Oedolgae Rock (외돌개) - The Gigantic General @ Jeju Island [Korea]

My younger sister, the 'official planner' for my recent Korea trip, was fully aware that this rock i am writing about today fell short of many visitors' expectations yet placed it as part of our itinerary since "it is very near to the galeum guesthouse"! 

Near, in this case, still require a drive although it took us less than ten minutes to reach the car park. Anyway, it did seem more than 250 meters to reach the Oedolgae Rock! 

Walking was no longer a natural thing to do after an exhausting hike up Halla Mountain and you should have heard Joyce's sigh of relief when we got close to the famed rock. 

The phallic rock - as rumoured, it wasn't as spectacular as it appeared to be on many postcards and i had the presumption it would tower over the cliff we were stepping on. 

There were too many people at the viewing platform for me to capture a good, clear shot of the stone pillar crafted by nature and it was only upon reaching Singapore that i also realised many of the photographs i initially took had smudges! Shouldn't have touched the lens after greedily tearing up the grilled squid! 

You may of course engage the "professional" to help you take a photo with the signature rock as a backdrop for a small token fee. Definitely not for stingy persons like me and my sisters! 

I thought this would have concluded my visit but how could i resist when there was another path that seemed well trodden by visitors.

Luck was on our side as the scenery further away gave a much better view of the rock, with the thankful lack of pushy tourists clamouring to take picture after picture! 

Spider webs by the roadside! Unlike the cute, tiny ones we often see in Singapore, the spiders in Jeju were around the size of my palm! 

Now, let's talk about the rock. As with most historical tourist spots, there are always legends and the one here talked about a general in Korea who disguised the rock as a gigantic general to ward off Mongolian attacks. The enemy troops were so frightened by what they saw; all of them committed suicide!

To honour the victory, the rock was henceforth known as Oedolgae Rock; Oedolgae means general in Korean. I honestly found the tale hard to believe; i would escape but i don't think i would commit suicide just because there was a fierce looking giant man in front of me! 

Another rest area along the way; it was around 4.20pm then although the sun did look as if he was on its way to a good night sleep. 

There wasn't anything much to the other side of the cliff even though i read somewhere there is a place nearby where you can catch the sunset. Whether it is true or not, i don't know. 

A familiar face! Isn't that Daejangguem?! The popular period drama left a deep impression on me as i watched the serial twice and it also spun off my love for period dramas; be it from China or Korea. 

I didn't remember about the scene Dae Jang Guem that featured the rock though. Guess it was during the point where i am more interested to know the ending and fast forwarding then would be the way to go! Haha. For those interested to be THE palace-maid-turned-king's-physician, you can have your wish come true. 

Note how the landscape changes over a span of minutes! I wondered if there is any way i could get to the foot of the cliff to soak my smelly feet in the clear seawater.

Save for falling down the cliff, which was exactly the risk this elderly gentleman faced in his attempt to take photographs! So dangerous! 

Compared to the view of Oedolgae Rock, this was way more stunning with the lonesome island (which looked like a person with his/her hairy butt protruding out of the water) right in the middle! 

=====

Contact Number of Location for GPS

760-3031

Admission Fee

Free! 

Parking

I read online on some blogs that parking charge in Jeju was literally non-existent! WRONG!! I paid quite a number of times and was charged a thousand Korean won at Oedolgae Rock for less than an hour!

For the summary of my inaugural South Korea trip 

(Seoul and Jeju Island), click HERE.