Jeonju 2019 Day 6 – Drive to Jeonju, cheese theme park and Jeonju old town

2nd morning at Yeosu and I made another attempt to check out the sunrise, this time much more prepared. Suited up and got out of the room at 6am and walked over to the elevator to the cable car only to find it inaccessible.

Went to take the stairs instead and after much panting, I finally reached the pavilion overlooking the islands coinciding with the time that the sun started to peek over the islands. There were a few people there also for the same purpose. After taking a few shots, and much less for my camera which would always die in the cold, I made my way back to the room for my usual morning activities – backing up memories on my phone.

Sunrise Panoramic
Pavillon to view the sunrise.
Pole full of heart shaped messages.
Pathway up to the viewing pavillon.

Mommy woke up and had me ordered a Korean breakfast set in room service for 34k and we all shared the breakfast that was pretty filling even for all of us, as it was a meal that looked more for lunch! Left to check out at about 1045 and we were off to head northwards to Jeonju.

Breakfast

Made a stop at a Hwangjeon service station about an hour into the drive. The place was a little hazy and so mommy and K donned their masks that they brought from Singapore although I thought it smelled ok.

Used the bathroom and then went over to take a photo of the view that the hippiest Dunkin Donuts building was overlooking. It wasn’t a fantastic view unfortunately.

Hwangjeon service area
Some sort of a monument
Dunkin Donuts
Place to take photo
Panoramic view from the service area

Then a further 30mins we exited to Imsil for a visit to the Cheese Theme Park, paying a toll of 4.7k. Parked at the almost empty lot and walked around to find that this theme park didn’t require entrance tickets! There were just buildings that looked like Swiss buildings all around and a couple of items here and there to take photos with. We didn’t know what the buildings were for as we couldn’t read Korean. There was a palace like building that had a food court and on the 2nd level there was a museum that we went around quickly.

Theme park map
Grand entrance
Like a palace
Clock in front of the palace
Museum
Inside the museum
Colourful display
Interesting to look at though in Korean

Then we walked uphill to find some Smurf statues to take photos with before climbing to the top where there was a long roller slide and a playground for K to play. There must have been a school outing as there were many kids around but K didn’t find an problem playing there.

Cheesy displays to take photos with
Smurfs?
Long roller slide
Super long slide

The roller slide was interesting and K went on it twice, the 2nd time on his own. Then we squeezed past the barricades to the entrance of the playland for K to run around the playground that had a couple of places for him to climb around, including a pirate ship and a treehouse amongst them. He was unwilling to leave until much persuasion later and as we walked back uphill from the playground, we entered an area where there were some farm animals kept that, including chickens, rabbits and a pair of pigs.

Playground
Pirate ship
Fowl
Rooster
Rabbits
Pigs

Our last visit was to the round cheese building that sat atop the hill. 3rd floor was a viewpoint of the entire area while the 2nd floor featured a wall that illustrated the cheese making process that I used it to explain to K.

Cheese building
Map of the cheesy world
Cheese making process
View from the cheese building

Then our tummies were rumbling as we went back to the car after a short visit to the store to see if we could get any cheese products to try. Couldn’t get any refrigerated ones as we didn’t know if the next accommodation had refrigerator or not and worried that these would spoil and become a waste. Settled for some cookies before getting into the car.

Mommy suggested that we have lunch at Osu service station as it was claimed to be one of the best service station. There was also the delicious cheese bimbimbap that combined the cheese from Imsil and the bimbimbap from Jeonju. 15mins drive and we would arrive, I thought. Then as we hit the road, we took more than the 15min that I initially thought we would need as I kept getting lost, first Navi didn’t get me to the right exit, then mommy giving the wrong direction to turn and I also took an early wrong exit. This cumulated into a 30mins drive and some multiple toll fees of 1.3k each exit.

We arrived finally at the service area close to 3pm with K almost falling asleep. Quickly parked and entered the eating place to find that Bimbimbap was sold out. We settled for Udon and Tonkotsu rice for lunch and free plain water.

Osu service area
Inside the food court
Udon
Tonkatsu

From Osu it was a 50mins drive to Jeonju and we entered the town but I was only brought to some location on the Main Street even though I had set the end destination inside the old town. Tried to drive into the old town unguided as I roughly knew the direction and then realised that it was actually possible to drive in. Went to location that was supposedly a carpark but it became an open space for something else so I had to let mommy and K alight as he wanted to go to the loo urgently while I tried to find parking on my own. Upon exiting the old town, I spotted a secured parking and drove there to park, the daily parking fee was 12k.

