Trip to Jeju Island (Day 2, part 1)

Day 2 at Jeju Island

 

We booked a cab to travel around Jeju Island... We went to several places....  

1. Lava Tube
2. Haenyo Museum

The Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes is a World Heritage Site in South Korea. It is listed at number 23 on CNN Go's 50 natural wonders: The ultimate list of scenic splendor.

 

On the way to the lava tube... *nice scenery...

 

 

Haenyeo (diving woman) was first used in the 17th Century... In Jeju Island, women took over the diving (which was considered the lowest of jobs) and, because of the great dependence on sea products in most places on Jeju, became the main breadwinners. It could also be said that women simply were more adapted for the job, with their bodies keeping them warmer and being more suited to swimming than a male, with more body fat. With that, they often became "the head" of their family. Often men would look after the children and go shopping while the women would bring in money for the family. As more girls are going to colleague, the number of haenyo are decreasing... While in 1950 there were as many as 30,000 haenyo on the island, in 2003 there were only 5,650 sea women registered as divers, of whom 85% were over 50 years old. In 1965, as many as 20,000 diving women.

Outside Heanyeo Museum...

Equipments for rituals....

 

Clothes haenyo wears...

Heanyo spends 10 days of the month in the water and the rest of the days farming...

 

Our lunch for the day... 

Black pork...