Jeju Island Road Trip Day 3: CHEONJIYEON FALLS (not to be mistaken with Cheonjeyeon)

According to legend, angels secretly descended and enjoyed bathing in this pond located between heaven and earth, thus the name "Cheonjiyeon". That sounds interesting and I could imagine a magical place. 

We wanted to be there just before lunch time to avoid bus loads of tourists so by 10am we were already driving in to the parking lot and it was almost already full. There were several tourist shops lined up from the road to the main office and entrance. They sell mainly chocolates and other souvenirs as well as local delights for hungry travellers.

We walked straight to the ticket counter and bought our tickets - 2,000 won ($2.68) for adults and 1,000 won ($1.18) for children. I've noticed that in Jeju Island tourists had to pay for almost all of the attractions, even natural ones. If there were no admission fees there would be parking fees. Although most of the natural attractions don't cost much, the cumulative amount could still add up. Compared to Japan or New Zealand, I would say

Jeju Island has more natural attractions with admission fees. Coming from the point of view of the management though, they do have to take into consideration the maintenance of the place so I guess a minimum amount is acceptable.

The waterfalls was located farther inland, a bit of a walk from the carpark, away from the prying eyes of non-paying tourists. It was a good, relaxing stroll as we passed by several interesting and beautiful sights along the way. From the main entrance there were shops selling souvenirs from gemstones to lava rocks to chocolates. 

There were also a number of harubang statues lined up beside the shop. We crossed a waterway jumping from one square tile to another which lead us to what seemed like an outdoor stage with rows of rectangular shapes rocks where the audience could sit. 

We've passed by a flowerbed of colorful blooms and just had to stop to take a snapshot. 

 

 

Then we crossed a bridge guarded by harubang statues which led us to the pathway, the end of which was the waterfalls.

 

We heard the falls before even seeing it. As there were already a number of tourists who arrived before we did, it was difficult to take a good photo. Some of the tourists thought of using the boulder to have an elevated platform to have their photos taken with the falls. Other tourists followed suit and before we knew it I was already queuing up for my chance to have my solo photo taken with the waterfalls. 

Although this waterfalls was not as accessible as Jeongbang Falls, it had a different appeal to it. With Jeongbang Falls we were able to get that close to it and play with the water coming from it. With Cheonjiyeon Falls we had to settle with a view from afar.

 

when the groups of tourists came, this was as close to the falls as we could get