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Published: June 19th 2013
1st Jun: Up far too early. 5 am! I managed to leave the house not long after half past and headed to the metro. Got to Suwon station, not long after six. Bought some breakfast from the shop, and sat eating that, while waiting for my train. My train left about ten past seven. I put my ear phones in and tried to sleep. The bloke next to me was a bit chatty, and I was in no mood for it. It was too early. The train journey took about three hours. I almost missed my stop as I was asleep. However the old bloke told me, it was my stop. Thank goodness!
The train station in Jeonju is gorgeous, it's built in the hanok style. After asking at the tourist information office about how to get to the Hanok Village, I got bus no. 79 from the station. I didn't really have a clue where to get off, as the bus was crowded and you couldn't hear the announcements. I just got off at the same place some Korean tourists got off and that was the right place. I really wished they still had the TV screens showing the
Father Baudounet
Jeongdong Church, Jeonjustops on buses. It's annoying because I have crap listening skills and other people are talking over the top!
Anyway, I got off at the edge of the Hanok Village. I remembered where I was from when I had briefly been to Jeonju a few months ago. My first stop was Jeongdong Cathedral. The church was built to honour the Roman Catholic martyrs of the Joseon dynasty, who had died in that very spot. The church itself was shut, I don't know why, so I could have a nose inside. I can't remember if it was shut when I came the last time. Construction of the church began in 1908 and was completed in 1914. The land has been purchased by the French priest, Father Baudounet. There is a bronze bust in the grounds of the church of Father Baudounet, and a statue commemorating the martyrs. The grounds of the church aren't too big and I had a quick walk around and took some photos of the religious sculptures in the grounds.
From the church I backtracked out of the Hanok Village and across the road to Pungnammun gate. On the walk across the small square to reach
the gate I stopped to take some photos of all the gorgeous flowers that had been planted there. The gate was impressive, although I wished it was a bit more accessible. It would of been great to wander up and down the steps, but it was all closed off. The gate was built in the middle of the Joseon dynasty and is the only remaining city gate left standing. Parts of the gate had been destroyed a long, long time ago, but it had been restored in 1978. Walking back across the little square, I stopped to take some photos of a cool sculpture that was there, however my photos don't do it justice. It was really quirky to look at in real life.
I walked back to the Hanok village, taking lots of photos on the way. My next stop was Gyeonggijeon Shrine. The structure was a lot bigger, but a lot of it was destroyed when forces invaded in the 1500s. The site was originally constructed in 1410. It was built to house and preserve the portrait of King Tae-jo, the founder of the Joseon dynasty. There is also a stupa containing King Yejong's placenta. Eww!I decided
to walk around the grounds first, it was really pretty. I got to see the placenta stupa. Not really a highlight of my trip. The park like area was really nice and peaceful. Jogyeongmyo was closed off so I couldn't see that. Right at the back in the corner there is a new building, which is the Royal Portrait Museum. The museum houses quite a few royal portraits. It also houses a copy of the only existing portrait of King Tae-jo. Well not quite the only one, but the other one is in North Korea, so there is no chance of seeing it, and it shows the king in his younger days.
I had a walk around the building to the left of the main shrine, these building were used by officials back in the day, and show you what life was like back then. There was a well, a stables, kitchen, storage area, and living and working areas. There were lots of interactive things that you could do to experience what life was like back like then, but since it was lunchtime all the staff were on their dinner break. I pottered about there and then went to
the main shrine. I saw the King's portrait. It's mad because their is a path leading up to the portrait, but us plebs can't use it, it is only for God!
