Next up, Jeonju Hanok Village! Headed there from Gwangju, I had a one night stay in the village of traditional structure and immersed into the old cultural feels! Along the way, was all about indulging in food, people watching, and randomly hopping into open museum and such.

Day 7 – Afternoon

I left leaving Gwangju for Jeonju via inter-city bus. When arriving at Jeonju bus terminal, there were some luggage lockers so you can lock up your stuff if you don’t plan to drag your luggage with you. Decided to bring my luggage along as I won’t be passing by the bus terminal after my short stay. Hailed a cab, and had to call up my Hanok host to navigate the driver.

Bus Trip Break - Quick Pro Tip
If you are taking long bus trips, here I recount the number 1 tip. Usually long bus trip that takes about 2 hours or more, the bus driver will have a planned stop for 15 minutes and people can get off for a quick break. If you are on solo – the moment you get off, take a look back! Look at what? The bus license plate or whatever that could help you identify your bus. The first time I took a bus (Busan-Gwangju) I nearly forgot to look back and could have lost my bus to the many other buses parked there. Imagine the moment I remember to look back, the number of buses that was aligned there looked worrying identical – I called myself lucky-sensible and I try to remember to do that each time.

Shortly, we reached the place after some navigation, and it was drizzling slightly. And the host unnie came out and ushered me in – greeted me so warmly that I felt like I was at home! Lol, she tugged me around by hand and showed me around. *^-^*

Hanok Homestay - Pinetree View Hanok Guesthouse
Hanok Homestay – Pinetree View Hanok Guesthouse
Hanok Homestay - Pinetree View Hanok Guesthouse
Hanok Homestay – Pinetree View Hanok Guesthouse

I realised I have only these 2 photos! Kind of regret not taking more shots. Anyways, this a good plus point is that this room came fitted with its own bathroom. πŸ˜€ Well-furnished and clean πŸ˜€ And at a good price point as well – about ~SGD$38. Free advert for them: Pinetree Hanok Guesthouse. And yes, this is located right within the Hanok Village.

Bibimbap for Lunch

Next, head out to randomly explore – and also seek out my bibimbap for lunch! There were plenty of options, given that Jeonju is the home and origin of bibimbap. There were so many choices during my research (eg Seong Mi Dang, Family House Jeonju Bibimbap, etc) but I decided on:

Gogung κ³ κΆμˆ˜λΌκ°„
31 Eunhaeng-ro, Pungnam-dong, Wansan-gu, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

Gogung - Jeonju Bibimbap
Gogung – Jeonju Bibimbap

And heres my bibimbap! Gave they generous servings of veggies as sides – although I found the green leafy salad a little weird in this combo – I rather they give me green pepper. πŸ˜€

Bibimbap - Gogung
Bibimbap – Gogung

Bibimbap served in here (or in Jeonju) is really interesting – a whole lot of ingredient that I haven’t noticed in other bibimbaps before. I thought the most interesting ones had to be the little yellow jellies in the bowl – I liked that especially. A little reference from sis – bibimbaps in Jeonju all come with that.

The little red bowl on the right is a korean alcoholic drink – called “muju” – it is sweet, a little thick, but not spicy at all. Something I feel like kids would like?

Exploring Jeonju Hanok Village

After the lunch, started my exploration of Hanok Village. Its a pretty simple formula, just wander about, look at people strolling (and camwhoring) in hanboks – and that is pretty much all to do here. There are some landmarks, and exhibition plotted on mini maps along the way while I was – eg Kimchi exhibit. But these exhibitions were lacking in English so I couldn’t much enjoy them.

And that day, the weather was cold and it was drizzling slightly. But I can’t help feeling amused by people in hanbok – it was cold, and they were all hiding inside their warm coat, unable to show off their hanbok.

