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Maksuk: The Ice-Cold Spring Pools Where Seogwipo Locals Actually Swim

When the weather starts turning warm, I take my kid down to the water most weekends. Folding chair for me, a tumbler of something cold, some pool toys and a couple of towels for her. That's the whole packing list. You'd think living on Jeju means going to the beach every week, right? Not really. People here don't go all that often. The sand gets everywhere and takes forever to deal with, and in summer the sand itself is too hot to sit on. So where do we go instead? In my case, somewhere less than a ten-minute drive from my house that every single person in Seogwipo knows about: Beophwan Maksuk . There's another spring-water spot over at Jaguri Coast too, but Beophwan is closer to us, so that's where we usually end up. Here's the strange part. I've almost never seen a foreign visitor there. Once in a while I'll spot one, and when I do, it's basically always someone married to a Korean. You've probably heard about Jeju's beaches and its waterfa...
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Eongtto Falls: A Hidden Jeju Waterfall That Only Appears When It Rains

Have you ever heard of Eongtto Falls? Tucked away in Seogwipo is a hidden waterfall that only shows up after serious rain. It barely makes it into the media, so it's really the kind of place only locals know about. Even here on Jeju, it's mostly people around Seogwipo and Jungmun who've actually seen it. That's partly because you can't just show up and expect it to be there, and partly because it's nothing like Cheonjiyeon or Jeongbang Falls, the famous ones every tour bus stops at. Not long after I moved to Seogwipo, my husband told me about a waterfall you can only see after heavy rain and took me to check it out. I still remember the shock of seeing it for the first time. There's a viewing platform right up close to the falls too, so you get to feel the full force of it instead of watching from far away. Even now, whenever it rains hard, Eongtto Falls is the first thing that comes to mind. A few years back, a friend of mine from Seoul came to stay with us...

How to Pay in Jeju : What Foreign Tourists Actually Need to Know

"How much cash should I bring in won?" That's one of the questions I get asked most before people visit Jeju. Honestly? Way less than you'd think. Korea's already close to a cashless society, and Jeju's no exception. Cards, mobile pay, and tap-to-pay are just how people pay here, so cash barely comes out of anyone's wallet. I actually carry a single 10,000-won bill in my wallet as backup, and I haven't needed to touch it in months. If anything, Jeju's buses went cashless a while ago. I've seen it happen more than once: foreign tourists just landed at the airport, trying to pay cash for the airport bus, only to realize mid-panic that it's not an option. Picture this. You've already loaded your suitcase into the luggage compartment and boarded, and it turns out you don't have a transit card, your credit card doesn't have transit payment built in, and you haven't set up mobile pay either. Now you've got to pull your luggage...

Jeongbang Falls: The Waterfall That Drops Straight Into the Ocean

Jeju is Korea's number one tourist destination, so you'll run into foreigners everywhere here. Plenty of them live here too, not just visiting. Jeju City tends to draw travelers from all over Asia, and Seogwipo actually gets a good number of visitors from Taiwan, China, and Southeast Asia too — they just tend to blend in more. The ones you'll notice more are the Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Australians — basically Westerners, who stand out a bit more here. But there's one spot in Seogwipo where you'll spot more foreign faces than anywhere else. And it's not the Maeil Olle Market. It's not the coastal Olle trails either. It's Jeongbang Falls. Ask someone in Seogwipo about waterfalls and most people think of Cheonjiyeon or Cheonjeyeon first. Jeongbang is different, though — not the waterfall you're picturing. Instead of crashing down onto land, it falls straight into the ocean. For me, it's the kind of place I swing by every once in a while jus...