2014 Korea trip: Jeonju

If you're travelling to Korea but would want to explore somewhere rather than the usual Seoul/Jeju/Busan, you might be pleased to know that there is a free shuttle bus to Jeonju. I went there last year and am glad to know that it is still happening this year. For more information, please refer to the website: http://shuttle.dongbotravel.com/en/

Since Lissya and I have both been to Seoul before, we decided to explore more of what is outside for Seoul. And since there is a free shuttle bus to Jeonju, we decided to take up the offer. You have to ballot for it so it is not definitely that you will get these seats.

We arrive early at 8am to wait for the bus. Bought some snacks for breakfast but at the rest stop, I had to of course buy this walnut cookie again. <3 Best to eat it while it is still piping hot. The bus ride took about 3 hours or so and I was feeling unwell so I kind of slept my entire bus ride away.

The bus stopped us outside some tourist information centre where it is a distance away from the hanok village. Honestly, there was no guide to ask but I guess you can ask the tourist information centre. We were quite lost despite taking a pamphlet and a map so we just decided to walk around first. There was very little high rise buildings in the hanok area which I really appreciate. But after a while, you might find it boring because all you walk past are hanoks. Being there on a friday, there was not much people around so the whole area feels very deserted.

But one good point is that you can take a picture and somehow still be the only one in it. :)

The hanoks were charming, at first. After a while, they just look all the same. We were still excited at first, shooting from all angles hahahah.

We decided to travel to some famous sites in Jeonju. They were mostly or rather all cultural places. So if you are not into culture, this is a place you might want to skip. Shopping was kind of limited to cultural stuff and little ornaments. Clothings were also the kind of "I love Korea" shirts, obviously targetted at tourists.

It is already mid-late May by then. Cannot remember if the flowers are real or not. I don't remember that they are. I don't think the flowers still bloom so brightly by late spring. In fact some may already consider it summer.

When in Jeonju, we have to eat Jeonju bibimbap of course. Honestly the best bibimbap that I've eaten in my entire life. I seldom eat bibimbap, everything is too raw for me. But the only two times I ate bibimbap in Korea, I finish them all. <3 

And look at the amount of side dishes that came along with it. I didn't want to waste food but I was so stuffed. I really couldn't help but to stop eating.

We then went to this place called Gyeonggi Palace. I can't remember if we have to pay for it. Probably 1,000 or 2,000won at most. And it was the best decision I've made in Jeonju. There was an English tour (hahah refer to the tour guide's hands in my picture) although there was quite a bit of confusion about the tour and when it started etc. But the tour guide was really good and explained really well. Most fruitful 1 hour in Jeonju :)

The tour guide was introducing to us "the naked tree" because this tree has no bark at all. It is said that if you rub the tree, the leaves will move because it feels ticklish due to it having no bark. Quite interesting how it works. Maybe it's the wind, maybe it really is true.

We went up this pavilion that was reconstructed after some war. I think it is meant to store all the ancient books, which were apparently mostly all burnt during the war. Sorry I can't remember too clearly which war it was. We had to bend and kind of crawl up because the steps were really really high and steep. Coming down is also a torture. But really interesting place.

We stopped by to take a picture at the bamboo garden thereafter. :)

Ended the day with a J-cone ice-cream. I wouldn't say that Jeonju is a must-go but if you want to experience something outside of city life, you get about 6 hours here in Jeonju for free. The bus reaches here around 11am but leaves at 5pm. There is time for a meal and some walking around. The hanok village is not big and if you walk fast, you can cover the entire place in an hour. But still, half a day did bring an interesting experience afterall. :)

Think I had takeaway for Bonjuk as dinner. Bonjuk is a famous Korean porridge restaurant. Headed there one night at nearly 9pm and the ahjumma told me they are closed for the day. So when the bus reaches back at 8pm, I quickly rushed there to get my porridge. Definitely comforting to end it the cold night with a warm porridge. (:

2014 Korea trip: Miss Lee's Cafe, Ihwa Mural Village

Despite Myeongdong being my favourite place in Korea, Hyehwa has this special sentimental meaning to me. It is the place I studied, and the place I lived most like a local for the one month. Hyehwa is like the heartland malls in Singapore. It has everything you need, but to some, it may just not be as hip. I find that the area may not be that big to explore, and it may not be as tourist-friendly, but it has no lack of interesting activities and lovely cafes as well.

Anyway, starting my morning with the milk bread from Paris Baguette. I think I've mentioned this a dozen times but it may well possibly be the first time I actually posted a picture of how it looks like. Get this if you're in Korea :) Sadly not available in Singapore's Paris Baguette.

Lissya and I headed out for lunch after lazing around for a bit. I had always wanted to try the dosirak at Miss Lee's cafe so we headed there. Unfortunately, the sausage is likely to be pork (we didn't ask, that's based on my tongue). That's why I look like I have a lot of it - I took Lissya's share. The kimchi too, have traces of meat inside. If you're open to trying more food and willing to close an eye, then this might still be good. 

