Back to the Hanok Village

I set off again today to visit the Hanok Village. It is such a huge place that it will take more visits to see it all. The old village is being renovated to attract tourists - some of it has been updated, but much of it is still in ruins. The Village though is a hive of activity with construction going on everywhere.

I was given a map of the village - so got into a taxi near where I live, and using the map, showed the taxi driver where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to one particular entrance and he turned the wrong way, but I caled him to stop, paid him and walked up the hill to the entrance. There is apparently some building there that is worth seeing, but I could not find it.

My first though in the village was a Wine shop - and I bought a small bottle of wine - the first that I have really purchawsed here. It was a small bottle of Raspberry Wine. I had a taste and quite liked it - so I bought the tiny bottle - which cost me about $A1. I noticed afterwards that there is quite an array of wines in the shop including Mulberry Wine, and Traditional Korean Wine. Maybe next time I will try one of those.

The Village has many tiny alleyways - and in these there are many small shops. I visited many. Many of the larger shops are called "Museums" - "Paper Fan Museum" etc but I found that they were shops that featured paper fan. No my understanding of what a museum could be, but they were all very interesting. In many of the small shops or museums one gets to meet the artist and I met quite a few very interesting people who were keen to discuss their art.

In one place I bought a couple of small items to take home from the potter whose work filled the gallery. Pots, plates, vases, and lots more in a wonderful gallery with great timber features on the outside of the building. It is always tempting to buy things, but I am always mindful that sending them/taking them back to Australia is very costly.

I had had a snack before I left my apartment, so wasn't hungry, but I was looking for somewhere to sit down and I found the Core Riviera Hotel which is supposed to be "the" hotel of Jeon Ju. I went in and was soon approached by their English speaking waitress. It is always funny as you can see the actions of the staff as they work out that I might be an English speaker and they jostle and push forward the English speaker. She was a lovely lass and answered my quetions. I wanted coffee and apple pie that I had seen in the showcase, so she took me to the Lobby Bar, an soon presented me with both my coffee and apple pie.

It was well presented, tasty and I had a surprise. The sugar coffee was interesting - larger chunks of sugar and different. It tasted OK - in fact it was a pleasant sojourn - even though it was a bit expensive.