Along the way, spotted these few kids who cross-dressed. πŸ˜€

And many other kids who were shouting excitedly to their friends that they saw these bunch of cross-dressing dudes. XD. I spotted a girl in a male scholar outfit, but obviously guys-in-girls outfit gets more attention. πŸ˜€

Chocopie

Can’t say you visited Jeonju without getting a Chocopie!

PNB Chocopie
PNB Chocopie

Apologies for the photobomb – apparently, this was the only photo I’ve got ><!

Chocopie
Chocopie

I actually tried this and another Chocopie shop. But frankly, I felt they tasted alike and I don’t really have a preference for either. There was one particular bun I liked from PNB – it had an uneven crispy crust and super uber soft insides! I can still remember that! There wasn’t any filling in it, perhaps buttery flavour? I highly recommend!

And lastly! The classic view from the top.

Hanok Village view from top
Hanok Village view from top

I think I took this while trying to hike up to the Omokdae and Imokdae historical sites. But the rainy day made the hike too slippery that I didn’t actually found the actual place and gave up halfway.

Other random sights that were outside of Hanok Village

Jeondong Catholic Church μ „μ£Ό 전동성당
51, Taejo-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do
전라뢁도 μ „μ£Όμ‹œ 완산ꡬ νƒœμ‘°λ‘œ 51 (전동)

Jeondong Catholic Church
Jeondong Catholic Church

Pungnammun GateΒ  μ „μ£Ό 풍남문
1, Pungnammun 3-gil, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do
전라뢁도 μ „μ£Όμ‹œ 완산ꡬ 풍남문3κΈΈ 1 (전동)

Pungnammun Gate
Pungnammun Gate

And I wandered all the way outside of Hanok Village and ended at Nambu Market – there wasn’t much to see here however.

Nambu Market
Nambu Market

Not sure where this was, but it was towards the south area of Hanok Village. That stretch of big road…Got a little carried away editing the dramatic sky πŸ˜€

A bridge at the far south end of Hanok Village

And I detoured back to Hanok Village. This was one of my favourite capture – saw these little figurine couples wandering on a shop’s rooftop.

Korean Doll Figurines
Korean Doll Figurines
Korean Doll Figurines
Korean Doll Figurines

By then, it was already evening hours and tourists in hanboks were disappearing from the streets. Lesser people-sights to see. I returned back to the Hanok stay and dropped off my stuff and headed out again for dinner!

Ending with comfort dinner

My last stop for Jeonju – Hyundaiok ν˜„λŒ€μ˜₯. This place specially serves the Jeonju specialty: beansprout rice-soup! Lol, I was wondering why is this the specialty – and yeah, it was just on my food list because so. So I went and tried – honest review, this falls under comfort food category. Theres no “wow” factor, but the fact that it was a cold day, and the steamy, simple, beansprout-only soup gave me much appetite! I reckoned, this is still a must-try.

Hyundaiok Beansprout Rice-Soup
Hyundaiok Beansprout Rice-Soup

And lol, I ordered myself a Makgeolli – because blogs online say, in Jeonju, Makgeolli is The Food, and all other food are “ban-chan”. So it shall come in a pot. Mine came in a bottle, contrary to what I saw on blogs. >< Something went wrong here haha. Anyways, half a bottle in and I was slightly in a dizzy state which I don’t like to be in.

Funny though, as I was paying for my table, I gained more guts from being slightly tipsy so I asked the shop owner, if they wanted my half-bottle of makgeoli, or will they throw it away? “Throw, yes”. Asked other diners, and they didn’t want it either. Ouch, that didn’t sit well with my waste-not principle. So I lugged that half bottle, and we went home. And all the way to Seoul πŸ˜€

Apparently, having Makgeolli as food will happen in some designated restaurants, but I have no chance with that. xD. This should also require a larger group rather than me trying to solo it. So, till my next visit I guess! Hanok village is nice, but I think prancing around in a Hanbok will complete the experience, and theres more to explore outside of Hanok Village too! Food tour maybe?

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