Day 12   18/11/24

Being in Jeonju with a brisk (near freezing) 0°C to 3°C for our first stop at Gyeonggijeon Shrine, Jeonji some 10mins from our hotel where we reluctantly exited the bus & for a very long time stood in the shade (sun was very weak with the cloud cover, but it was something) & felt the brisk 10klm/hr breeze cutting through us. Most of us were shivering even though we had layers of clothing. Today had a feeling it was going to be slower than normal where Jade (our guide) kept stopping at weird areas & talking for ridiculous amount of time of some details of history that no-one could even get their head around. When a few of us walked away we gained more information that gave our location more relevance & at the same time Jade got the message we wanted more movement plus the other Trip A Deal bus group was now ahead of us which then complicates things more.

These ancient village areas were always set up as forts to keep out the undesirables & enemies. This village dates back to 1410 where it was posthumously dedicated to King Taejo, where he reigned 1392 – 1398 & being the founder of the Josean Dynasty, 1392 – 1910.

The entire complex was totally destroyed, except the Main Hall during the Japanese invasion, 1597-98. The shrine was rebuilt in 1614. All other ancillary buildings & archives were rebuilt 1991 & 2004.

Jade then hurried us through this open area & then took the exit gate & walked around the boundary wall to the attached Hanok Village, a historical village with some very tiny houses originally set at 900 of them, but with renovations, etc, the quantity has been significantly reduced.

Entering from the other side of the village we enter a house & small garden dedicated to the making of the historical Korean Paper which is the traditional Mulberry mulch paper by Hanji Industry Centre. It is Korea’s first centre specialising in paper & an extensive collection of artifacts & database of the very long history. Korean paper is superior & stronger. The mulberry mixture is much like a fluid milky porridge and is easy to use the sifting process.

When the workers had everything set up they showed how each of us have a turn of using the timber tray sifting pan through the mulberry liquid in a sideways & back & forth motion for about 15seconds like a gentle sieving action. Then the lady & man take out the wet white sheet & place it on the table where we each decorate our own paper with fine leaves, & miniature cut out art pieces as we see fit. The man then uses a paint roller to remove (force) the excess liquid out. Another man picks up the smooth page sheet & puts it through a slot fan dryer for 2 seconds & then places it on a long, heated steel tabletop for final drying. It was special seeing how everyone had different ideas of decorating their paper.

Later, we were all given our respective art sheets to take home but it will take a slight miracle to get it home undamaged or crimped in our luggage for there were no protective tubes for each of them (later, I spent hours in Seoul looking for such tubes with no luck). Each of us were very impressed with our free gift & was well worth the time & to get out of the chilled weather!! Just when we were almost all receiving our paper the other Trip A Deal bus travellers turned up & the melee started trying to exit peacefully & with decorum. Lol!!!

Walking back to our starting point and given a further 15mins of free time which was a waste for most of us but understood Jade was setting up a Korean lunch for the group. It was too cold to sit around really, but I found the steel park bench seats in the open spaces delightfully heated.

At our starting point adjacent to the Shrine, Jade has organised a group meal of a traditional Korean buffet. There were so many varieties & typical me, could not figure out what was what but there was so much food & it kept coming!!! I did wonders using stainless chop sticks for a change.

Back on the bus with everyone full we took to Hwy 25 again @ 100klms/hr for another 15mins till Jade announced we should be ready for another pit stop. At this transit stop I encountered my first squat toilet. Yikes!!! Not impressed!! Luckily, I had Googled in how best to use them. Not my favourite toilet .. LOL!!!

Hwy25 evolves into Hwy1 at some point & this takes us all the way into Insadong (centre Seoul CBD) for our 3night stay at the Amid Hotel. Location was excellent.

Seoul has 31 bridge crossings of its rivers & has 10Million people living directly in Seoul with another 3million in the outer fringes. When you include the outer Seoul region the population increases to 25Million, just short of the entire Australian population of 27Million. Korea has 25million cars too & it seems buses have the highest priority on the road network going by the access provided by other motorists.

Settling into our Amid Hotel, the room isn’t as good as the last lot of rooms we have had & that’s disappointing due to staying 3 nights but certainly comfortable & a decent standard.

Tomorrow, I have a Seoul Free Day as most of the bus are going to do the optional DMZ Day tour (1hr drive away) & I have seen enough of DMZs in these recent years. Also, I get an overdue sleep in and an easy, lazy breakfast too before I seek out the immediate city area around my hotel. My walk muscles will enjoy the added peace too seeing I walked 5.33klms today.

Day 13 19/10/24

Yay!! No alarm!!! Finally got a decent sleep-in but I’m talking in total hrs, bed @ 10.15pm & awake @ 7am. Sorted out my stuff as hotel staff come in while you’re at brekky & do up your room whether you like it or not or have the Do Not Disturb sign up. Most hotels do it, so be aware this does happen.

