Misadventures in The Morning Calm: Jeonju 1

Day 3:

Started the day with some caffeine at Deep Coffee.

Le handsome barista oppa kekeke...

 We ordered hot chocolate and cappuccino.

T'was a quaint little cafe with rather friendly staff. Really liked the retro artsy sort of deco. And the hot coffee radiating warmth in your hands was so comforting on a cold morning... (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

Then, off to Dongseoul Bus Station to catch a bus to Jeonju.

There was just enough time for some lunch. 김밥! The Korean version of maki. Erm... Sushi roll sounds more familiar eh? The only difference is that raw meat is not often used unlike in their Japanese counterparts and sesame oil is usually brushed on the seaweed to make them look glossy.

 

 All aboard!

The trip takes around 3 hours and there is a 15 minute stop at a rest area. There is a lot of street food being sold there and there have been recommendations. However 15 minutes isn't really enough time to actually taste what you're eating (because you're trying to catch a bus and shoving everything down your gullet) and of course, the recommendations are all excessively romanticized...  (⌣̀_⌣́) We got some 떡벅이 and fish cakes? Fish pieces? What do you call them...

From the Jeonju Bus Terminal we hailed a taxi to the Jeonju Hanok Village (Traditional House Village)

There, we had dinner.

The grilled patty was quite good, reminds me of mum's patties o(╥ω╥)o Well priced and service was really good. The lady manager took good care of us. We were also given chestnuts and biscuits after the meal. (♥ω♥)

We also went to PNB to get some of their famous chocolate pies.

Walked around for a bit...

After that, we spent a hell load of time searching for the 찜질방 (public bath) we were going to sleep in. Walked into a convenience store, misunderstood directions, walked a whole round and back. Finally we took out a map, went into another convenience store and got the shopkeeper to draw the route out. Eventually, we found it.

So... About the public bath...

I vaguely recall I have heard from somewhere that you have to strip bare in there. And that's exactly what it is. Unfortunately, men and women have separate baths, so... Dammit.

Everyone was walking around the bathing area naked. Yet when the time came I still could not bring myself to do it...  You never know where sasaeng fans lurk, they're everywhere... Everywhere... Everywhere... *echoes* (っ*´□`)っ

Nah... Did it anyway. Had to put on the clothes provided. We finally decided we would call it a night and get up early tomorrow to play in the Jacuzzi and sauna.

That night, I was scarred for life... o(╥д╥)o

And of course, it's not news that you can spend the night in public baths for a fraction of cost of a night in a hostel. There is a common room where everyone sleeps in, and no one is naked. So that's OK. It's really warm in there, a good change from the subzero temperature outside. We ordered some 식혜 (sweet rice water) and it was awesome o(≧ω≦)o

Not sure if thirsty or it really was nice... (¬‿¬)

Goodnight!

P.S. Clothes smell of grilled meat. Must wash soon... (><) And sorry for the lack of photos. I uh... There are naked people around man...

Misadventures in The Morning Calm: Day 2

Day 2:

Yayyy!!! Never felt better after a good night's sleep! ヽ(≧∇≦)ﾉ

The guesthouse we were staying at was called Kimchee Guesthouse Sinchon and it was having promotions for dorm rooms for 10k won a weekday night. Quite a bargain considering it has pretty good facilities like a common room, kitchen, floor heating, adorable guy who is staff there... Bathrooms and dorms are pretty clean too. They also allow you to store your luggage there for free if you're going away for some time. (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

And, it's still winter, temperatures are almost always below 0 Celcius. So hold on to your butts or they might freeze and fall off. ( ´Д`)

Took a train to Jukjeon's Cafe Street, quaint little street with lots of nice cafes and cute shops.

Brunch at Plate 607, a cafe with adorable rustic interiors.

We ordered seafood cream pasta set, which came with an Americano, a bowl of potato cream soup,
assorted bread and some pickles. Yep, the Koreans love their pickles...

I'm not going to comment on how the pasta was cooked al dente (I didn't notice...) or how smooth the cream was because I'm no food critic who picks at a prawn and says "One more minute in the pan and it would have been cooked to perfection..." But overall the food was quite nice, besides the bread being a little cold and the soup a little grainy. I'd say 8 out of 10? Extra points for the ambiance kekeke... (U‿U)Not only the interiors were pretty, the outside was really rustic as well! (♥‿♥)

Took the train back to Gangnam and spent some time window shopping in the underground complexes. The subway itself was an interesting place. Stand at the back of the train and look outside. Feels like travelling in a time machine.

At a cosmetics shop, a weird ajussi suddenly stuck his face in front of ours and asked what we were after. We thought he was the manager but then, he walked out of the shop and disappeared into the crowd...(((╹д╹;)))

Dinner at 참미맛. But to get there, we had to climb all the way up this hell of a road...

Dat slope... It's like trying to get to Mordor... (✖╭╮✖)

The "VIP Area", apparently many idols are patrons of this restaurant, including TVXQ, So Ji Sub, Jang Geun Suk, all their signatures adorn the walls...

The menu:

We ordered a small pot, ain't that small...

This is 감자탕, literally translates to potato soup. More like a stew of kimchi, beef, shiso, pickled vegies, enoki and of course, potatoes. You put the pot on the stove and let the meaty goodness bubble away. You can order either noodles or rice with it, and it is enough for 3.

Our masterpieces kekeke...Spicy meaty stew on a cold winter's night. Warms the body and warms the soul. (u.u)

This place caters to Chinese palates. Even the kimchi was more savoury than tangy. So if you have picky eaters who prefer Chinese sort of food this is the place to go to.

Overall 8/10? I'm in a pretty good mood today kekeke... The meat was nice and falling-off-the-bone tender. Should have waited a bit longer until the potatoes were softer.

 The table beside... 6 bottles of soju... (O.O)

And sure enough... The two ajussis who were sitting there suddenly came up to us and asked to take photo with us... Go home guys, you're drunk.

Meeting twice with weird ajussis in a day... Erm... Yea... No more please...

Met a weird ajumma (EL) instead... (っ*´□`)っ *EL slaps me*

Enough with the weird people, go sleep. BAIII...