By this point I was starving, so I headed off to find some food. I wandered down a random side street, and found a restaurant, that was quiet. Some places had big, mad queues to get in. Anyway I got some jaeyukdokbap, spicy pork, which I love and haven't had for ages. It was quite nice, not the best but passable. After lunch I bought an ice cream for the corner shop, and just wandered around the hanok village. The village is really pretty, but there seems to be a lot of construction work going on, especially around the edges. The village is expanding. There are tonnes of gorgeous little shops and cafes, I could easily spend a tonne of time here people watching and reading a book. After wandering for a while, I decided to go and ind the hostel and drop some of my stuff off, as my bag was getting a bit heavy. I knew vaguely the direction it was in, but I couldn't find
it on my first attempt. So I ended up wandering around for quite a while. It was a little annoying as I had been on the correct street, but had taken a random turning. So after spending longer than I wanted to, I found the hostel. The owner Mr. Lee was a real sweetie. He upgraded me to a 4 person room from an eight person room, and told me there would only be one other girl sharing with me. Nice! The room was gorgeous, and had an en suite. He also said that a few people from the hostel would get together for dinner and soju that evening.
I lightened my load and then headed out again. Last time I came to Jeonju we went to a viewpoint overlooking the hanok village, where you could get nice photos, but we didn't have time to climb to the top. So I walked back along that way. I took a tonne of photos from the viewpoints and then climbed the small hill to the top. At the top, there is Omokdae, a pavilion. The pavilion is where Yi Seong-gye (aka King Tae-jo before he was famous) stopped to celebrate his
victory over the Japanese at Hwangsan. The pavilion is pretty big, and there were loads of families in their chilling, and people napping. I went and had a lie down. I fell asleep for a little while. When I woke up, I couldn't be bothered to move, so I stayed and read my book for a bit. Then I decided to go for a wander. I came down the hill a different way and then headed over a bridge to the other side of town.
There were loads of old houses, some kind of looked like shacks, but the outside walls were covered with pretty murals. I took plenty of photos of them, as they were really pretty. I tried to find the hiking trail to a fortress nearby, but the paths weren't clearly signposted and what could of been the trails were overgrown. Also it was starting to get a tiny bit dark, and I didn't want to be caught on a random mountain side in the dark. So I gave up and headed back into town. I went to the hostel and tried to have a nap, but couldn't sleep.
I got out of bed when
my room mate turned up, and four of us went for dinner. We went to a samgyeopsal (pork belly) place near the hostel. It was nice and cheap too. We washed the food down with some soju. We went back to the hostel, had some beer and chicken there, and then headed out for a wander around the town. Not far from our hostel in the hanok village there is a bloke giving away makgeolli for free. S owe sagt down there and had some makgeolli chatting to loads of different people that the bloke managed to entice to sit down with the offer of his free booze. I left around 11 or 12, and headed back to the hostel.
2nd Jun: Oops, so much for getting up early. It was gone nine by the time I got out of bed. Well I didn't have the greatest night's sleep. I sat and had breakfast with Sue and Yuki. After lots of coffee, we headed out to have a wander around the town. We headed to Gyeonggijeon shrine, as they hadn't been. It was nice to wander around again and I was able to see what was happening as the
things that were shut yesterday were open today.
We left the shrine and headed for an early lunch. Jeonju is famous for bibimbap, so of course we had to have it. We went to one of the popular tourist restaurants on the main street. The bibimbaps were quite expensive and we weren't starving so we opted to share two between the three of us. We ordered a Jeonju bibimbap and a dolseot bibimbap. Jeonju bibimbap has raw minced beef in it, where as dolseot bibmbap has cooked beef and dolseot refers to the pot it is served in. We were served loads of banchan (side dishes), too. The food was really good. I really enjoyed the Jeonju bibimbap. I've had dolseot bibmbap loads before.
After lunch we wandered around the town. We went along the main streets and also some of the hidden alleyways and backstreets. We found a gorgeous little guesthouse, with its own well in the courtyard and loads of pretty quirky touches. We had a look in the paper making factory, but because it was Sunday, not a lot was happening. We then headed to the soju museum. This was a disappointment as there was
no English language signage. So I am still clueless about how they make soju.
I was pretty sunburnt by this point, as the weather had been beautiful all day. We found a gorgeous cafe next to the famous ginkgo tree and had some green tea there. Then it was time to say my good-byes and head to the train station as my train was leaving not long after four. The journey home took three hours and my lovely weekend away was over before I knew it.
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