Since we only had 3 days and 2 nights in Jeju, we
decided to hire a taxi tour to save time as a lot of people recommended it
online. After doing an online research, we found out that
one Mr Won is highly recommended by almost everyone. Sadly, he was only available for the first day but not
for the second day.
Hence, we decided to go with the second best, Richard Kim. After a few exchange of emails, we managed to book him for KRW100,000 for a half day tour and KRW130,000 for a full day tour. Please also note that on top of that, you are also expected to pay for the toll fees as well as for his food during the tour.
When we touch down Jeju airport, a sweet looking elderly man was already there holding the sign with our names on it. He’s none other than our tour guide, Mr Richard Kim and he promised us “many many” good times in Jeju.
We gave him a list of must visit places to plan since he is more familiar with the location of places. He then agreed to take us to four different places on the list for the half day tour. This was supposed to be our relaxing and stress free trip to Jeju since we will be leaving all the planning to the tour guide but it turned out to be pretty stressful in the end. Read on to find out why! ;P
The first place he took us to was however, not on our list. It was a tourist shop selling all of Jeju famous products and I can’t help but to notice the tangerine flavoured chocolates almost at every corner. After that, he took us to the Manjanggul Lava Tube….and that was the end of our tour. His reason was that we took too long to explore the lava tube and he finishes work at 5pm...-____-
You can just imagine how upset we were at that time to pay him KRW100,000 and visit only one place when we were promised four! Unless we were Speedy Gonzales, we don’t know how fast he expected us to finish the 2km walk. Not only did we have to walk to the end of the tunnel, but we had to walk all the way back to where we first entered! :o
As it is, we were all tired from the walk and the atmosphere became tensed on our way back as neither of us felt like talking to him. He must have sensed that we were annoyed with him so he decided to make little pit stops along the way just to cheer us up, which included the tangerine farm and the windmill.
He also loves talking about the tangerines and he would go, “Oooh! Look…Tangerines!" almost in a child-like voice every single time we passed by one. It was cute at first but after hearing him repeat the same thing like a broken record, we almost wished that the tangerines would disappear because they keep popping out everywhere, all along the way!
Iris then decided to be funny and quickly pointed to the next batch of tangerines before he had the chance to do so. To our surprise, he stepped on the emergency brake in the middle of the road and asked us to go down and take pictures. It has got to be the loudest and most horrified “No!” ever from the four of us in the car at that time! Luckily there were no cars behind us!
Hence, we decided to go with the second best, Richard Kim. After a few exchange of emails, we managed to book him for KRW100,000 for a half day tour and KRW130,000 for a full day tour. Please also note that on top of that, you are also expected to pay for the toll fees as well as for his food during the tour.
When we touch down Jeju airport, a sweet looking elderly man was already there holding the sign with our names on it. He’s none other than our tour guide, Mr Richard Kim and he promised us “many many” good times in Jeju.
We gave him a list of must visit places to plan since he is more familiar with the location of places. He then agreed to take us to four different places on the list for the half day tour. This was supposed to be our relaxing and stress free trip to Jeju since we will be leaving all the planning to the tour guide but it turned out to be pretty stressful in the end. Read on to find out why! ;P
The first place he took us to was however, not on our list. It was a tourist shop selling all of Jeju famous products and I can’t help but to notice the tangerine flavoured chocolates almost at every corner. After that, he took us to the Manjanggul Lava Tube….and that was the end of our tour. His reason was that we took too long to explore the lava tube and he finishes work at 5pm...-____-
Us, being all happy and excited before entering the lava tube not knowing that we would come out later feeling the total opposite ;P
You can just imagine how upset we were at that time to pay him KRW100,000 and visit only one place when we were promised four! Unless we were Speedy Gonzales, we don’t know how fast he expected us to finish the 2km walk. Not only did we have to walk to the end of the tunnel, but we had to walk all the way back to where we first entered! :o
As it is, we were all tired from the walk and the atmosphere became tensed on our way back as neither of us felt like talking to him. He must have sensed that we were annoyed with him so he decided to make little pit stops along the way just to cheer us up, which included the tangerine farm and the windmill.
