South Korea: Day 10 - Busan to Jeonju

We were up early today (8:30am!!) to pack up and get ourselves to Busan KTX station in preparation for our two-step train journey from Busan to Jeonju. Arriving with plenty of time for breakfast and caffeine, we planted ourselves in "BnC Donuts" for very healthy breakfast of donuts and coffee. 

Breakfast of champions.

Finally on the train, we whiled-away the 3 hour journey as people do, changing at Osong station at the 2 hour mark. The change was very straightforward for us old hands at the KTX experience.

On arrival at Jeonju, we were just planning to grab a bus to the hanok village when a very friendly lady offered to give us a lift in her car. She basically wouldn't take no for an answer and it was certainly better than a bus and cheaper then a taxi! And so we all climbed into her car for the 20 minute ride. With profuse thanks, we alighted and walked to our accomodation for the next 2 nights - Gamchae Hanok Stay. I gotta say it looked much bigger in the photos, and the futons looked mightily thin! We couldn't complain about the neighbourhood though - nestled deep within the rest of the hanok houses.

Hanok stay - "Gamchae" small and basic!

With all our shit deposited in our room, we headed straight out to grab a late lunch. The first place I wanted to eat in Jeonju was the famous Hankook-jib, the origin of the famous Jeonju style bibimbap.

Hankook-jib - the first place to serve Jeonju-style bibimbap.

Coming at an odd hour, we had the place basically to ourselves. The bibimbap was delicious, as was the mandatory Terra (beer). We weren't that hot on the side dishes this time around however - no-one would touch the whole baby crabs in chilli sauce.

After our late lunch we wandered around town. Being a weekend (saturday) the place was thick with people wearing hanbok (traditional clothes) and buying or consuming things on sticks. Despite the crowds and almost theme-park atmosphere, the hanok buildings were beautiful and we decided after a little while to try one of the traditional tea houses. Based on recommendations, we chose "Godong Tea House" and it certainly lived up to expectations. The tea house was quiet and serene given the hoards traipsing up and down the street just a few metres outside. And the tea we chose - "Golden tea" was delicious. The staff showed us exactly how to brew and pour the tea, and we whiled away the remainder of the afternoon sipping the addictive yellow beverage from our tiny tea cups.

"Golden Tea" at Godong Tea House.

After our relaxing afternoon of tea drinking we decided to head out directly to Nambu Night Market for some small bites of dinner (lest we sit down in our room and never leave). Being Saturday, this was the first and last opportunity to see the night market so we couldn't miss it.

The market was crowded, with people filing up and down the narrow lanes with food vendors up the middle. People were patiently lined up everywhere to buy what they wanted. We grabbed some fresh pork belly gimbap that was really good as well as some thin steak in egg batter pieces. Yum!

Nambu Night Market - crowded but delicious!

After we'd eaten what we wanted, we walked slowly back to our room and prepared to sleep on our thin, thin futons.

South Korea: Day 9 - Busan Skycruise

With Eben and Claudia up sick during the night we slept late. Eben was still feeling shitty, but Claudia was at least willing to get out of bed. So Katrina, Claudia and i went out to "The Coffee Bean" for coffee. With caffeine levels restored, Katrina returned to the hotel and Claudia and I dropped by Paris Baguette for a little sustenance before catching the bus to Songdo Beach and the Busan Skycruise.

Up on the Skycruise with crystal floor.

I thought maybe my fear of heights would kick in, especially with the 'crystal floor' we chose, but it was a surprisingly chill ride over the water despite the height. Up at the terminus, Claudia and I wandered around and had a look at a bunch of 'The Little Prince' statues, animated dinosaurs, and the gnarly view of the city skyline.

A view, The Little Prince and some dinosaurs.

Back on the ground, we wandered over to Songdo Beach and took a look at the sand. It was pretty deserted and we didn't want to risk Claudia's twitchy stomach with food, so we hopped a bus back down town and met Katrina and Eben back at the hotel. After a few hours rest, we headed out for dinner at the same korean-bbq place we visited the night before. It was a good sign for tomorrow's train travel that Eben came out with us and ate something.

South Korea: Day 8 - Gamcheon Village

Out after 9am again this morning, and we headed straight to The Coffee Bean for our daily caffeine fix. The cups were massive and the coffee was pretty darn good.

Coffee at the The Coffee Bean.

