Girls Weekend in Jeonju

After my Busan "break-up", I needed a getaway. Christie suggested that we go to Jeonju. She had found a magazine for foreigners in Itaewon with an article about Jeonju. Apparently it is the "San Diego of Korea." With the fall weather coming in, we wanted to see the coast, some cultural sites, and more importantly, get out of the city for the weekend. In the article, the pictures of Jeonju showed it on a coast with massive ancient structures. Also, the draw was that it was known for being the creating the bibimbap dish. The dish can either be hot or cold. It is a bowl filled with various vegetables, rice, sauces, and topped with an egg. When served, the eater will mix the bowl creating a Korean style rice pilaf.

Bibimbap: Traditonal Korean Dish

We took a bus from the Express Bus Terminal on a Saturday morning at 10am. We had missed our 9am bus because the night before was supposed to be a easy night in Hongdae with wine and hookah, which turned out to be a dance party drunk fest until 5am. Christie had a friend, Keyonna, from the states visiting for 3 weeks and this was her last weekend in Korea. In retrospect, you can't really hold back if it is your last weekend anywhere. Jessie met us and we nursed our hangovers with disgusting Lotteria--Korean version on McDonalds or fast food. It is the worst fast food I have ever eaten, but Korean food is not the alternative when you need to nurse a hangover. Our bus ride was 3 hours from Seoul. When we got to the bus terminal we hopped in a taxi and asked for Bookdae. I had met a guy in Busan in my last visit who had lived in Jeonju. He told me that Bookdae was the university area where all the "life" is. We told the driver to take us to Bookdae, which was down the street. At first he took us to the Lotte Department store. Our Konglish isn't very good yet. We finally got the point across that we wanted to go to the university area, Thank goodness Jeonju is so small that a taxi anywhere is 2,000 won. The first thing we did was look for a place to sleep. For foreigners, the most popular choice is to stay at the love motels. These are motels meant solely for the hookup. Cars driving plates will be covered so that no one knows who is there. In the rooms are yos--korean floor mat for sleeping, and everything you'd need for grooming (combs, shaving cream, shampoo, soap, deodorant plus plenty of tissues.) These love motels are shady motels for Koreans to do their "business" equipped with everything you'd need to keep appearances afterwards. For foreigners, these love motels are ideal because they are typically 30,000 won per night and have everything you'd need if you didn't pack correctly. Plus, you can stuff as many people as you want inside. We had 4.

After an hour of walking, we found a love motel tucked away in an alley. It was 40,000 won for the night and we took it. After settling in, we ventured in Jeonju. We were hungry after the 3 hour bus ride, so we decided to get that famous bibimbap. We went to a a seemingly descent perhaps even higher class restaurant and ordered what looked like bibimbap in the picture. It turned out to be roughly hot dog soup. We sat on the floor as usual and on our table was a huge pot filled with pork, hot dogs, ramen, rice cake, and spices. Never again.

Filled to the brim with hot dog soup, we walked it off at the famous battle fortress, which was less than impressive. It was literally a brick wall with a roof. Walking towards sounds of life, we passed by the famous catholic church. It was actually an impressive church and looked much like a smaller version of the Notre Dame in Paris inside. They started having service and we walked out. We followed the sounds of life and walked to the Hanuk Village. A section of Jeonju has a traditional village with cultural stores and ancient artifacts such as ancient riding carriages, photos, and emperors thrones. When we walked in, we were greeted by a massive motorcade of Harley Davidson motorbiking Koreans. They too were tourists and visiting the Hanuk Folk Village. Intrigued by us and our western looks, they insisted on taking pictures. We met the head of the pack, Tony. Despite the rough gruff motorbike look he sported, he was actually a doctor and professor at Korea University in Seoul. Unwilling to give him my phone number, I lied and said I left my phone. I did take his number and their homepage on Naver--the Korean google. These guys were something out of a bad movie. They were wearing jean cutoff jackets with rebel flags on the bag, which I wonder if they know anything about American history. They all did drive Harleys. They offered us a ride. We accepted, but ended up just talking and waving goodbye to them. Only in Jeonju..

Hanuk Folk Village

New Friends: Korean Harley Davidson Hell's Angels

Late in the evening and bored with the village, we left and walked around Jeonju's market. It was not a market, but a rotund of shops where you could haggle for items such as visors--Koreans love their visors. Christie was freezing and forgot to bring a coat to Korea. Damn those airlines and their two 50lb bag limit. We found our first thrift store. She managed to find a sweater and I was even more lucky! I found my Halloween costume! Korea doesn't celebrate Halloween, but just because I am in Korea doesn't mean I won't celebrate. I bought a bright "Lisa Frank" style dress that Agima's (Korean old lady) would wear. Next door, I bought a matching visor, that could double as a welding mask. I finally have my very own visor! The market was terrible, but I managed to get a costume. Yay!

Christie and Me: New Visors & Possible Christmas Card

Exhausted, we decided that a jimjilbong visit was in order. A jimjilbong is a Korean bath house that costs less than 7,000 won. Many people, or at least drunk people, tend to sleep there because they are open 24 hours and provide yos. They have multiple rooms with various saunas, baths, and massages. We took a cab out of Jeonju to their famous jimjilbong according to Lonely Planet. Turns out, this specific jimjilbong was being renovated. Boo. 30 min 30,000 won cab for nothing. Defeated, we retreated to our love motel, ordered fried chicken and pizza thanks to the agima at the front desk. We ate to our stomach's content. To fill our heart's content, Coyote Ugly was on TV! After we all fell asleep to Korean anime porn. Yes, there are soft core porn cartoons after midnight on cable. Gross.

Girls Weekend Warriors: Keyyona, Christie, Me, and Jessie

The next day, we woke up around 1pm. Living in Korean leaves very little room for one of life's basic necessities--sleep. Guided by the Lonely Planet, we went to a restaurant famous for its bibimbap. Way too overpriced, we ate mediocre bibimbap for 10,000. Jessie couldn't eat because she was feeling sick. She wasn't used to eating fried chicken and pizza like Christie and I were. After lunch, we went back to the Hanuk fold village thinking we were going to get traditional acupuncture treatment. The place turned out to be an information center on traditional medicine. At least, Christie made traditional soap. Disappointed, we decided to make our own soju--popular Korean drink. We went to the building where this was done, but apparently they weren't doing it that day because it was a holiday. We did buy some tasty cinnamon soju that was served to us at the bibimbap restaurant. It tastes like cinnamon cider wassail. Delish! Done with Jeonju, we exchanged our 8pm bus tickets for an earlier bus at 4pm. We took the 3 hour bus trip back to Seoul exhausted and uncomfortable on the non-airconditioned bus.

Christie, Me, and Keyyona: Sippin' Cinnamon Soju

At no point did we see the coast, the massive ancient structures, or have any of the famous tasty bibimbap. Nevertheless, the girls weekend away in Jeonju was great because I got to have girl time, gossip, drink, sleep for hours, and I found a Halloween costume in a country who doesn't celebrate Halloween!