Day 4: The grandeur in experiencing the Hanok Village

[TRIP from May 5, 2011We started our day with our usual buffet breakfast at CORE Hotel, plus our morning walk towards the KB JIFF Cinema Square. Lucky for us, there was a photobooth that was being promoted for free to JIFF guests. So we grabbed the opportunity to get a free snapshot. Here's a photo of our freebie (not hi-res though since I only captured the printed photo using my iPod).


The day was also set for another meet-up with Rachel, as she was going to take us sightseeing that day. And our destination was the famous Hanok Village. According to Wikipedia: Bukchon Hanok Village is a Korean village located between Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace, and Jongmyo in Seoul, South Korea where hanok (한옥) or Korean traditional houses have been preserved.

But before heading to Korea's well-preserved traditional houses, we first took Rachel to meet Kidlat Tahimik. As always, Kidlat was his artist-self, as he explained each of his artworks to his new guest.


After the meet-and-greet, we walked towards the direction of the Hanok Village. Since it was also Children's Day that same day (a proclaimed holiday), we got to witness a lot of people that were out on the streets. The Hanok Village was actually bustling with activities (there were local policemen riding on several beautiful brown horses too!), as we saw kids running and playing around, and parents/guardians watching diligently over them.


Children's Day was more of a festive moment for the kids of Jeonju, which is done similarly as Christmas. So it wasn't a surprise when most of the malls (the LOTTE Mall for example) that we went to that day were filled with kids that went toy shopping. Anyway, back to Hanok Village. As usual, we went on a photo tour. Here are just some of the photos that we took during our DIY sightseeing.



The walk around the village was quite tiring considering that it was also hot at the time. But the walking tour was definitely worth it! It was actually awe-strickening for me, as the well-preserved and detailed houses were so exquisite to look at. Although some of the houses were already turned into business establishments, the essence and the very design distinction were still exuded in the houses that we saw. So that part of Korea's history wasn't abandoned entirely.

My kuya suggested that we grab something to eat soon after our tour, so we decided to drop-by one of the famous malls in South Korea -- the Lotte Department Store. We spent about an hour or two before dropping Rachel off by Home Plus (another mall where the rest of us went out to look for something to shop for).


Since we were all so tired by the end of the afternoon, the three of us decided to go back to the hotel. We were set to meet Rachel and her friends that night for dinner, so we decided to get a little charged up for later.

When it came to dinner time, Rachel and her two lady friends, Morgan and Virginia, took us to another authentic Korean restaurant. We ordered a hearty and spicy meal called Gam-ja-tang, which stands for Spicy Pork Stew with Potatoes. The korean dining experience was authentic as it can get since we all sat on the floor, ate with chopsticks, dined in small bowls, and drank cola!


Thanks to Rachel and her two witty friends, Kuya, Choy, and I enjoyed the whole Korean dining experience! With all of our stories combined, the drops of sweat from the spiciness of the Kimchi, we could not have asked for a better last night in Jeonju.

Explore & Be Free!
Mai

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