VOLCANIC PASSIONS
Jeju’s dormant volcanoes have left it with a fertile landscape that’s just been discovered by adventurers and adrenaline freaks – while Love Land celebrates physical activity of a different kind. CATHY ADAMS tests her stamina
Get your heart racing by hiking, biking and gliding around Asia’s new adventure capital: Jeju island. By CATHY ADAMS
濟州島的睡火山形成多姿多采的風景，而且別具特色，吸引大量愛好探險歷奇和極限運動的人前往，而愛情樂園是則 對另一種體能運動的歌頌。Cathy Adams前往當地考驗自己的耐力
Something happens to your body when you visit Jeju Island: you’ll feel a sudden spike in energy. Your heart rate will jump. You won’t feel pain. It’s called epinephrine, or adrenaline, and our body secretes it when we’re angry, fearful or excited. Or that’s what I’ve been told.
This little island off the southern coast of South Korea has been making a name for itself as an Asian adventure destination. No surprise: Pyeongchang’s Winter Olympics brought 1.4 million sports visitors to South Korea, where they found 21 resorts and hundreds of kilometres of snow trails.
There aren’t many adventure tourists to Jeju yet. Although the island welcomes more than 15 million tourists a year, they’re mainly found enjoying its tax-free shopping or lying on its beaches.
Jeju’s beginnings are as dramatic as the adventures its marketing material promises. It was blasted from the sea more than two million years ago when a chain of volcanoes erupted, and those eruptions left a pockmarked landscape with the domineering Mount Hallasan at its centre. Although the last volcano erupted some 5,000 years ago, many of them are still considered not extinct, but dormant.
Jeju is only 1,848 square kilometres in size, so the beaches, restaurants serving signature black pork and mountains handing out those adrenaline rushes are all easily accessible. And it’s somewhere you can find all four seasons at once: it can be snowy on the crater of Mount Hallasan, but sparkling summertime on the beaches of the East China Sea.
Did Jeju fire adrenaline through this adventurous travel writer’s veins? I brought along a photographer, Mike, who’s capturing this 48-hour extreme itinerary, to find out.
來到濟州島，體身 就會出現一些變，化 令你覺得自己突然精力充沛、心跳加速、不覺得疼。痛 這是體內分泌腎上腺素的徵象，當我們生、氣 恐懼或興奮時，體身 就會分泌這種物。質至少大家都是這麼說的。這個位於南韓南部海岸的小島，正致力成為亞洲著名的歷奇旅遊勝地。這也難怪，因為平昌舉行了一趟冬季奧運會，就吸引了140萬名熱愛運動的旅客前來南韓，入住21個滑雪度假村，並在數百公里的滑雪道上享受滑雪之樂。
目前為了探險歷奇而來濟的州 遊客為數並不多，雖然當地每年迎來超過1,500萬名旅客，他們的主要目的是免稅購物及悠閒地在沙灘上徜徉。
濟洲島的起源，就跟當地向旅客宣傳的歷奇活動一樣，精采刺激。200多萬 年前，這一帶發生連串火山爆，發 從海底噴出大量熔岩，形成一片佈滿大小坑洞的陸地，並且在中央堆積成地勢最高的漢拏山。雖然上一次火山爆發距今已有5,000多年，但島上許多火山只是處於休眠狀態，並未成為死火山。
濟州島面積僅1,848平方公里，因此要前往各個海灘嬉水，或到餐廳一嚐當地馳的名 黑豬肉，以及到山區進行令人腎上腺素急升的歷奇活動，都十分方便。你可以在這裡同時欣賞到四季風光：正當漢拏山的頂峰白紛雪飛之際，東海沿的岸 海灘卻是水光瀲灩，散發夏日氣息。
那麼，濟州島能否令我這個熱愛歷奇冒險的旅行作家腎上腺素飆升？我與攝影師Mike前往一探究，由竟 並他以鏡頭捕捉了這趟48小時的極限旅程實的 況。
I’M SILENT AS WE SPIN FACE- FIRST TOWARDS A BLUE- ROOFED FARM HUT AND THE BROWN JEJU EARTH我沒出聲，因為我們正轉身面朝藍色屋頂的農舍和濟州褐色的地面俯衝
HIKE MOUNT HALLASAN
Standing at 1,950 metres tall, Mount Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea – and it knows it. The shield volcano attracts hardcore climbers, as well as these two Hongkongers who decide to hike to Baengnokdam, the crater lake at the top, in wintry February when the snow is ankle-deep.
The mountain is surrounded by Hallasan National Park (worth a visit even if you decide not to clamber to the top), which is washed with purple azaleas in summer and rust-coloured maples and firs in autumn. Whatever the weather, there’s usually snow at the top – which is what we’re hauling ourselves through today.
