With a group of friends, I took a weekend trip to Jeonju, just about two hours away via KTX from Seoul.
Jeonju is famous for its traditional Jeonju Hanok Village, as well as being known as the food capital of Korea. Jeonju city is said to have the best food in Korea among Korean locals. Jeonju is known for its Bibimbap, Choco pies, Bean Sprouts, and Makgeolli (Korean rice wine).
The KTX train we took was about 2 hours (Seoul to Jeonju) and 3 hours (Jeonju to Seoul), including stops, and cost 50,000 won (USD $35.61) roundtrip.
Within the Hanok village, it is very common to see people wearing beautiful Hanboks (traditional Korean clothing) and walking around the village and palace. This was one of the main reasons my friends and I chose to visit Jeonju for the weekend. Depending on the shop, the majority of the hanboks are custom-made. My hanbok cost 30,000 won (equivalent to around USD $21) for about four hours. This price included the hair accessories and a handbag as well. This was more expensive than the hanbok rentals in Gyeongbokgung Palace but was well worth it as these dresses were more intricately designed and custom-made by the shop. I felt like a princess wearing the hanbok around the Hanok village!
한정식- Korean table d'hôte
한정식 is a Korean-style full-course meal characterized by an array of small banchan (side dishes) plates in varied colors. It is a traditional Korean meal table that tends to be on the pricier side. My Korean friends were telling me that these types of meals are when inlaws meet each other for the first time before the couple gets married. It is more on the fancy and formal side. I could tell each dish was made with high-quality ingredients and allowed me to try new foods! For each person, it cost ₩50,000 which was equivalent to USD $35.61 at the time.
Cafe 1723 (located in the Hanok Village)
If going to visit Jeonju, I recommend going to Cafe 1723 for the 인절미 아이스크림 (Injeolmi ice cream)! By far one of the best desserts I have ever had. This included vanilla ice cream, rice cakes, and injeolmi / soybean powder. I had my doubts because I am not much of a fan of injeolmi, but my friend raved about this place. Normally I would not eat ice cream before breakfast or lunch, but this ingeomi ice cream treat was worth it! The ice cream consistency was so unique - light and not too creamy which I enjoyed. I would travel back out to Jeonju just to eat this ingeomi ice cream! This treat cost ₩6,000 = $4.17 USD.
How we got scammed by Agoda…
We arrived in Jeonju in the late afternoon and immediately headed to our hotel (Hotel K). We wanted to stay in a traditional hanok but unfortunately, none were available. We booked our hotel on a third-party platform, Agoda. Once we got to the hotel, we were told that our hotel reservation was canceled by the hotel as the specific room we booked through Agoda was not available and updated. Agoda did not let us know about this and nor did they give us a refund. This was a surprise to all of us as we were frantically looking for a place to stay for the night. Originally since there were four of us girls, we paid for two hotel rooms. The workers at Hotel K were gracious enough to let us stay in their last available room. Four girls squished into a two-person hotel room.
The lesson learned: avoid booking on third-party platforms.
October 1-3, 2022
