Whew, this tourist stuff sure is tiring. We all knew Jeju could prove so as there are so many activities packed into the itinerary for this section. Fortunately most of the kids are coping well. Sure there have been a few brain fade moments, but considering how long the days are and how tired they have been, fade-outs are remarkably few.

Today began with a visit to Ma Horse park to witness a spectacular re-enactment of the Mongolian invasion of Korea. At least that is what I think it was. Apart from a brief inclusion if English during the introduction, we were left on our own to work out the details from there. Basically it went, pretty girls on horses, Handsome men join them. Ride around performing spectacular tricks. Bring out the iron work, a bit of slash an thrust, take the lazy way home by pretending to be dead lying across the horse, a few more spectacular tricks and everybody leaves happy.

Well not quite..... some of the tour groups must be on a severely short schedule because about 2/3 of the way through at least half of the audience began to file out. Naturally, being Australian, we stayed on till the bitter end, only to be greeted by an empty car park on departure. Crowds simply grow and melt away as if by magic. The crowd was quite interesting too. Apparently all the women were obliged to wear pink. Our girls/ladies obviously didn't get the memo. This still left the crowd with more pink than the McGrath Foundation.

Second visit was to Spirited Garden. True to the blurb on their brochure; The Bujae Artpia is not a mere botanical or bonsai garden. It is the result of over 50 years dedicated work by one man. It is a well sculptured garden containing many trees brought to the park from many places, Many of the trees are extremely old and have great significance. It is a little awe-inspiring to see a Bonsai tree over 200 years old. Highlight of the day was meeting the creator himself, still tending the garden well into his 80's.

After the gardens, we made our way to Osulloc Green Tea Estate. Depending on which country you are from, this Jeju tea is at least one of the best green teas in the world. Many say it is the best. I'm not sure how this is judged, but the dsplays at the estate were impressive and we certainly enjoyed the green tea ice-cream and roll cake. The sponge is made with green tea. The kids had great fun exploring the tea estate and gardens.

Next stop proved to be pure Korean kitsch; The Teddy Bear Museum lived up to all promises. Three floors dedicated to stuffed toys. The historical section was interesting, following Teddy Bear evolution from the late 1800's until today. However other sections such as the art masterpieces left one shaking the head. Michaelangelo and the Mona Lisa will never be the same again....not to say what they did to Klimt. The kids had great delight dragging me to the end of the garden to see the fishing Bear. Imagine my dissapointment to find he was only a bait fisherman, not a true fly-fisherbear.

One stop that we didn't get to do was a visit to the Glass Museum. It was to have shown modern and old glass-making/blowing techniques. However , we were told it was too dangerous for the kids as there are some displays/activities that have a danger of exploding. We worked that out in two second. It was really too dangerous to have a bunch of children as young as 3 running around. The only explosions would have been falling displays.

If there is one tip for the trip is NOT to buy a new card for Liz's camera. I think she is observing Korea through the camera lens. Today over 8.5gb of pictures were loaded........ and checked/sorted to add to the blog. This went on till midnight. Bring back film is all I can say!

Of course it's not just our kids getting over-tired. The locals do too.