I chopped up the sausage and the egg, covered the lid, and shook it like how it's supposed to be shaken hahah. The final result... tada~~

I can't explain how something so simple can taste good. The few mouthfuls were heavenly. Subsequently the kimchi taste was slightly overpowering and I get a little sick of it but I think I still managed to finish most of it. (It's a huge lunch box btw).

The interior of Miss Lee's cafe. This cafe got popular after Yonghwa and Seohyun of WGM came here on one of their dates. I believe they went to the Insadong branch instead, not too sure. The papers you see hanging from the wall are all well wishes written by the customers. I couldn't remember if I wrote anything though hahahah.

So... we walked further down from Hyehwa subway station to find the starting point of Ihwa Mural Village. Frankly speaking, it's a little hard to find. We were googling for the route along the way and we were also turning into alleys and walking out again because that was not the right direction. I kind of prefer our way of handling things this trip. Not much prior research on directions. Everything was spontaneous. 

Some mural arts to welcome you into the village.

One of the photos I love so much at Ihwa Mural Village. I believe this is some spot for some k-drama but I don't know which one because I'm not a real k-drama fan and anyway I can count the numbers of k-dramas I have watched with my 10 fingers.

This "before I die..." thing caused quite a hype a while back. I searched and searched and found someone with the same wish as me: 죽기 전에 나는 결혼하고싶어요. Hahahaha

Unfortunately, halfway through my climb up (told you Korea is full of stairs and slopes), my most sturdy pair of heels gave way. I kind of tripped and my shoes gave way. Well, if it didn't, my ankle could possibly have suffered a sprain. I was so unhappy because this pair was snagged by Oktavia for me. I still remember going shopping with Oktavia one day in Myeongdong and she grabbed onto this extremely versatile pair while I was pondering which to get. I wear this to school almost everyday and I even have exchange students coming up to me asking where I bought the shoes from.

I was even contemplating to stuff it into my luggage and drag it back in hope that my mum can help to fix it. Thinking back, I should have tried to find a cobbler to fix it when I was in Singapore. I clearly remember walking past a cobbler on my way to school everyday from my previous Korea trip.

When you get all the way up, you will see this. Not much of a view, but yes fresh air, and a different perspective. Not the typical tourist attraction. You will find many grandpas and grandmas strolling and exercising instead.

More mural arts. Of course being a mural village, they have mural arts everywhere, every corner. What I post here is only a fraction of what is available. Also, there is this very popular "wings" mural art. Didn't managed to snap a picture with (or without) myself in it because the crowd at that particular mural art is so crazy everytime we walk past.

Hahahah and I found one that could well qualify to be in the trick eye museum. Kind of looks like I'm sitting on a bench yeah?

The wind was pretty strong that day and sunny hence we had good lighting for the pictures. Climbing got a little tiring and we started sweating after that but otherwise, it was a good weather to head there. Lucky us :)

Lovely dandelion picture and opps an over-edited/over-exposed picture. My fashion sense was pretty horrible this trip but definitely better than when I was studying the previous trip. (I was practically in shorts everyday then.) Mainly because I'm very afraid of the cold, I wore jeans/leggings every other day. And I'm definitely not a jeans kind of person so I had to ponder really hard what to match when I was packing my clothes.

And just in case you're wondering, I was still wearing my spoilt pair of heels. It broke shortly after we reach the top so I had to walk down with it no matter what. Interestingly, it survived until I went down to Myeongdong.

We headed to Myeongdong in search of a cafe. Because we were both feeling really warm and tired. Despite it being a windy day, but climbing and walking nonstop for 2-3 hours does make you get sweaty and sticky and tired yeah.

I also wanted to head to Everysing because I heard of this neoprint machine which could allow you to take photos with your SM idols. Lissya and I were standing too far away. We should have stood nearer to the camera so that it will look more realistic with our faces closer to the boys. And yes, I obviously chose Jonghyun and Onew which were my #1 and #2 bias in SHINee.

It was meant to be a day of planned shopping at Myeongdong so that's exactly what we did. However, we were too full from tea break (cafe break was at about 4.30pm) to have a full dinner. We wanted to get some light snacks along the way back at the nearby GS25 (which is like our 7-eleven) but on the way I spotted a small shop selling udon. Totally craving for it and Lissya got ddeokbokki (which is one of the only few Korean food I don't eat).

And tada~~~ my loots for the day. Hahah I don't think I went crazily mad right. Best buys had to be IOPE Bio-Essence Intensive Treatment. I've been using it since August 2014 and it's already May 2015 and I'm almost done with one bottle. No doubt it's pretty expensive (even for a working adult like me) at 60,000KRW per bottle (which translates to about $72 SGD) but I really felt like my skin cleared up a lot ever since I use it. 

A tip to anyone who wants to get it: I realised that you can get 2 bottles of it at 90,000KRW at duty free store (that's about $52SGD per bottle) which is much cheaper than in the Aritaum stores.

