In February, Jeju throws a grand shebang with eating and drinking and music and dancing, fireworks, a lasershow, and most spectacularly of all, a whole hillside of huge bonfires, some in the shape of Korean letters spelling out, roughly translated, 'Don't worry -- Be happy'...

Some folks take the event more seriously than others, genuflecting before the flames in prayer for prosperity and good fortune. It would be easy to assume that this is a modern version of a centuries-old fertility rite, but we have it on good authority that the first of these annual pyro-hoedowns was less than a decade ago.

After the last stage show, a cheerleading demonstration by some imported Californian babes, the governor of the island wished health and wealth to all, and the bonfires were lit with torches by the citizenry -- mostly well-dressed elders. In minutes, we were awed by the equivalent of a whole village of log cabins in full inferno. Great gusting winds had us dodging clouds of embers, which somehow made the whole experience even more exhilarating.

Weather-wise, we had no idea what we were in for. The oerum (volcanic butte) that plays stage for the show is located in the bermuda triangle of Jeju -- a pie-shaped wedge of island descending from the peak of the Mount Halla to the shore around Hyupjae Beach, in which it always seems to be foggy, rainy, or snowy, even when the rest of the island lies under clear skies. In the early evening, we had a brief, blinding blizzard. This made the heat from the pyres all the more welcome and poignant. And as if on cue, the skies cleared for the lavish twenty-minute fireworks display, revealing a fine ripe moon to light our retreat.

If you'd like to see more shots from this mad occasion, check out this gallery posted by our friend Rich, who, being perhaps less flame-fixated than I, managed to take photos of some of the rest of the event as well.