The Stophers Come to Visit: Gwangju and Jeonju

Gwangju
Gwangju is one of my favourite cities in Korea; it's a young buzzy city with tons of shops, art galleries and bars. We went intending to watch a local baseball game, the Kia Tigers vs. Samsung Lions but Korea had other ideas. With it being a local rivalry and a very small stadium, all the seats were sold out before we even got there. Instead we spent the afternoon wandering the busy streets, eating, drinking and doing typical tacky Korean things like norebang (karaoke) and sticker booth family photo shoots. I must say, I've never seen anyone enjoy norebang quite as much as Ric's dad!

Brotherly love (with soju)

Jeonju
After failing in Gwangju we thought we'd try our luck in Jeonju, just an hours bus ride away. We went to Jeonju's traditional hanok village, where the brand new buildings attempt to offer tourists a taste of traditional life in pre-skyscraper Korea. As with most "old" things in Korea, the area had be renovated and polished up to Disney World standards, but it was still a very pretty neighbourhood with artesian stalls and quaint cafés lining the immaculate streets.

Jeonju hanok village

One of "attractions" was this ajoshi (old man), who for the small fee of 10,000 won, would write a proverb on a sheet of paper for you. He was quite the showman, ceremoniously putting on his special writing hat (a thinking cap perhaps?), and taking out his calligraphy brushes and ink. After taking his  photo it was apparent that we'd have to buy one of his 'pieces', or else be very rude to an old man, which in Korea is a cardinal sin. 

We chose the proverb based on how funny the translation was.We also decided it was perfectly fitting for Korean work ethic, and Korean hagwons:

"Learning takes endless time like deep sea, so keep learning without break". 

Ajoshi  writing our proverb

Once the master calligrapher had finished I asked to see the translation again (I wanted to take a photo of it), but the old gent misinterpreted my gesture and start painting another one for us! Awkward. So now Ric and I and Jeremy have matching Korean proverbs, which Alan kindly bought for us.

The village has a wine making museum, kimchi museum, pottery museum, oriental fan museum, textiles museum... you name it, although they're more like display rooms than museums, and you might struggle to find anything in English. 

There's also a small hill you can walk up that offers some nice views over the neighbourhood. It was a lovely place to spend an afternoon, especially with the weather being nice. 

View over the Jeonju hanok village.