Cheonjiyeon Falls (天地渊瀑布) - The Place where Seven Fairies Came to Bathe @ Jeju Island [Korea]

Now's continue with my Korea trip lest the memory fades! I hope it would not be another itinerary that took me four months to complete although from the look of it, it just might! 

Anyway, today's posting is on one of three famous waterfalls in Jeju; Cheonjieyeon Falls. Do keep in mind that there was another waterfall by the name of Cheonjeyeon Falls (note the letter e instead of i) that i didn't manage to visit. 

Parking was free for motorists but you still have to bear a nominal entrance ticket. My sister paid for the tickets using our common funds; hence, i am not exactly very sure on the pricing. According to a guidebook given by a super nice local ahjumma, an adult ticket cost ₩2,000 (less than S$3).

Cross the stone bridge to get to the official main entrance of the waterfall. Be careful of your hyperactive child; the 'fence' wasn't very tall and i doubt you want to jump into the chilly water. 

For an adult a middle-aged man, i could not help but slow down my usually quick footsteps so that i can relax momentarily while overlooking the peaceful lake. That moment was crashed when another busload of tourists stormed in! 

Another persimmon tree heavily laden with ripe fruits!!! Thankfully, Joyce didn't attempt to grab a few this time; it would be so embarrassing!! 

A photo of my younger sister before she got photo bombed. 

Still remember the symbolic stone grandfather that i mentioned in my Yongduam Rock post? Anyone ever wonder its resemblance to aliens, especially the protruding eye balls! Well, in another perspective, they could also be wearing shades! 

The mystery is that no one really knows when it appears even though it was said they were guardians (of a mystical nature) and often placed at entrance of villages and houses. Another photo taken of the Teo sisters because this larger than life basalt stone statue was one of the originals on the island! 

Prefer a statue less daunting? Check out the miniature ones! 

I think the heron was eyeing the many plump koi fishes in the lake. This same lake was also the home for the nocturnal Mutae Eel; listed as one of Korea's natural monument. 

It helped to have the nice weather accompanying us since the walk wasn't as short as we expected; it was about a kilometer in just to see the waterfall! 

We could have also walked across the no-barrier steps to the other side, which was in no way connected to the ticketing office. However, the day was getting darker and we figured it would be more advantageous to catch the sight of Cheonjiyeon first!

That's the waterfall!?!? Well, the sentence came from one of my sisters. I would have said the same if i had not seen the photographs of the falls from some blog! 

At the crossroad and was extremely grateful for the signs in Chinese and English! Worse come to worse, i shall follow the crowd; a sensible option to adopt most of the times. 

Reaching as we came upon a parade square. The two ladies in front maintained the same distance from us since the start of the walk! 

Quite impressive in the above picture right? Coming from Singapore where the tallest waterfall we have is man-made, anything with a drop of two meters would be classified as waterfall. 

At 22 meters high, 12 meters wide, Cheonjiyeon Falls were not as gigantic as we thought it would be. In relative terms, the height was actually 8 meters shy of Singapore's man-made waterfall at Jurong Bird Park. 

Nothing beat's seeing a natural formation anyway! I don't see any fairies (sadly) though and no one is allowed into the 20-meter deep water. Time to have your picture taken to save down the moment. 

Most visitors were taking photographs from the raised platform further from the waterfall! 

I didn't quite understand why since there was a much quieter place nearer to the beautiful falls. At this moment when i took the photo, the three of us were the only homosapiens there. 

At first glance, i was ecstatic to find tombstones in Korea! It was only upon a closer that i realised these were information plaques!!!! If not for the Chinese characters, i might have stupidly posted a post on Korea's tombstones! 

Pigeon with conjunctivitis; poor bird needs immediate treatment in case it spreads to other avian. I am not crazy; i know the red eyes are specific to a pigeon breed. 

Walking back with sufficient time to check out the "other" side of the valley! 

Bridge with four dol hareubangs; two on each side! There's something you may consider doing while crossing the bridge. Hint in the next paragraph. 

Shimmering coins............... which means this is a wishing spot! I was about to wonder where it was given Cheonjiyeon's legendary position as the playground for fairies! By the way, the English translation was horrible! I had a better understanding reading the Chinese translation! 

There were three stone animals on the rock; the tortoise symbolises longevity, the mandarin duck relates to love while the carp is said to cleanse the mind and body. Cast a coin and your wishes for the aforementioned blessings might just come true. It was mentioned that the coins cast here would be donated to a welfare organisation to help the unfortunate; a charitable cause instead of increasing the coffers like many such places! 

Not sure what the banner was for; seemed like a donation drive for an orphanage. 

Another legend; a girl was about to be harmed by a man when a dragon flew out of the water, grabbed the man and vanished into the sky. The girl found a golden pearl shortly after and since then, her family prospered. Frankly, extremely unbelievable in my opinion but you could still rub the apparently fake pearl, make a wish and hope for the best. 

Cheonjiyeon Outdoor Performance Hall - to name it as stage / amphitheater would be more suitable. 

A lot of huge and colourful spiders in Cheonjiyeon! The spider webs were mainly found in between trees and it would be hard to get yourself in the web unless you purposely want to touch it! 

I almost wanted to brush my fingers on this; my very first time seeing a live praying mantis in the wild! Don't you think it look exactly like Mantis in Kung Fu Panda!?!?

Lastly, anyone knows the purpose for the above? It served as a gate in olden Jeju and the placement of the wooden bars signified the time the owners would be away. To read more, click here!

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Location

Central Seogwipo, Jeju Island

Contact Number to Key in GPS

760-6301

Additional Information

Next to the ticketing office was an entire row of dining establishments! This would be the same area where i got my grilled squid and dried fish! Click here for the location! 

For the summary of my inaugural South Korea trip 

(Seoul and Jeju Island), click HERE.