And yes, I did buy a pair of shoes as replacement. I did bring an extra pair of flats but I still want to go around wearing Korean heels. Tried to find a similar nude pair with clogs-looking heels but failed. I still have this white pair with me, still functioning well, but I still miss my previous pair. ):

2014 Korea trip - KTX to Busan: Haeundae beach and Gamcheon Culture Village

It's Busan again for the day. Since Lissya and I have both been in Seoul before, we tried to do some road trips outside of Seoul in order to explore more of Korea. Even though I've been to Busan before, but Busan has been a lovely place and I wouldn't mind another visit again. :)

In order to minimise inconvenience in bringing our barang-barang (a.k.a. bags) and shifting hostels, we decided to make this a road trip to Busan. We had to maximise our time there so we had to take the earlier train there and hopefully the later train back. We decided to take the 8am train there and will reach at 11.30am or the 6pm train back and will reach at about 9.30pm. Of course there are earlier trains to Busan and later trains back from Busan but we had to factor in whether the subway timing etc. It was only slightly more than a half day so we only decided in two places that I personally feel are characteristic of Busan - Haeundae beach and Gamcheon Culture Village.

We grabbed some breakfast from Seoul station. You can take KTX from a few stations in Seoul, offhand I could only think of Seoul or Yongsan station. Depending on where you are, you may want to decide accordingly. However, the train tickets may be more expensive if you set off from Seoul station than Yongsan station if you're heading to Busan because Seoul station is the first stop if I'm not wrong. Not too sure how much it differs by though.

We headed to Dunkin' Donuts but because I still feel sick of sweet things (overdose from yesterday's Innisfree cafe cakes, I really don't have that much of a sweet tooth hahah), I was surprised to see that they have a sausage burrito. Grabbed that with an americano (so korean but so not my cup of coffee) at probably only 3,500KRW. My brain was still not functioning well early in the morning, or otherwise, I'm still unfamiliar with the korean currency after a long time, I kept giving more than I should. I think I attempted to pass the cashier 30,000KRW and still looking for another 5,000KRW. But of course being the very nice people they are, they only took 10,000KRW for me and told me it's more than enough and proceeded to give me my change.

By the way, sausage burrito is so good so much so that I found another good breakfast alternative. It used to be Paris Baguette's milk bread for me or Isaac Toast. But now one more into the list. And one more upcoming from Holly's Coffee which I will introduce in the upcoming posts.

I'm honestly so excited to get up the KTX. Another biggest regret from my 2013 Korea trip is that I didn't have the budget to take a KTX. But this time round, I didn't want to scrimp and I don't think I can afford a 5.5 hours train ride to Busan and back since it was a day trip. And boy, it was one of the best decisions made! KTX was really really so comfortable, I'm so going by KTX only.

Some selfie in the morning. Well behaved hair in Korea hahahah. But apparently still too ill-behaved for Koreans.

It was a bad day to visit Busan as it was drizzling the whole day. But it didn't dampen our mood thankfully. The attractions were empty and perfect for camwhoring too because of the slight drizzle/rain. However, it was way too coldddddddd. I didn't expect that it was drizzling so I thought that a long sleeve shirt will do the trick and I didn't bring my cardigan as I only went over with a small bag. Bad choice, the temperature was probably 15 degree celsius or so and I was freezing away. 

Trying to do some jumpshots to warm myself up hahah. Apparently didn't manage to succeed.

Honestly when did you have such a chance to actually camwhore so much without anyone in the background blocking you? Hahah or waiting for people to walk away. Haeundae beach did look a bit empty and sad though but fortunately we met a nice man. He walked over to us and spoke to us in English to ask if we need help to take a photo together. His English was understandable and I'm glad to keep bumping into nice Koreans who make an effort to try to offer help even without us asking.

We walked around and decided to settle at a small restaurant along the way back to the subway station. Piping hot kimchi soup is what we exactly need on a cold day like this.

We proceeded to head to Gamcheon Culture Village. For directions on how to get there, please refer to my previous post about Busan.

This time round, I got a slightly better spot to capture the houses, without those irritating wires in the way. Gamcheon Culture Village was very peaceful that day because of the slight drizzle. There was no need for us to squeeze with the crowd nor wait for our turn to take photos at more beautiful spots.

I think this place is really lovely and I hope nothing happens to this place and the government continues to conserve it the way it is. I'm quite sad that this place is getting overcrowded but I do hope that the Koreans living there, if their lives are ever affected, it's in a positive way like more income for them etc.

I decided to pop by the same cosy cafe I went to the other time and am glad that it is still there. Lissya and I sat there at a long one hour before deciding that we should leave to head back to Seoul. Despite a repeat trip to Busan, this trip was exceptionally more peaceful and calming thanks to the weather. I don't like crowds and over-commercialisation and that day, I saw a side of Busan that I may not have seen if I come on a day with good weather.

Oh by the way, my very awesome KTX train :)

Because we will reach back Seoul rather late (9.30pm), we decided to have our dinner on KTX. There are people pushing carts and selling bentos and drinks and snacks. You can always get them on the train. I got them off the train but no worries, no pressure and no such things as "no outside food allowed". The staff are also very considerate and only went by softly and you don't need to feel pressured at all not buying anything.

Btw, I had one of the best kimbaps I ever had. Or was I starving so badly already. I had a good nap after dinner though. :) I love long train/bus rides, so calming.