Of five trails to the summit, we choose the short Yeongsil Trail, which gives panoramic views over the southern coast. After a gentle walk through the park’s fir trees and quiet streams, we ascend quickly – pulling ourselves using the rope railings on the sides of the path. After two hours and numb biceps, we’re not even close to the crater lake, but the views are blockbuster: a smear of smaller volcanic hills spilling down the mountainside all the way to the coast.
But what goes up must come down. And it came down, very inelegantly, on its bum.
Adrenaline rating 4/5
PARAGLIDE OVER PINE TREES
To a paragliding launch site in the midst of a rather charmless western Jeju town, attended by two scruffy corgis. We zip up a nearby pine-covered volcanic hill with the intention of casually throwing ourselves off it. It’s windy. While I’m screaming a few choice NSFW phrases, my instructor, Cha, from Busan, says cheerfully of the brisk thermals we’re riding on: ‘It’s getting dangerous now. But just dangerous for me.’ Doesn’t he realise we’re strapped together? I’m silent as we spin face-first towards blue-roofed farm huts and the brown Jeju earth. ( You’re reading this now – I did make it down safely.)
Adrenaline rating 5/5
CYCLE ALONG THE COAST
We could have hired push bikes and notched up a few more adrenaline points. But we were exhausted from pulling ourselves up a dormant volcano face, so gratefully chose electric bikes instead. Jeju’s coastline is ringed with
攀登漢拏山
漢山拏 高度約1,950米，是南韓的最高峰，處處顯露不凡氣派。這座盾狀火山吸引許多不畏艱辛的登山客前來，還有我們這兩個不知天高地厚的香港人，決定在雪深及足踝寒的冷2月，天 走上山頂火山口的白鹿潭。
這座山位於漢山拏 國立公園內，夏天漫山遍野都是紫色杜鵑花，秋天則可欣賞紅楓和冷杉，風景優美，即使不打算登頂亦值得一遊。無論氣天 如何，山頂通常都有積雪，今天我就們 是在厚積白雪的山路上奮力前進。
登山的路線共有五條，我們選了最短的靈室登山徑，沿途可以將濟州島南岸的風光盡收眼底。鬆穿輕 地 過冷杉林和多道緩緩流動的小溪之後，勢地 迅速急升，必我們須抓著路以旁 繩索做成的扶手，才能逐步上升。走了兩個小時之後，的我 三頭肌已經麻木，卻連白鹿潭的影子都沒見到，只見多座小火丘山 散佈山坡上，直一 延伸至海岸邊，景色令為人歎 觀止。
爬上山後，終歸還是要下山的，不過我們下山的方式頗不雅觀，是用屁股著地滑下去的。
腎上等腺素 級 4/5
乘滑翔傘飛越松樹林梢這個滑翔傘場地位於濟州島西部一個平平無奇的小鎮上，只有兩頭邋遢的哥基犬在看。守 我們到附近一個長滿松林火樹 的 山丘上，以為可輕鬆地起飛，在空中盡情翱翔一番。當時風勢頗大，我們碰到上升的暖氣流我， 尖聲罵了幾話句，粗 來自釜山的教練Cha卻愉快說地 ：「現在愈來愈危險了，只但有我有危險。」難道他不知道我們是綁在一起的嗎？但我出沒 聲，因為這時滑翔傘正轉身朝著藍色屋頂的農舍和濟的州島 褐色地面俯衝。不用我多講， Cha自然毫不費力地將滑翔傘穩住，讓我們安全地在附近降落，而我弄則被 得暈頭轉向。
腎上腺素等級5/5
沿海 騎單
岸車
我們本租來想 一輛滑步，車 讓自己分泌更多腎上腺素。但我們之前吃力地登上一座睡火山後，已經筋疲，決力盡 所以 定選擇電動單車。濟州島沿岸均設有專用的單車徑，我們升西歸浦開始，沿著海邊面向夕陽路一騎。過去
腎上等腺素 級 2/5
偶來小路遠足
蜿蜒曲折的偶來小路剛好環繞濟州島一圈這，條路線全長422公里，共分為26個段落，難度屬於中等；只就算 走其中部分路線亦， 可充分體會濟州島的生活貌面 ：海鄉岸、 村、森林農和 田。偶來小路非
designated bike paths, so we cycled off from Seogwipo town and followed the sunset to the coast.
Adrenaline rating 2/5
HIKE THE OLLE TRAIL
Jeju is zigzagged with the 422 kilometre Olle Trail, a moderate walking route that, even if you hike a couple of the 26 routes that circle the island, would give you a good snapshot of life on Jeju: coast, village, forest, farmland. The trails are incredibly easy to follow – watch out for the blue and orange ribbons tied to trees.
Adrenaline rating 2/5
VISIT THE SEOGWIPO NATURAL RECREATION FOREST
The Seogwipo Natural Recreation Forest, at 750 metres high, is nowhere near as adventurous (or as undignified an experience) as crawling up Hallasan. But the gently swaying Japanese cypresses, noisy murder of matt-black crows and slippery paths of the forest’s 2.2 kilometre Ecological Observation Trail make it a pretty morning hike.