Secured car park at Jeonju Hanok village
Jeonju Hanok Village
The space that was indicated as a carpark on Navi
Accommodation compound

Returned to look for mommy and K and was informed that they couldn’t find anyone at the Samlockhon accommodation to check in. We had to call (also suggested by one of their guests there that we met at the entrance) the number on one of their flag to inform that we had arrived before the staff came over.

K was adamant not to stay in this accommodation as he thought that it was boring but upon entering the room, he immediately took a liking to the dual floor concept and that he could sleep on the second level. After some korean Disney channel, we went out to explore Jeonju old town, armed with the map that the staff had shared with us the most popular places to go.

Small dual floors accommodation
Shower and sink
Toilet
Bedding on 2nd floor

We walked along the Main Street of the old town and found the PNB store that was famous for Choco Pie and we bought some to try (couldn’t bring home as the expiry was 7days). Then we headed towards the gate at the end of the street to take a photo of it before walking to the recommended bibimbap store, Hankookjib.

Beautiful traditional buildings
Water wheel from another angle
Small roads that allowed cars access
Famous choco pie bakery
Panoramic view of Jeonju street

Old church within the village
Gate at the northen end of the village

Map of the village

The historical store was recommended by Michellin as it served the original bibimbap. So we ordered one with the stone bowl (Dolsot) and mommy got herself a spicy bean sprout soup as she doesn’t take beef. The food was pretty delicious and the side dishes were really refreshing. There was also tiny crabs marinated with the spicy sauces that was different from the usual side dishes. All these for an affordable 18k.

Hankookjib restaurant

 

Pots on display
Inside the restaurant
Sides
Dolsot bibimbap
Bean sprout soup

We returned to the room and prepared for bath. The room was thankfully not too cold, as the floor was also heated. I got K to bath quickly worried that he might get a cold. After that it was a bit of TV, some books, some arguments with K on who sleeps where and off to bed.

Lighted up buildings at night

Escape Plan to South Korea & Hong Kong March 2019

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to South Korea and Hong Kong:

Total duration 18D17N
Singapore is 1hr behind of Korea and same timezone as Hong Kong.
Flight time is 4hrs 5mins on Cathay Airlines from Singapore to Hong Kong, a 50mins transit followed by a 4hrs 50mins time on Cathay Airlines from Hong Kong to Incheon Airport Seoul.

Return flight is 3hrs 55mins on Cathay Airlines from Hong Kong to Singapore.

Friday night flight on 29th Mar at 810pm and arrival in Hong Kong in the morning of the 30th Mar at 1215am followed by a flight at 105am and arrival in Korea in the same morning at 555am.

Return flight from Hong Kong on the 15th Apr at 230pm and same day arrival in Singapore at 625pm.

Day 0-1 Flying and Gamcheon Village in Busan
Day 2 Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival and arrival into Geoje
Day 3 Cruise to Oedo Island, Tong Yeong Hallyeosudo cable car and Junggang market
Day 4 Hakdong beach, Windy hill and drive to Yeosu, Odongdo island
Day 5 Yeosu Rail bike, Aqua Planet and Teddy bear museum
Day 6 Drive to Jeonju, cheese theme park and Jeonju old town
Day 7 Explore Jeonju and drive to Wolmido
Day 8 Fairytale land, Chinatown and back to Seoul
Day 9 Yeouido park, Noryanjin Market and Myeongdong
Day 10 Lotte World Adventure theme park
Day 11 Nami Island, Gangchon rail park and Garden of Morning Calm
Day 12 Dongdaemun and Lotte Outlet
Day 13 Strawberry farm, Pocheon Art Valley and Herb Island light festival
Day 14 Seoul to Hong Kong
Day 15 Sino Center and Hysan Place
Day 16 Hong Kong Space museum and shopping at CHKC
Day 17 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was the first time in donkey years that we travel with my extended family. It was not an easy itinerary to begin with, having to plan different flights for my wife, my parents, my aunt in HK and for me and my boy, as we were flying different times, for reasons such as for business, for best price and for breaking the trip. There was also trying to plan a bit of something for my parents and for the kids. Glad that everything turned out well.

Budget nature: Rather Expensive 

Costs of living in Korea was quite high especially in the cities, car rentals was expensive too. This was offset by the optimisation of squeezing into Airbnb units in Seoul and getting the better deal through Klook and utilising discount coupons from tourism book brought over from Singapore.

Complexity: High

Due to different flight times (5 different tickets) for everyone, we had to get all the dates and times right before purchasing the tickets. Travel by car outside the city was still fine but met with heavy traffic when in Busan. Thankfully for the Hyundai Sonata in-car GPS, it was a little easier to navigate as Google maps do not work, and Naver app wasn’t driver friendly. Travelling via public transport in Seoul was easy but not so in a taxi as we were easily lost in translation, and getting taxis for a big group was a challenge itself, as the taxis can only take up to a certain number of people.