Jeonju Field Trip with K-food Supporters

         So recently I have been picked as one of the supporters for K-food (sounds interesting right :D) I’m in Global Team which consist of 15 international members from Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan… Basically our missions are to promote Korean Foodthrough our SNS, and we were given the opportunity to eat Jeonju food during our first field trip ever.

         As I’ve already mention in my old post for my Jeonju Trip, Jeonju is the heaven for food. People just travel Sere for one day just to enjoy eating. So this is my second time visit this lovely city but it was just different from the first time as I got to experience it in different way, thanks to Kfood Supporter.

I would like to list out things that one should try when come to Jeonju, to full filly experience the traditional Korean culture in one of the oldest cities of the country.

1.Stay at a Hanok House.

These are just another kind of guest houses but you got to live in a traditional house. How cool is that? Experience one night sleeping on the floor with soft blankets like Koreans do. The houses are really clean and equipped with everything so dont you worry. And it would be better to find one that also provide various culture experience such as making kimchi, making hanji (which will be listed down there)

One recommedation: we stayed at “김명옥숙박”

2. Experience the Culture

a. Making Kimchi:

When I travelled with my parents in Korea last summer, we learnt how to season the vegetables but we didn’t know how the gochu jjang was made. This time we were shown how Koreans used to make the sauce, with the huge stone bowls, they added all the ingredients (garlic, chilli,onions…) Then they used a stone to grind them all together, the smell was so strong but also so good. It was such a hard work.

Then you get to season the whole cabbage. Spread the sauce thoroughly through every single leaves, dont miss any spot. We got to bring home a big box of the kimchi that we made ourselves.

b. Making Korean traditional Snack- Yugwa (유과)

You maybe more familiar with this snack with the shape as short roll, with crunchy sprinkles dipping in a bowl of honey in any Korean traditional cafe.

So the mixture of grain flour was deep-fried, then we spread the mixture of sesame oil and honey all over the rectangle piece and finally roll it over the crunchy sprinkles.

Final Products~~~~

b. Making Hanji:

The Korean traditional paper is called Hanji. We had some arts and crafts time with making our own keychain. The colorful papers were rolled into thin, long stick and using your artistic mind, you can just design the key chain. This is a great souvenier and presents for your friends and families.

2. Rent a Hanbok:

This was like my favorite part. I was in awe when I saw girls wearing pretty hanbok and walk around the village last time and this time I got to be one of them. There are MANY colors of the over coat and the bottom dress for you to mix. They also do your hair for you. Trust me, with the beauty of Jeonju, you will take a zillion of beautiful pictures. (the price are around 7000 won for 1 hours and a half)

3. Eating at it finest:

Having all the Korean food in one try:

We were treated to a feast, basically. Bibimbap, ddokgalbi with all the dishes are must try thing.

For a light morning breakfast, bean sprout soup with eggs (and an extra one) is not a bad idea. Here you can also try the chilli mandu.

And dont forget to try the Bibimbap Bingsu. The awesome combination of Bingsu- Korean most famous summer dessert and Bibimbap- Jeonju most famous dish.

Jeonju has always been my favorite city. For me this is the best place for anyone who are interested in experience the traditional culture of Korea and just to slow down your life for one day. Jeonju, even though it seems small but there are many hidden things you can find there, it can surprise you each time you visit. (at least it was like that for me)

JeonJu (전주) Trip- Day 2

I’m back to share the second day of my trip to Jeonju (see what I did on the first day here)

In my previous post, I said that after we had dinner with Ddokgalbi we went to a Korean Sauna to rest for the night. That was the first time ever me and my friend Monica went to Jjimjilbang in Korea.

6. Jjimjilbang:

Usually people only go to Jeonju for one day, come early in the morning and leave Jeonju right after dinner. Those who decide to spend their night in the city mostly stay in guesthouses right in the Hanok Village. There are many guest houses in Jeonju that provide travellers an experience of living inside Korean traditional houses. The rooms are fully equipped with TV, air con, wifi, heater… Depend on different guest houses, there are rooms that can hold from 2 people to even a whole house for a group over 20 people. Regularly, price for a room for 2 starts from 60000 won per night. You can visit the website of Jeonju Travel for a list of guest houses. There are also motels and hotels too.

Me and my friend decided to go to a Korean Sauna as we both had never been to one even though we’ve lived in Korea for over a year and also it was the cheapest options haha.

We went to a place called SpaLaqua.

Jeonju (전주) Trip- Day 1

This was my first trip outside Seoul and I chose Jeonju city as the destination. Jeonju used to be the capital of Hubaekjae (Later Baekjae- one of the later Three Kingdom) It is famous for its historical attractions as well as the Jeonju bibimbap. We went for 2 days 1 night, and this were what we did on the first day:

1. Transportation:

To get to Jeonju, you have many options:

+ KTX train: 2hrs travel, most expensive, very comfortable

+ Express bus: 2hrs45 mins, resonable price, 10 mins interval

+ Free shuttle bus: offered only on Fri, Sat, Sun.You can reserve online here. But the seats are fully booked really quick.

We took the express bus from Seoul Express Bus Terminal (서울 고속버스 터미널) The ticket costs 18700 won each.

The seats were really comfortable and there was a 15-min stop at a rest stop so you can go to the rest room and buy something to eat.

When arriving at Jeonju Express Bus Terminal (전주고속버스 터미널) we took a local bus ( 1200 won for cash, 1100 for t-money card) to get to Jeonju Hanok Village (전주) where most of the activities would take place. It will take about 7 mins to go by taxi.There’s an information box outside the terminal where you can ask for direction and get yourself a copy of the city map.