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Episode Summary
New to Jeju or thinking about visiting? This episode introduces your hosts and what the podcast will help you do: travel Jeju independently, beyond the typical tourist itineraries. You’ll meet Ed, who completed the entire 437-kilometer Jeju Olleh Trail, and Soraya, a professional tour guide based in Jeju with a master’s degree in Korean language teaching. They share how they connected over a shared love of languages during a palace tour in Seoul, why Soraya left corporate Korea for the tourism industry, and what motivated them to create resources for DIY travelers. You’ll also get a preview of upcoming topics—the Olleh Trail, haenyeo sea women, the April 3rd Massacre, and shamanism—plus a quick Korean lesson to get you started.
Key Takeaways
- The podcast is designed for independent travelers who want to experience Jeju beyond fixed tour itineraries
- Ed’s completion of all 437 km of the Olleh Trail means you’ll get firsthand, trail-tested advice (even most Jeju locals haven’t finished it)
- Soraya’s background—corporate Korea refugee, multilingual tour guide, Korean language instructor—gives her a unique perspective on what foreign visitors actually need
- Jeju shamanism is still actively practiced today, tied to haenyeo culture and the risks of sea work; you can witness annual rituals like the Yeongdeung Halmang ceremony
- The 14-part email series at vamosajeju.com/start compiles everything the hosts know about DIY Jeju travel
Handy Korean with Sora Ssaem (쌤)
Hello: 안녕하세요 (annyeonghaseyo)
- Memory trick: “onion” + “Han Solo” → say it fast and mumble
- Koreans speak quickly, so don’t over-enunciate
Goodbye: Two versions
- 안녕히 가세요 (annyeonghi gaseyo) — “go well” (said to someone leaving)
- 안녕히 계세요 (annyeonghi gyeseyo) — “stay well” (said when you’re the one leaving)
- Memory trick: If you can’t remember which is which, just mumble “ㄱ세요” and let context do the work
Casual: 안녕 (annyeong)
- Use only with friends or people you know well
- Foreigners can get away with it (Koreans will find it endearing), but stick to the formal versions in shops and restaurants
Next Steps
- Sign up for the 14-part email series at com/start
- Follow Vamos a Jeju on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook
- Share the episode with friends to help the podcast grow
- Visit vamosajeju.com for articles, videos, and resources
- Sign up for dispatches at vamosajeju.com/update
Episode Transcript
Introduction to Vamos a Jeju
Ed (00:18)
So I’d to welcome all of you to the very first inaugural episode of the Vamos a Jeju podcast. And I thought this would be a great time for both of us to introduce ourselves a little bit more. But before we do that, Sora, I see that you’re not home. Where are you? Mexico City.
Soraya (00:28)
I am currently in Mexico City. Your second favorite. Yes.
Ed (00:44)
My second favorite country. That is exactly right. So why are you in Mexico City?
Soraya (00:46)
Yes. I’m working with Korean tourist group now, so yeah, that’s why I’m here.
Ed (00:55)
Awesome. Okay, well you’ve seen my background, I’m also not home. I’m actually in your home, not your home, I’m in your home city, as you may have heard in the introduction, my name is Ed. I’m a Singaporean and I live in Seattle with my family. I am a aspiring polyglot, a lazy home chef, very very lazy home chef and a slow traveler who has come to fall in love with this island called
Ed (01:25)
how about you Sora? Could you tell us a little bit more about who you are and how you got here to this point in life?
Soraya (01:34)
So like many other Koreans, I followed the usual path. You know, I studied hard in high school and got and I got into a good university and also got into a good corporate job in a well-known company in Korea. But at some point I found that it was not the life I wanted to have. So by chance I started working in tourism industry. So I became a tour leader for Korean tourist groups in 2016. during pandemic. uh huh. Yeah.
Ed (02:07)
So I am sorry to interrupt but I wanted to dig in a little bit more. You mentioned earlier Sora that you were in a corporate job and at some point you weren’t just vibing with that anymore. As a watcher of Korean drama, I just got to ask this and I’m sure our audience are also thinking, corporate Korea as
Ed (02:30)
challenging and difficult as what we see on on K-dramas. is it is it just fiction or is it actually an accurate reflection of corporate Korea? The workplace bullying, the hierarchy and all that.
Soraya (02:41)
it is I think it is an accurate reflection of the reality yeah because I mean now many thing has been changed because I started working there like 2012 back then
Soraya (03:02)
sometimes I worked until 2 a.m. and then had to go back to the office before 8 a.m. It was crazy. And, at night, you know, around 6 p.m. Everyone want to go back home. But our group chat, you know, KakaoTalk right? In the group chat, your boss will text you on the group chat, what do you want for dinner?