Was able to catchup with my favourite couple Maria & Ted & eventually Ed turns up too, so it was great to see them off to the DMZ tour leaving me & a few others do some city roaming. With none of the stayers coming up with a group plan I made sure I went to the areas we won’t see tomorrow on the city tour & obviously, found myself alone to explore. Our guide, Jade said the hotel rooms will be without power from 10am – 4pm for a scheduled electrical check so that reconfirms my full adventure day out.

Walking the city streets, I wanted to find a small cylinder storage tube, as discussed, the day before so I don’t damage the Korean paper design I did yesterday in my backpack. I was going to get more for the group, too, but wasted so many hours with no luck. For something so normal is weird that I had no result.

Leaving my AMID Hotel I wandered along Ujeongguk-ro (street) to the Lotte Hotel where at street level & below is the very upmarket Lotte Department Store which is like no other I have seen. Another 100 or so metres further there is another Lotte shop dedicated to young children, if kids aren’t expensive enough. LOL!!! With constant, yet free flowing traffic I had to work out the underground street crossings on my way up to the area of the Hoelyeon Underground Markets (little subway-type mini shops under the main roadway), Namdeamun 24hr Market, The Sungnyemun Gate which is Korea’s first national treasure & is one of eight boundary gates to the original city size of Seoul & is the largest gate, The Korean Post Office (who even they could not help me with small tubes for my Korean paper & Level 5 of The National Museum of Korean History.

Just outside the museum there was a full block along the extra wide footpath of war photos displayed on about 50 easels for public viewing on this wide Sejong Daero street with about 30 country allied flags behind them. It was a great presentation and obviously well respected by everyone. These photos gave you a clear insight of accurate portrayals of the war & well worth taking your time to peruse. One surprising aspect was that Seoul is only 45mins drive from the North Korea border, so that explains how quickly Seoul collapsed when the war started. A very quick invasion.

This Sejong-daero street had many important buildings, such as the Seoul City Council & City Hall, US Embassy, banks, museums, etc & obviously a very political area where across the street was a loudspeaker of an obvious protest but unclear to what purpose, however the police were around in very large numbers attending through volumes of police buses parked in special locations.

A number of streets had rows of concertina barriers locked into permanent storage positions that could be expanded in seconds. Police are very well prepared. The location of this protest was at the Gwanghwamun Square with the statue of King Sejong, The Great. Certainly, it is an important place in the city. By 2pm I had chalked up 12.27klms & was in need of body fuel.

From those easel photo displays there were a group of Korean men standing under a banner they erected. The banner had “Evil HAMAS release hostages now’. Such a great thing to see for the humanely release of the Israeli hostages from the vile attack on Oct 7^th, 2023, unlike we see in our Socialist Australia under our worst ever Labor Government where antisemitism is escalating in trying to appease local Muslim votes.

Getting famished, I found a great Cafe to catchup on my notes, have coffee & a roll with sweet pastries after. The Cafe was Queens Bakery & after I sat down the whole bakery had about 60 tables occupied by about 98% women to men. Go figure!!! I had to check to see if it was a women’s only café. LOL! On the way out, I bought Maria (a fav older couple on tour) her fav custard tart for when she gets back from the DMZ tour.

With an extra long walk back to the AMID Hotel, my left calf muscle was tightening up & feeling a limp coming on which I can’t remember ever experiencing that before. Must be getting low on my Magnesium levels. Tomorrow is also a big walk day, so that’s not going to be fun. I walked across the Cheonggyecheon Stream Bridge & found this area rather surprising & unique. This stream of water ran through the city & for some reason in the 1950s, the city covered it over & built an elevated major highway over it.

Over time, the stream became a cesspit & an unsafe area, then a decision was made some decades later to demolish this highway & return the stream to some beauty for the city in a hard landscaping, construction theme (not natural edges of flora but stones, pavers, etc) & now it provides a great attraction for passive walking, city lunch gatherings & festive celebrations. At its western end is a constructed weir & waterfall that provides a good constant flow. Such imagination and ingenuity for this landmark.

Upon returning to my hotel there was still no power to my room so I sat at the Level 1 (Ground floor in Japan & Korea) Cafe for a Hazelnut Latte (most cafe’s call that normal coffee) & watched my tired bus troops saunter in looking for a most needed respite.

Not a chance I’m going out tonight. The weather has been cloudy all day with temps 0°C to 6°C & with me wearing 4layers above waist & my jeans, cold & damp from the breezes I’ll use my time to do my own respite for the bus departs 9.30am tomorrow for the last day of our guided tour with Jade so we also must get our required tips ready for her & the driver. Our bus driver will take us to the airport when we are due without Jade, so tips have to be ready.

My day has ended with a walking trek of 14.66klms .. no wonder I have muscle stiffness in my calf. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos.