to avoid missing any signposts."
Walking along an olle trail is like being in an![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
asakiyume post. It really does pay to amble along, not only because you'll probably fall otherwise, but also because there are tempting sidepaths and surprises at every turn.
This path led down to volcanic rocks by the sea. But not just any rocks.
They were also moving as you walked along! You can't see it in the photo, but the whole rockscape was alive with tiny darting crabs.
Much too fast for me to capture against the dark background, but here are some I found darting across a drain by the road. They were flashing across here at a rate of one every three seconds for as long as I stood there. At least they were moving away from me. Otherwise I would have started to worry about newspaper headlines along the lines of "Another tourist eaten" or "Police trying to piece together what they believe was a photographer..."
If you look in the distance, there's someone pulling something out of the water. Could be a Haenyeo? (Or maybe a crab fisher?)
These piles of something under nets were quite common along the seashore? Were they fishing gear?
The path leads up past a row of bangsatap built to ensure good luck. And what's that alluring figure in the distance?
The bangsatap up close. These are sort of spirit towers and some will contain particular objects to protect from different kinds of misfortune.
And in the centre... it's another Haenyeo. Plus two more walkers on the olle trail...
Olle is the local name for a pathway from the road to the gate of a house, so the trails are a sort of invitation to explore. According to the website, Olle in Korean, also sounds like "would you like to come?".
The trails are marked by different symbols, orange for one way, blue for the other.
Sometimes, by arrows...
Sometimes by ribbons...
And sometimes by this little guy, Ganse. His name comes from Gansedari meaning "slow lazybones", and it's a hint that you're meant to amble along like a slow Jeju pony.
If you look closely, you can also see Ganse hiding in the previous two signposts.
Plus, there's also Accessible Ganse.
Even if you still get lost, there are extra markers painted on rocks. Although, as the website gently chides you "Enjoying the surrounding scenery and walking on the trail slowly is the best way to avoid missing any signposts."
Walking along an olle trail is like being in an
asakiyume post. It really does pay to amble along, not only because you'll probably fall otherwise, but also because there are tempting sidepaths and surprises at every turn.This path led down to volcanic rocks by the sea. But not just any rocks.
They were also moving as you walked along! You can't see it in the photo, but the whole rockscape was alive with tiny darting crabs.
Much too fast for me to capture against the dark background, but here are some I found darting across a drain by the road. They were flashing across here at a rate of one every three seconds for as long as I stood there. At least they were moving away from me. Otherwise I would have started to worry about newspaper headlines along the lines of "Another tourist eaten" or "Police trying to piece together what they believe was a photographer..."
If you look in the distance, there's someone pulling something out of the water. Could be a Haenyeo? (Or maybe a crab fisher?)
These piles of something under nets were quite common along the seashore? Were they fishing gear?
The path leads up past a row of bangsatap built to ensure good luck. And what's that alluring figure in the distance?
The bangsatap up close. These are sort of spirit towers and some will contain particular objects to protect from different kinds of misfortune.
And in the centre... it's another Haenyeo. Plus two more walkers on the olle trail...
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-18 09:43 am (UTC)Also, I have the perfect icon for this. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-10-18 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-18 11:26 pm (UTC)I love the color and shape of the rocks on the shore, love the curl in the eighth photo of the sea, reaching in, and the spit of stones, reaching out.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-19 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-30 06:42 pm (UTC)