Ed (03:11)
Oh my goodness. Right? Hoesik (회식) Oh my goodness. The Hoesik is… Well, can you just tell us what Hoesik is?
Soraya (03:35)
Hoesik is a dinner gathering for your team, but it’s kind of a work.
Ed (03:44)
Right. Yeah. Lots of alcohol, Right.
Soraya (03:45)
Yeah. Right. If your boss wants you to drink, then you have to. But nowadays, many things change, but still we have these kind of bad customs, I think.
Sora's Journey to Jeju
Ed (04:00)
like, really get now why it was so difficult for you to stay in your job in corporate Korea. And so, yeah, let’s get caught up to where you were in life at that point. So you’ve left corporate Korea and then you took up a job in tourism. Let’s get back to that story. Can you just take it from there?
Soraya (04:23)
so actually after I quit my job at the corporate Korea and then I traveled like six months and then I started working in travel agency. While working as a tour guide, found Jeju Island is really beautiful. And then I found that it’s really attractive to live. That’s how I ended up with Jeju. And then my partner and I always talk about living in Jeju
Ed (04:52)
You brought foreign tourists to Jeju Is that how you ended up coming to Jeju or I’m trying to catch up with that and
Soraya (04:58)
Actually, the first thing is I just took an interview with travel agency in Jeju and then they liked me, they offered me so I was okay, I’m
Ed (05:09)
and so I remember when we first met, I had just signed up with my wife, Michele. for an Airbnb experience. she’s a K-drama junkie. And so she obviously has to go to Gyeongbokgung. And I was, okay, let’s book a tour. And that tour guide happened to be you. And that was a really great experience. And I remember we, during that tour, we were speaking in English, but then I was also speaking some Spanish. and then some, and some Korean. And I think we even threw in some Chinese and I walked away from that tour. Not so much thinking about Gyeongbokgung, but how cool that we both could connect with, with multiple languages. Obviously my Korean wasn’t good enough, but you know, between the Spanish and the Korean and English and some Chinese, this is, I felt like as
Ed (06:00)
Oh, there’s there is another person there who loves languages. let’s so tell us a little bit more about like, where you are with languages,
Soraya (06:09)
I really love to learn language so I speak English and Spanish because I need to work in Mexico, right?
Soraya (06:16)
and also a little bit of Chinese even though you don’t like my tone. also like I always wanted to know better about my own language. So like, you know, I’m a native Korean speaker, but sometimes like foreign friends ask me about Korean grammar and I don’t know anything about it. So I felt like, I want to study about it. So I just finished my master degree on Korean language teaching as well.
Ed (06:47)
you said that you finished your master’s degree in Korean language education. So are you a Korean language teacher as well?
Soraya (06:58)
I did during pandemic because know tourism stopped that time so I taught Korean and it was really fun and I’m thinking to go back after later yeah because now I’m too busy with the work
Ed (07:09)
So let me just recap for the audience. you’re currently living in Jeju and you are currently working in the tourism industry both for inbound tourists to Jeju as well as to outbound tourists of Koreans to other countries typically Spanish-speaking places in central and South America. Did I get that right so far?
Why Sora Started Vamos a Jeju
Soraya (07:40)
Right, right, so I usually work in Latin America in winter and spring, autumn, I’m always in Jeju.
Ed (07:49)
I see. and that’s for inbound travel. Gotcha. So I guess we’ve got the tourism, we’ve got the living in Jeju. why did you conceive of this project called Vamos a Jeju?
Soraya (07:51)
Mm-hmm. Right. Because you know I travel a lot I’ve seen like many tours, programs like all around the world and to be a tour guide in Jeju Island it’s beautiful I love it and I met like many wonderful people but sometimes I felt frustrated because
Soraya (08:25)
I want to show them more, like more hidden gem and beautiful places in Jeju, but I always have to follow the itinerary, know, fixed itinerary of travel agency.
Ed (08:39)
Right, so I just want to say like I really love how you prioritize your guests in that way. I remember thinking back to when you were guiding us in Gyeongbokgung like it wasn’t just about going to Gyeongbokgung and I realized that back then you were actually on your own. You weren’t working for an agency and so you had more flexibility in advocating for our experience. And so after Gyeongbokgung, you then took us to another place, a local place to eat. We were the only tourists there. And so it was a really added value to that whole experience. And then when we just when we thought we were done and we were walking back
Ed (09:20)
you know to the subway station, my wife was like oh you know I want to get a haircut but it’s our first time in Korea we don’t speak Korean very much and so you were like right away you know you jumped on Naver and then you found us a place where they spoke some English and you connected my wife Michele to that hair salon.
