Charming Jeonju 전주

Jeonju is a three hour bus ride from South Seoul (it could be less depending on the traffic). For this particular trip the bus ride was less than three hours. When we arrived at the Jeonju bus station, we insisted we had not reached our destination and decided to head on back to sleep. The bus driver literally chased us off the bus. That was by far the funniest welcome i have ever had to a new town. Ten minutes later we were lost and could not find the tourist information desk. Getting directions with our limited "hangul" was harder than we thought. However, we did find the information desk thanks to a helpful korean who ushered us to keep walking down the street. It was quite a walk.



Once we armed ourselves with maps, brochures and phamphlets from the Tourist information booth we were good to go. Relieved, happy and confident we found ourselves the next bus station, got into the bus and rode off to our homestay; well not quite, we missed our stop and had to find our way back. After searching for a bit and getting directions from friendly Jeonju shop owners; we decided the taxi is the safest mode of transport, you just get in and point to the location on the map you wish to go and you are destination bound. Now why didn't we think of that earlier? I admit we got abit carried away with the exploring.


Jeonju is a beautiful town with very friendly locals. It depicts a great deal of history through its well kept historical landmarks; the hanok village and of course its best known for its 'bimbimpap'. Well if you do not know what bibimpap is; this is actually white rice served in a bowl topped with vegetables, chilli pepper paste and laced with a half fried egg; if you fly with Korean Air; make sure to look out for this because they offer this in their korean meal option. Jeonju bibimpap is the best i have ever tasted. 비빔밥 이 맛있어요. Jeonju bibimpap will make you fall in love with korean food. Below is the bibimpap we had for lunch at one of the local restaurants in Jeonju.





Jeonju bibimpap








Side dishes


If you're a foreigner who is good with chopsticks; you will get compliments from the locals on how well and proper you handle chopsticks, so if you want to earn some extra points, learn how to use the chopsticks.

Later that day we settled into our homestay which is located in the Jeonju Hanok village. There are many homestays at the hanok village for those who wish to experience traditional korean living.






The historical sites are also one of the best well kept features of Jeonju town. Jeongu Gaeksa and Jeonu Gyeonggi-jeon boasts some of the best historical monuments. Jeonju was once hailed as the spiritual capital of the Joseon dynasty because the Yi royal family was said to have originated from Jeonju.







If you fancy having coffee or tea in a neatly tucked away restaurant within a hanok village, Jeonju is the place to be. There are so many coffee and tea shops around, if your feet gets tired from the sight seing you can drop into one of these shops to take a much needed break before you continue on your journey. That is exactly what we did and we enjoyed every stop! We love our coffee!



Whether you are travelling alone or travelling with your friends(it is more fun) like we did, Jeonju is a great place to learn and experience real korean living, i know we did; even getting lost taught us some important real life lessons.