Ep 015: Cherry Blossoms and More! | Hidden Jeju

Ed (00:18) Hey everyone, welcome to today’s episode of the Vamos a Jeju podcast.

Today we’re going to talk about something that’s more often associated with Japan and that is the cherry blossoms, otherwise known as sakura in Japan. But one thing I got to say is that having been in both Japan and Korea, especially in Jeju, the ones in Jeju look a little bit different and they are very beautiful. And today we’re going to spill the beans on the different places that you can find these beautiful flowers on the beautiful island of Jeju.

As always, I have my fabulous co-host Sora. Say hi Sora!

Soraya (00:59) Hi everyone!

Ed (01:02) Annyeonghaseyo to you, Chingu! So why I mentioned Japan in the introduction is that before we recorded Sora, you had mentioned that the actual cherry blossoms on Jeju is endemic, is native to Jeju and is an entirely different species from the ones that you see not just on the mainland of Korea but also Japan. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?

Soraya (01:28) So like when it comes to cherry blossom people usually think that most of the cherry blossoms are from Japan and that is actually true but in Jeju we have a king cherry blossom which is native to Jeju. So it was discovered in the early 1900s. So before then, we didn’t know that we have those native cherry blossom trees in Korea.

Ed (02:00) So, King Cherry Blossom, even the name sounds competitive. Very Korean.

Soraya (02:06) Sí, sí.

Ed (02:08) So in today’s episode, we are going to help our listeners figure out where they can see these beautiful flowers especially the varietal that is endemic to Jeju. If you’re somebody who really enjoys cherry blossoms just know that Jeju and Korea in general is a very good alternative to the cherry blossoms versus fighting the crowds and paying extra higher prices in let’s say Kyoto, Osaka or Tokyo in Japan.

So with all that said, let’s look at some of the top five places that you like to enjoy cherry blossoms in Jeju. So what do you have for us today, Sora?

Soraya (02:39) So in Jeju we have like many many cherry blossoms everywhere because we use this king cherry blossom tree for the main road as well. So when you drive through Jeju in those times you will see cherry blossom everywhere but still we have some specific places to go to see this beautiful scenery.

So the first recommendation I have is Jeonnongro King Cherry Blossom Street. Jeonnongro is just the name of the street. Along the street, we have like lots of king cherry blossom all the way down. Those cherry blossom trees will make like tunnels, beautiful tunnels with like all over the flowers. And also this street has murals everywhere and Ed and Michelle really love those murals, right?

Ed (03:45) That is half true. So Michelle really loves those murals. Ed loves Michelle, so Ed has to bring Michelle to those murals. But yeah, the cherry blossoms, because we went there in the fall. But the murals were really amazing.

It was really amazing that so many homes actually let their outer walls get painted. And so you have all these beautiful scenes of Jeju landscape or Jeju culture, like the Haenyeos or farming.

If you go there for the cherry blossoms and you’re either too late or too early, the murals are still well worth a three to four hour visit there. And so yeah, I think for all that, this street is definitely worth visiting and should be one of the places that anybody who’s spending a few days in Jeju should make time for.

Soraya (04:38) Yeah, because for me the mural was not really special. I was like, it’s just like normal painting for me. But then like for foreigners I think it could be very like interesting to check out. It’s kind of paintings of the cultures.

Ed (04:54) It’s got a lot of the Jeju native animals too. So like you have the deer, the Jeju deer and the Ganse, the Jeju horse. A lot of the paintings are going to be about haenyeo, doing different things on land or going to the water. You obviously have Hallasan appearing in multiple pictures.

And it’s quite a big place. It covers multiple blocks and if you’re just walking around looking for different murals and they’re all different, it’s going to take you about at least an hour just to walk back and forth and take your time and take photos. As a person who lives in Jeju, Sora, you may take it for granted, but for someone who is visiting Jeju, it really offers a lens into life in Jeju, into the nature of Jeju and it basically encapsulates Jeju in all the murals on that street. I think that’s over, don’t quote me on this, there’s at least a hundred murals across the entire neighborhood.

Soraya (05:51) Also on the street there’s like many cute cafes. Like you know Koreans love going to cafes so there’s many cute cafes and like small souvenir shops and some restaurants so you can also have a look inside the souvenir shop. They have like you know many cute Korean stuff.

Ed (05:58) That’s right. Yep. And if you’re frugal like me, there’s also a Mega Coffee.

So, earlier, Sora talked about cherry blossom tunnels and I just want to elaborate a little bit because the street is not very wide. That means the trees aren’t very far apart and so the branches of the cherry blossoms they arc out over the road so when the cherry blossoms bloom it creates a tunnel effect. You don’t get that in other roads that Sora will talk about later because those roads are wider apart and so even though you have beautiful cherry blossoms in those other roads the branches of either side of the trees don’t touch in the middle and so you don’t actually have that same tunnel effect.

So that is the first location, the Jeonnongro King Cherry Blossom Street. What’s the next location, Sora?