Ed (09:44)
And so yeah, just want that’s all that is to say that I really admire you for not just your professionalism, but your willingness to go way beyond to make sure that the people who travel with you
Ed (10:00)
have a really great experience. And so I think you’re the perfect person to start something like Vamos at Jeju.
Soraya (10:02)
Mm-hmm.
that’s why we started this podcast and my blog to speak on my own voice and our experience and to help other travelers to understand this island more deeply.
Ed (10:15)
Mm-hmm.
so this is what I think I’m hearing. I’m going to attempt to summarize it and you tell me what I got right and what I got wrong. So Vamos a Jeju is a online hub for free and independent travelers to discover the ⁓ rich culture.
Soraya (10:34)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Ed (10:45)
the serene peace and the natural beauty of Korea’s Jeju Island so that they come to love Jeju as much as we do. Does that kind of sound right? Cool. So speaking about helping people love Jeju, let’s dig deeper. Let’s dig deeper into what we love about Jeju. Let’s start with you. As someone who
Soraya (10:51)
Okay.
Yeah, exactly, yes.
Ed (11:11)
lives here in Jeju, what is it that you so love about this place?
What We Love About Jeju
Soraya (11:16)
First of all, I would say the nature. Because like even I’m living in the city, I can go to the beach in 20 minutes, I can go to the forest in 30 minutes. So the natures are always like nearby.
Soraya (11:31)
I have been living in Seoul for a long time. I mean, not actually Seoul, but greater Seoul, like Gyeonggi-do. So I have some experience of it. also vice versa, living in Jeju, we can talk about the major difference about those two cities.
Ed (11:49)
Right. And I think that’d be very fascinating for someone who thinks Seoul equals Korea and Korea equals Seoul. I think that would be, that would really give a richer context into how Jeju
and Seoul are not the same places. Yep, that’s two different places. It is two very crowded places. ⁓ yeah, maybe New York and Hawaii.
Soraya (12:07)
It’s very, very different. It sounds like New York and LA, it’s the same.
Is it same? Alright, okay, then not LA. New York and Hawaii. New York and Hawaii, okay.
Ed (12:25)
So I guess, you mentioned earlier that, ⁓ you were leading foreign tours. Was that how we first met?
Soraya (12:32)
Yeah, that right. Because I started working in Seoul first. So when I worked in Seoul, I met you and then we became friends and then later I moved to Jeju.
So compare to Seoul, because in Seoul, it’s hard to get into the nature. Like you have to drive like two, three hour away. But here in Jeju,
we can go to the nature every day, like every like sunset to see the sunset. So speaking of nature, also it gives me more like relaxed lifestyle because again, compared to Seoul, we were very busy when we…
lived in Seoul and in Jeju we live more in a slow pace life you know the island time and also
I feel that when I’m in Seoul for work, my anxiety level goes up. And then when I came back to Jeju, it’s going down. And my partner always told me that don’t go to Seoul because I become so like anxious. And the last thing, most important thing is the air quality and also the pollution because
⁓ In Seoul, you’re see like lots of people wearing a mask like especially in spring people wear like mask every day because of the pollution and also the yellow dust but when we are in Jeju, not many people wearing mask because and I always open the window because the air quality is always good here What about you?
Ed (14:11)
I really resonate with all of that. For me as a traveler, yeah, I guess it’s a lot of the stuff that you like about Jeju, I also think that I like about Jeju. So, you know, for me, top of mind is that I can hop on a bus.
And like you said, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, east or west, you’re in the countryside, you’re at a beach, you’re in a forest or an Oreum (오름) which is like a… The translation is a parasitic cone, but I think it’s just really a secondary, small extinct volcano that’s part of a bigger volcano. So I guess it’s called a small volcano. Or it looks like a hill actually, but that’s like…
Soraya (14:38)
you
Small mountain. ⁓
Mm-hmm.
Ed (14:51)
hundreds
of these all around Jeju. yeah, so like a 368, our tour guide knows her facts. So yeah, I’m like, all these are very close to Jeju City, and so it’s really convenient. And then another thing that I really like about Jeju is that it really reminds me of Hawaii. As a much, much, much, much younger person.
Soraya (14:53)
368.
