I love Seoul, but I wanted to explore other areas that Korea had to offer. Consequently, I found myself waking up at the early hours of 5am to catch the bus to Jeonju, the capital of the North Jeolla Province. Why a day trip to Jeonju? I had heard from many international friends that Jeonju was a great place to visit, but only for a day. They stayed at Jeonju for a few nights but had ran out of things to do by the second day. We heard that we could spend an entire day at the Jeonju Hanok Village, which is the primary attraction of Jeonju. My friends and I met at the bus station and took a 3-hour bus ride from Seoul to Jeonju. We got to Jeonju around 9am and immediately took a taxi to the Hanok Village to eat our first meal: Jeonju bibimbap. Perhaps the most famous bibimbap in Korea, Jeonju bibimbap is made of 30 ingredients which work together in perfect harmony (read more about Jeonju bibimbap here!) This was definitely the best bibimbap I've ever had in my life. After our delicious first meal, we walked around the beautiful Jeonju Hanok Village for a few hours. The village was bustling with children and couples wearing beautiful matching hanboks that they had rented from nearby shops. For dessert, we visited two places. First, we went to a cafe selling chapssaltteok, or Korean rice cakes made of glutinous rice, which are much chewier in texture than regular rice cakes. We all ordered rice cakes with a strawberry and red bean filling. The strawberries were incredibly fresh and sweet and balanced well with the thin, chewy rice cake wrapper. Next, we visited a cafe selling bingsu, or Korean shaved ice. We opted for an orange and grapefruit bingsu, which was perfectly refreshing after all the walking we did around the village. After our two-part dessert run, we tried out the various attractions in the village. We came across a section in the village dedicated to the zodiac, the tiger; the tiger statues were adorable (and huggable) and the perfect photo op. Our favorite village attraction was the traditional Korean game event, which gave us the opportunity to try outdoor games like jegichagi, in which you have to keep a paper jegi aloft in the air with your feet, and ddakji, the game made famous by Squid Game! We were definitely the worst players amongst everyone at the event, but we focused on having fun instead of getting embarrassed. After walking around the village, my friends wanted to visit some famous shooting locations for the popular Korean drama, Twenty-five Twenty-one. In particular, they wanted to see the Hanbyukgul Tunnel and the Crossing Guesthouse. They were a bit disappointed to see that the shooting locations looked quite different from the drama, especially the guesthouse, which no longer had its vibrant red color and green vines on the stone walls. However, we all agreed the experience of seeing such iconic landmarks in real life was ultimately pretty cool in the end! To end our Jeonju excursion, we went to the famous Nambu market, which had a popular sundae gukbap (blood sausage soup with rice) shop. The broth was deep and flavorful and became the perfect way to relieve the tiredness we felt from walking the entire day. After our dinner, we finally went back to the bus station to head back home to Seoul. Needless to say, all of us knocked out on the 3-hour bus ride.
Overall, Jeonju is one of my favorite areas of Korea. With so much tradition being alive in Jeonju, the area had a unique charm that I couldn't see in much of Seoul. I definitely recommend coming to Jeonju for one or two days!
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