He must have realized that we were easy to please....Just stop and take their pictures! haha
He also loves talking about the tangerines and he would go, “Oooh! Look…Tangerines!" almost in a child-like voice every single time we passed by one. It was cute at first but after hearing him repeat the same thing like a broken record, we almost wished that the tangerines would disappear because they keep popping out everywhere, all along the way!
Iris then decided to be funny and quickly pointed to the next batch of tangerines before he had the chance to do so. To our surprise, he stepped on the emergency brake in the middle of the road and asked us to go down and take pictures. It has got to be the loudest and most horrified “No!” ever from the four of us in the car at that time! Luckily there were no cars behind us!
Heart shaped tangerines <3
Most of the time, his driving skills are okay except that he loves going downhill or taking sharp turns in top speed, which scared the daylight out of us! He claimed that this "roller coaster" would be the best time for hugs and kisses but in case you haven't noticed, we are a group of four girls. Obviously, we can’t be hugging and kissing each other in the car! LOL!
Our view on the road. So many breath taking scenery in Jeju we miss!
The next day, we did everything in “Pali pali” (Fast in Korean) Style, so fast that we later had to check our cameras to recollect where we have visited. We literally felt as if we were running the Amazing Race, trying to make every second and every cent count!
Columnar Joints @ Daepo Coast...Check!
Filming location of "Secret Garden" at SEAES Hotel & Resort...Check!
Jeju Teddy Bear Museum...Check!
Yeongmori Coast...Check!
Hallim Park...Check!
Jeju Mysterious Road...Check!
Hyeopjae Beach...Check!
Apart from being our driver and tour guide, he was also our photographer who risked his life in taking the last picture above! He kept going backwards to the middle of the road when a car was heading his way. Despite us screaming "Car! Car!", he plainly ignored us and kept meddling with the camera, trying to fit us together with the sculptures in the photograph. By now, we can safely assume that Mr Richard Kim is not someone who can multi task! haha
A point to note that although he claims to be an English speaking tour guide, we realized that he was memorizing most of his sentences. If you look closely, there is a paper stuck on his steering wheel and he would explain by reading from that piece of paper. Ask him anything out of the topic and he would either ignore you or answer something totally out of the topic.
Typical situation :
Mr Kim : There are many many good food in Jeju
Iris : Like what?
Mr Kim : There are many many good food in Jeju
Iris: I know, but what are the famous food?
Mr Kim : No problem! I will guide (which sounded like “ride” most of the times!) you!
At that time, we felt really frustrated because there was no two way communication at all. We couldn't get our points across and he was there reading out loud like a school boy. However, as we look back at it now, we can’t help but to laugh at how funny the situation was. He was part of the reason why our Jeju trip became a memorable one with so many stories and laughter to share! ;)
Our only regret was not doing a thorough research on each of these places so please, do not repeat our mistake! If possible, we would recommend you to plan out the itinerary instead of leaving it in the hands of the driver so that you have better control over your itinerary. Do keep in mind that Jeju is NOT a small island and it takes at least one hour journey to get from one point to the other. A hint, since Jeju is separated into the East Course and the West Course, you can start your planning from there!
Overall, Richard Kim is a nice person and we know he really tried his best to keep us happy. Although the first day didn’t go as well as we had hoped, the second day did sort of made up for it. We appreciate his service and patience, especially after we saw him lost control when a lady driver drove at the wrong side of the one way street. He was scolding her loudly in Korean and at the same time, keep turning back to apologize to us in English. All we know is that you would never want to mess with an “ahjusshi” (elderly uncle in Korean)! Haha
That's Mr Richard Kim and us not ready for a photograph, cheese!
Richard Kim can be contacted via email at skimsr@hanmail.net or through phone at 001-81-10-3710-0065.