Jeonju... (Thursday 7th August 2014)

Dear Sal,

I know I have been writing to you a lot over the last week, but we have so much to catch up on. Just imagine you're Celie in The Color Purple and you've received all your sisters letters after all these years. I mean it's pretty much the same. Except for I'm in Korea and she was in Africa,oh and we're not related. Also, I wasn't forced to leave you and my letters weren't deliberately detained by an angry, jealous husband. So... yeah.

After leaving the Independence Hall of Korea, my friend Jason and I made our way to the train station and headed to our next destination, Jeonju. We arrived in the early evening at dusk. The station is an elegant building made to resemble the traditional Korean design the city is known for. While in Daegu there isn't much left of the old Korea after the Japanese burned everything to the ground, Jeonju managed to avoid the wrath of the Japanese. The small city it littered with old palaces, temples and other beautiful Buildings. 

The whole place was lit up, but not in a tacky way, it seemed almost elegant. It also seemed to have escaped the tourist trap, for western tourist at least. Since arriving we had not seen a single causation, which is pretty rare in Korea. As Jason and I walked truth the traditional hanok village, exploring the  ornately designed buildings, we drank from a bottle of orange Fanta. We had of course filled the bottle with a little bit of soju, and by a little I mean three bottles. My dinner consisted of a peanut butter and jam sandwich that I ate on the train, so it went straight to my head. Despite the light drizzle of rain, the magic of Jeonju was clear to see. I don't know if it was the atmosphere or the large amount of alcohol running through my blood stream, but It reminded me of Paris in a way. It's the only other city I've walked around in an evening and could feel myself falling in love with the place.

The morning came and with it, a hangover I should have expected. After downing a large coffee, and another peanut butter and jam sandwich I was ready to go. We made our way back towards the hanok village, which is just as charming in the daylight. We took a long look around the temple and museum, finding once again the grammar translation to be a highlight.

  

Jeonju is famous throughout Korea for it bibibap. People come from all over to just to eat the well known dish made with over sixty ingredients. However, the prices for this dish, which is normally very cheep, where ridiculous... for Korea. We decided to look around to find a better deal, but with no luck. 

After walking across the city in the direction of the bus station for over two hours we didn't pass a single restaurant. When we finally arrived at the bus station we found a small place and went straight inside. It was empty, normally not a good sign, but the place was perfectly fine. The woman was sweet and very excited to have two western men sit down and eat within her establishment. She spent most of the time on the phone telling her friend who she had eating there. It wasn't until after the food came that we realized it wasn't the famous bibibap of Jeonju we had ordered, but regular old bibibap. But after walking round all day on only a sandwich it was just what I needed.

I can't recommend paying a visit to Jeonju enough. So far, it's been my favorite place I have been to in Korea and I plan on returning at some point in the future. 

Love, hugs and gam sah ni da.

Samuel James.