Andy's Trip to Jeju-do

Andy, who is a teacher at the London School of English in Daegu, continues to tell us about his adventures in South Korea.

'The following weekend was a long one, so a couple of workmates and I went to Jeju-do, a sub-tropical, volcanic island about 100 miles off the south coast of Korea. We had an exausting time of it, cycling literally continuously uphill from the sea-level airport for 4 hours, gaining a height of 2000ft, after which we stopped at a solitary mountainside pension (like a cottage) for the night. The next morning we climbed the remaining 4000ft of the volcano - 'Hallasan' -which formed the island, in blistering hot sunshine, finishing on the lip of a magnificent volcanic crater, with great views over a blanket of cloud. We descended back to the pension, then the next day cycled another 80K, virtually all downhill, to the east coast, where we stopped for a great lunch of cold beer and raw fish by the sea, in front of a stunning volcanic crater out in the water, before testing ourselves to our physical limits to get the bikes back to the hiring place in the city for 6pm! After that we had a much-deserved rest, before heading out to the casino, where we were nearly tossed out for gambling too little, and pushing their free beer concept to the limit! I broke even on the roulette, which was cool, it being my first time, but then lost 15 quid on my first hand at blackjack, and decided to call it a day (canny Scot that I am!).'

Glossary
workmates - people you work with
solitary - alone, with nothing around
cottage - small house usually in the countryside
crater - the hole at the top of the volcano
tossed out - thrown out/asked to leave
roulette - a game in a casino
quid - slang for £
canny - clever
Scot - person from Scotland