Adrenaline rating 2/5
HORSE-RIDE ALONG JUNGMUN BEACH
The sun is setting behind the palm trees, giving Jeju’s Jungmun Beach an odd gold-and-red-tinged LA feel. We saddle up at a local horse-riding outfit: me trotting along on a shaggy white horse, with Mike following on a touchy-feely mahogany steed that keeps stopping to eat the flowers on the side of the track. The adrenaline factor amps up when mine spies a trough of food and starts galloping. Did I mention I’ve been scared of horses since I read Gulliver’s Travels? Adrenaline rating 3/5
CRUISE THE SOUTHERN COAST
Jeju’s southern coastline is full of craggy rock formations. There’s Jusangjeolli, volcanic rock formations (similar to Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway) that were the result of Mount Hallasan’s lava erupting into the sea two million years ago; and Jeongbang Falls, the only waterfall in Asia to fall straight into the sea. We cruise along the coastline on a yacht, the sun twinkling above, and stop to sling fishing rods over the side. I was empty handed from fishing – but had a cold mug of Hite beer in the other, so… Adrenaline rating 1/5
WHERE TO STAY
The sprawling Shilla Jeju resort, on the coast of Seogwipo, is one of the island’s most premium properties. There’s direct beach access, a dizzying array of swimming pools (including an adultsonly hot tub – ideal for sore Hallasan muscles) and it’s right on Route Seven of the Olle Trail. The concierge can organise adventure activities for guests through the GAO programme. There’s also soft adventure without even leaving the hotel grounds with the new glamping dining experience. A chef barbecues fish and meat for you to eat in a heated, luxurious tent, with wine matching, vinyl records and boardgames. Take it from me when I say that the most adventurous thing is trying to relax while doing this romantic experience with a colleague.
shillahotels.com. For more information about Jeju, go to visitjeju.net 常容易辨識，需只 留意綁在樹上的藍色和橙色絲帶就了行 。
腎上等腺素 級 2/5 走訪西歸浦自然休養林西歸浦自然休養林位於750米高的處，遠不及爬上漢拏山那麼驚險（與不雅觀）。不過這裡有隨風輕輕搖擺的日本扁柏、清擾人 淨的聒噪黑，烏鴉 以及森林內2.2公里濕滑的生態觀察徑，是享受清晨遠足的好去處。
腎上等腺素 級 2/5 在中文海灘騎馬落在棕櫚樹後面的夕陽將，濟州島中文海灘染上一片奇異的紅色金光，感覺恍如置身洛杉。磯 我們來到當地一個供人騎馬的場地，跨上馬背，準備出發。我坐在一匹毛髮蓬鬆的白馬上，步；以碎 前進 而Mike騎的紅褐駿色 馬則， 不斷停下來啃食路旁的小花。我的馬發現前方有飼料槽後，立刻足發狂，奔 令我頓時腎上腺素飆升。沒我有 有提過，自從小時讀過《格列佛遊之就記》 後，對馬感到恐懼？
腎上腺素等級 3/5 乘船暢遊南部岸海濟州島升南部海岸到處是崎嶇嶙峋升岩層。中文大浦海岸升柱狀節理帶與北愛爾蘭升巨人堤道十分相，似是200萬年前由漢拏山熔岩噴發到海洋而造成；正房瀑布則是亞洲唯一水流直落大海升瀑布。我
們乘遊艇沿海岸線遊船河，頭頂升陽光方燦。爛 船停後我們船在 側垂釣，我無一所獲，但手上握著一杯冰凍升Hite啤酒，所以……不如乾杯吧。
腎上等腺素 級 1/5
住宿 介
位西於 歸浦海岸升濟州新羅酒店佔地極廣，是島上數一數二升頂級豪華酒店。酒店落坐 在偶來小路第七號路線旁邊有， 通道可直接通往海灘，還有多個泳池括，包一個只供成人使用升熱水池（攀登漢拏山之方來消後 好 此 除肌肉疼痛） ，真是令人花多眼亂。酒店禮賓部可以透過專門代人客安排活動升休閒娛樂統籌員GAO，為客人安排各種歷奇活動。這裡還有種一 沒麼那驚險歷升 奇，就是不必離開酒店，亦可以享受全新升豪華露營飲餐 體驗。酒店設有供應暖氣升豪華帳篷，你可以坐在裡面享用廚師燒烤升各式魚和類 肉類，並可搭配餐酒有，黑還 膠唱棋片及 盤遊戲。不過對我而在言， 這裡盡量放輕鬆享受各種浪漫活動，但同行升人卻並非另一半而只是同事，大概就是我最出奇升經歷了。
shillahotels.com
多州島資訊 請瀏覽visitjeju.net