Not an Apple store day

Daejeong, le 14 mars 2021

I did not go to the Apple store on Sunday. I spent the whole day with my wife to celebrate her birthday. The actual birthday will be this Wednesday but we decided to make a weekend out of it. Planning for the Apple store: Out for now.

There is only one high-rise in Jeju City. I always thought it to be an office building. It’s not. It’s a Grand Hyatt Hotel. It’s a double building with two 38 floor towers. Because there are a lot less customers during this pandemic, one tower is closed and the other is only partly occupied. They gave us a room on the 25th floor with a magical view on the city, mountains and Hallasan, the volcano from which originated Jeju-do.

We arrived in Jeju City Saturday afternoon, early enough to climb Sara-bong, first oreum of the number 18 Olle trail. It’s about a four kilometer walk up to a beautiful park full of exercise equipment and a great view on the city and ocean. After the walk, we were at the hotel in time for Stephanie to take a long bath in a full length tub that had her gasp when she first saw it. Cocktails were in order before supper on the 38th floor surrounded with windows. Our dinner was gargantuesque.

Sunday morning was brunch at the hotel. The amount of food available, Asian and Western, makes it too difficult to describe. The rest of the day was a moving one starting with a fifteen kilometer bike ride from the city to the ocean shore. We left the bikes at the shore and walked back up the fifteen kilometers of Olle trail 16 to our car, a nice four hour walk. A little more past the half way point, there is the Self Café, a beautiful little building with a garden and seating area adjacent to an orange orchard. There’s a coffee machine, a refrigerator filled with juices and soft drinks and some treats, but no staff. You serve yourself and you leave cash on the counter or pay with your debit card. All self serve on the basis of honor. On the way back home, we finished our birthday weekend with a Butter Chicken supper at The Indian Kitchen.

For the whole weekend, we did not at all talk about the missed visit which was planned at the Apple store. A perfect weekend!