For food, we headed on to Egg-Drop for a couple of 'Mr Egg' s with bacon. Only Eben and Claudia were brave enough, and that proved rather fortuitous as it turned out. With the sugary bread they used, sugared bacon and sweet sauces, the egg toasted sandwiches tasted more like desert than breakfast. A bit disappointing truth be told.

Egg-Drop. Expectations were high, and missed completely.

With breakfast under our belts, we grabbed a bus out to Gamcheon Village - a tightly packed bunch of basically slum housing that was established by refugees heading south from the Korean war. The bus dropped us few hundred metres from the tourist information centre (the starting point of our walk) and it was a rather steep up-hill trek to get us there. Arriving very, very warm despite the cool weather, we took a breather with a custard-filled fish before grabbing a map from the tourist information.

Gamcheon Village and The Little Prince.

We walked up hill and down dale, snapping photos and getting our map stamped at the various places of interest. It was a nice walk and our feet were pretty sore by the end. Eben was starting to feel a little ill, and we finally jumped a mini-bus back to the city. It was quite a hairy ride, with many many switchbacks at speed, and squeezing between oncoming taxis.

Once we got back, we were a little hungry so we headed back to the markets for a quick light lunch. More mung-bean pancakes and spicy tteobokki! Eben didn't eat much as he was feeling quite shitty by now.

More spicy tteokbokki and mung-bean pancake!

After eating a little, we grabbed an idec latte from a "Draft Coffee" place we'd seen a few times walking the market. It was pretty cool with all the taps lined up. Shame I didn't think to snap a photo.

We finally made it back tour room and Eben lay down to rest with Neurofen, Katrina, Claudia and I ventured out for korean pork bbq at "Nampo Galbi-jip" just around the corner from our hotel. The non-marinated pork (what they call 'raw') was fucking amazing, and the marinated wasn't half bad either. 5 stars!!

Amazing pork BBQ at Nampo Galbi-jip.

On the way back to the hotel we managed to get our T-money cards topped up at the local 7-eleven thanks to a very helpful lady at the register. Back home we relaxed in our room, and watched a bit of Pulp Fiction on Netflix.

Postscript:

Both Eben and Claudia threw up during the night. My guess is Egg-Drop as the culprit, but we'll wait until we've got some covid tests done in a day or so.

South Korea: Day 7 - Jalgachi Fish Market & Fried Chicken

After a quick coffee and croissant/muffin for breakfast this morning at cafe Moka, we planned to wander through downtown Busan until we found ourselves at the Jagalchi fish market. Finding ourselves close to Bupyeong Kkangtong Market for the second day in a row, we decided to just pop in to see if we could finally sample the best spicy tteokbokki in Busan. This time around our efforts were rewarded, and we gorged ourselves on spicy goodness. The tteobokki this time was less sweet and more spicy - a much more scrumptious mix.

The best spicy tteokbokki in Busan!

Still on our meandering track towards downtown, we spied a traditional donut shop to cure our burning mouths. 

Traditional rice flour donuts with *something* at the bottom.

After a winding path and a little shopping we finally found ourselves at Jalgachi fish markets right on the harbour. We walked our way down the rows of first floor vendors and looked at the crabs, fish and escaping octopi. We then ascended to the first floor eatery to sample some of the until recently first floor occupants.

We ordered some fried eel (a Busan specialty) and a spicy crab stew. It was all delicious and we left completely full and satisfied.

First floor of Jalgachi

En-route back to the hotel we took a detour  back through BIFF square to grab some hotteok from the famous vendor there. The speciality here is a hotteok full of nuts and seeds. It's amazing.

Hotteok in BIFF street

While Katrina and Claudia did a little more shopping in the fashion street, Eben and I checked our a PC cafe. We spent 3,000W trying to book a seat but couldn't work out the process. We gave up, defeated.

Instead, we went and grabbed a late coffee at One+One Coffee, very close to our hotel. While we given two cappuccinos for 5,000W, it was garbage. You certainly do get what you pay for.

Once we were all back in out room we had a rest then went out for dinner with no fixed plan. We found ourselves at BB-Q chicken the fried chicken chain. The chicken here was really amazing, especially covered in black-pepper. Although we ate a metric-tonne, the three servings we ordered was still way, way too much.

Over-ordering fried chicken in BB-Q. So damn good!

We stumbled home in a food-coma and finally found the shower and bed. We all stayed up watching Netflix for a while and then lapsed into unconsciousness.