Ed (15:14)
⁓ I used to be a dive master in the town of Kailua Kona on the island of Hawaii. That’s called the Big Island and it’s also the youngest island. And so there were two big volcanoes in the middle of Hawaii. ⁓ I sitting here in Jeju right now, I’m looking out my window, I see Halasan, which is basically the
Soraya (15:14)
Mm-hmm.
Ed (15:36)
big volcano in the middle of Jeju and just looking at it like right now, I’m actually
looking at it right now, it really reminds me of my time in Hawaii. But not just Halasan, it is like the beaches and you’ve got mostly white sand beaches here but also some black sand beaches
Soraya (15:43)
Mm-hmm.
Ed (15:53)
spend some time walking the coast you see all this lava rock, ⁓ this solidified lava
Soraya (15:57)
Mm-hmm.
Ed (15:59)
black swirls and it’s all jagged and but it’s beautiful and again reminds me of the big
you get a lot more value here. And so you get like 80 % of Hawaii for maybe 30 % of the cost so as a traveler it really resonates with me and Then another piece to that is like I like that it is just one hour away from a major
international city like Seoul. So it’s like you don’t have to fly for like six, seven hours to get to a place like Hawaii. It’s like it’s just one hour away. So, so, you know, it’s just really amazing that you can get all that in one little place like this.
for all those reasons, I love Jeju. It’s got all the high tech metropolis feel of a regular Korean city.
Soraya (16:38)
So you know that?
Ed (16:45)
but beautiful, beautiful nature that’s like Hawaii, just 20, 30 minutes away from the city by bus.
Preview of Future Episodes
Ed (16:52)
I guess since this is our first episode, this would be a great time to give our audience a sense of what they can expect from the two of us in the next few episodes. And ⁓ in keeping with your aspiration, Sora, of helping other people discover the real Jeju that we both know and love, maybe we should talk through what some of the episodes may look like.
Soraya (16:55)
Okay.
Soraya (17:18)
we have an episode for Haenyeo, which is a woman diver in Jeju Island. They go to dive without oxygen, like free diving, and then harvest seafood. So they go dive from five meter, like, till 20 meter, and they can hold their breath, two minutes.
Ed (17:37)
so I think Haenyeo have really come into the world’s consciousness, not just because of the UNESCO designation
but also because of like it’s been in several K dramas and you always see them wearing their orange and black wetsuits. so it’s, they become pretty iconic and representative of Jeju.
Soraya (17:53)
you
Ed (17:59)
So an episode that we’ve, we were thinking of covering is the Jeju Olleh Trail (올레길) And I am in Seogwipo, the Southern city of Jeju right now.
because I came to get my certificate for having completed the whole 437 kilometers of the Jeju Olle Trail. And if you hear some degree of pride in my voice, trust your instincts. It is a huge accomplishment for me. It is not as long as the Camino de Santiago in France, Portugal and Spain. But for me personally, it’s been…
it’s been quite the experience and so yeah it’s ⁓ I would love to be able to share with our audience more about the Jeju Olleh trail, what are the best trails, what’s the best places to eat at along the trail, and various other insider tips
Soraya (18:52)
You know that not many Jeju people finish that Olleh Trail. Not many because I I haven’t
Ed (19:00)
⁓ that is going to be awesome. I like the idea of shamanism. ⁓ I don’t really…
Soraya (19:00)
The next episode is shamanism because… Do you like shamanism?
Awesome.
Ed (19:15)
I don’t want to jinx myself.
Like I was going to say, I don’t really believe in it. But then I don’t want to get, you know, cursed or something like that. I, but the idea of shamanism really fascinates
Soraya (19:30)
So Jeju is one of the reason that we still have lots of shamanism because you know when the woman diver, Haenyeo goes to work or a fisherman goes to work they always take their risk so they needed someone to rely on so that’s why shamanism gets like bigger in Jeju and actually we still have many ritual of shamanism
So the shaman was
the one who do the ritual for a Youngdeung halmang. It’s gonna get long. Youngdeung is the wind goddess of the wind. So we have the ritual every year every February for the goddess of the wind and also like many different ritual for the goddess.
Ed (20:03)
Halmang is grandmother I don’t know what the first two words are ⁓ okay I see
Soraya (20:24)
Yeah.
Ed (20:24)
So what I’m hearing is that, you know, Jeju shamanism is really tied into the very fiber of Jeju and it’s tied to the Hanyeo culture, but also
of Jeju. Yeah, it’s, and it’s truly alive to this very day.
Soraya (20:42)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm.
Right and even now some like older generation and also like young generation if they buy a new house or a new car they call a shaman to bless the house or the car and if the kids are sick sometimes they take them to the shaman
It’s still happening.
