Overnight Trip to Jeonju

Now that I have settled into life in Korea, it's time to do some travel outside of Seoul. First stop? Jeonju!

The idea of going Jeonju did not even come to mind until my friends said to come with them. In fact, for me, the whole trip was a bit last minute but regardless, it was bound to be an experience. Jeonju (전주) is the capital of North Jeolla Province, and it located to the south of Seoul by a 2 hour train ride on the KTX. For us to get the most of our trip, we decided to leave early in the morning to catch a 7:30am train that would get us into Jeonju by 9am. There were two methods that we used to book the tickets: the the actual KoRail website and Trip.com. The Korail website is the official website used to book KTX tickets and to check the schedule. Trip.com is one of the many travel apps that can give you discounts for your train tickets. Using either option is okay since you are able to easily book tickets regardless. We stayed at a Hanok hostel, which was within the edges of Jeonju's historical Hanok Cultural Village. The guesthouse owner, Park, was an amazing host who was very kind and accommodating. In fact, there were many Hanok hostels, but the one that we stayed at was a bit more removed and not in the middle of the main village. We found our hostel through Hostelworld and it was easy to book through it!

The train ride was fairly calming and smooth, which is all thanks to the KTX train which is a high speed train system. It's the same sort of train that I will take to go to Busan soon! (Yes, a Busan post will be coming soon). The great thing about South Korea when it came to their transportation is that we can use our T-money cards throughout the country. So, once we made it into Jeonju, we took the bus to our hostel and we were greeted with such a beautiful city. Even though we had gotten earlier than our actual check-in time, we were able to drop our bags so that we could go off and explore and most importantly find somewhere to have breakfast. 

One thing I realized that I miss about the US is my breakfast food. I am a big American breakfast food person and not being able to have a big breakfast has been an adjustment. But when we were on the search for food, we came across this gorgeous cafe called 1938 Mansion. Not only was the interior aesthetic, the food was also amazing and it had some of my favorite breakfast foods on the menu: scrambled eggs and french toast. While a bit pricey, for girls who had been up since 5 am and hadn't eaten, this was a godsend. The fact that the food looked and tasted good was the cherry on top. With our beautiful breakfast in tow, we took photos, admired tiny dogs in purses, and gossiped our little hearts away. That breakfast was just a nice little way to decompress from the hectic travel morning before we went galavanting the village. It was so nice that we stayed there for nearly 2 hours and once we realized, we made our move to go explore. Since my friend Sarah was only able to see the village on Sunday, we decided to let her be the guide for that day. Ada and I, who either had no class or online class, would be coming back late evening on Monday so we had more time to explore. We decided to just wonder down the street that had old cobblestone and just see what we would be greeted with. And what a view we saw. The entrance to the Hanok Village was grand and in a way, I felt like we were being transported back in time. If back in time meant pink buggies and photo booths scattered down the roads. Regardless, the village was beautiful and getting to see it was even nicer. 

One thing about Hanok villages will be the many hanbok (한복) shops that you will see at every corner. The Korean traditional dress is gorgeous as it is complicated. But it is a staple to do when entering temples or cultural villages because it's a fun experience and a great opportunity to interact with Korean culture. However, we knew that we could get great photos in Hanbok around sunset, so we decided to wait until the afternoon to do that. In the meanwhile, we explored the village in its entirety. We stopped at PNB Bakery, which accordingly is the originator of the Choco Pie. Luckily there was no line when we got there and were able to snag two choco pies. They were quite yummy and worth the hype. We continued on, stopping to take pictures at this heavenly pavilion that sat on top of the river. There were many sights to see there so we definitely recommend a great pair of walking shoes, especially ones that make it easy to go up steep hills. We were following the cherry blossom trees that were dotted along the mountain. This year, the blossoms were blooming late and while parts of Seoul were seeing them bloom, Jeonju was experiencing a late bloom. Regardless, we found the trees that had bloom and they allowed us to get some beautiful photos. See one such beautiful cherry blossom photo of the three of us (Left:Ada, Kristie, Sarah).

Walking through the winding alleyways of the village and up the mountain to see the different temples and mural village was magical as it was confusing. There were just so much to see but at the same time it was all doable in a day. It was such an enjoyable time and getting the chance to experience Jeonju was definitely worth it. We had lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant with jeonju style bibimbap(비빔밥) and kimchi pork stew (김치돼지찌개). There were so many restaurants and cafes with different themes that there was something for everyone.  Soon enough, it was time to rent out hanboks for the time we wanted to take photos and were able to pick out the colours we wanted. The store workers helped us with putting them on and doing our hair. Since my hair, which is currently in box braids, was already in a braid, the worker decorated my hair with many pretty hair clips that just helped me shine in the hanbok. In fact, we all looked so pretty in our hanboks that we got compliments from some passersby (which definitely made my day!). Here's a photo of me that we took with the cherry blossoms

Ada and I stayed until late on Monday and since we spent so much time exploring the day prior, we were able to just relax and enjoy ourselves for the day. There was a specific cafe called Masirange that Ada wanted to explore so we went searching for it and we were happily surprised with what we saw. This cafe was known to be a place for people to take photos while they were in hanbok because it had such a magical archway. We went to the cafe to do some work (it was the place I started writing this blog!) and we also admired all the couples and families that came. There was this one family, who were all dressed in red hanboks, that we could not stop admiring because the absolute love your could see on the parents face for their young daughter. It also helped that the little girl was absolutely precious wearing the hanbok. Regardless, being in that cafe was a nice way to just decompress after the long day and just enjoy the place. Soon enough, it was time for our to catch our train back to Seoul. Getting to go to Jeonju is one that I am so grateful for and a place I encourage anyone in Korea for longterm should check out. South Korea is more than just Seoul and I can't wait to explore more of this beautiful country!