Ed (21:07)
Yeah.
And that is not just in Jeju, it’s also on the mainland of Korea, right? ⁓ okay.
Soraya (21:15)
Yes, but I think more in Jeju.
Handy Korean with Sora Ssaem (쌤)
Ed (21:26)
And now here’s the part of the show where we share some essential Korean phrases that will be really helpful for your trip to Jeju and of course, the rest of Korea. We call it…
Handy Korean with Sora Ssaem (쌤)
Soraya (21:42)
Waaaa-
Ed (21:44)
self-praised international disgrace. So Sora, what is the first thing we’re going to share with our audience today?
Soraya (21:46)
you
Of course, we need to know how to say hello, right? So in Korea when you meet someone we say 안녕하세요. 안녕하세요. Of course for you it’s easy because you’ve been in Korea many times but for the first visit it’s hard to remember. So for them I usually tell them just remember onion and then 하세요 and then put them together.
Ed (22:01)
Hello.
Soraya (22:19)
Like more fast like 안녕하세요 안녕하세요 because Koreans mumble a lot so
Ed (22:22)
⁓
And actually, was telling you that Michele and I have a friend, his name is Michael from the UK and not just the United Kingdom, but from Wales, part of the United Kingdom. And so he speaks with an accent that is very Welsh. And the way he remembers is onion, like you said, and then Han Solo.
from Star Wars but the way he says Han Solo is a bit different so it ends up coming out as onion Han Solo. Onion Han Solo. And then he’ll bow and go like Onion Han Solo. It sounds very good. So So Onion Han Solo but say it fast and mumble like you were saying. So Onion Han Solo.
Soraya (22:55)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Right, right.
Hello
Ed (23:17)
So that is
saying hello, but what do we say when we want to say goodbye?
Soraya (23:21)
Hmm?
So goodbye is a little more difficult than hello. So we have two different versions of goodbye. So one is you stay well and the other one is you go well. We say those two different things. 안녕히 가세요. 가세요 means to go. So we say you go well. 안녕히 가세요. then 계세요 means stay. So we say 안녕히 계세요. You stay well.
But also you have some tip for this, right?
Ed (23:54)
Yeah, so the way I teach my friends if you cannot remember, 안녕히 가세요 and 안녕히 계세요, just kind of like do the ㄱ or 가세요 or 계세요, just go ㄱ세요. And then very important, you need to mumble. So there’ll be like, 안녕 again. 안녕니 is this is very 안녕니, it’s like a very 안녕니 taste.
Soraya (24:17)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Ed (24:22)
안녕히 계세요! 안녕히 계세요! It’s like, it’s okay. The context, the Koreans will figure it out with the context and then most likely they’ll say, oh you speak such good Korean! Yeah, they’ll go like, oh 한국어 잘하시네요! It’s like, oh. So it’s, 안녕하세요! 안녕히 계세요!
Soraya (24:24)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So I think if if 안녕 means like in peace or well stay well in peace so if you are old enough you can just say 안녕.
Ed (24:48)
But what does onion mean? What does the anion mean?
Mm-hmm.
Right. Or if you’re saying it among friends, right? Right. And, and, and at the end of this episode and our end of all our future episodes, ⁓ you’ll hear us say, Annyeong, but don’t say that when you go to a restaurant or any place because you’re strangers. It’s, that is too casual. So don’t say what we say later.
Soraya (25:08)
huh, right, casual way.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
안녕 is like between friends if you know each other already but the thing is if you’re a foreigner if you say 안녕 they will be just like oh those foreigners are cute it’s fine it’s okay
Ed (25:41)
That’s
awesome. Well, if you like to see the phrases that we just covered today,
and Annyeonghihaeseyo, ⁓ check out our show notes. So if today’s show has gotten you thinking, maybe I should check out Jeju, we’ve got something for you.
Soraya (25:51)
Hello. Hello.
Ed (26:05)
We’ve taken everything that Sora and I know about visiting Jeju as a DIY traveler and put it into a 14 part email series. And if you’re thinking, why 14 parts? That’s a lot because we know a lot and we want to share it all.
Soraya (26:22)
So to get that email straight to your inbox, just sign up at vamosajuju.com / start. And for the latest update, you can follow us, Vamos a Juju on Instagram, TikTok, and also the Facebook group.
And finally, the best way for a new podcast like ours to grow is organically. If you found this episode helpful, please share with your friends. And who knows, maybe we will Vamos a Jeju together.
Ed (26:54)
And with that, all that’s left for us to say is… Annyeong! Han Solo!
