Jeonju & the Love I might have let get away…

I rarely regret the choices I’ve made, except for maybe now…

It’s no secret that I’ve made every effort to travel on the weekends- Seoul, Busan, Cheongdo, Jirisan, Gunsan/Syeonudo Islands, Geongju, Jinhae, etc…  Aside from my inexpressible gasping-for-air-need to get out of Daegu, brought on by the culture shock I underwent my first months here, I actually think Daegu is- to put it bluntly- boring.  For a “fashion capital”, the city has no sense of style! A monotone personality fit for a conservative suburban life of gray.

For a creative like myself, this is the first time I’m living in a large city which has no art scene. Zilch. How can this be? Every large city has got to have an art scene! Not Daegu. For instance, last month Daegu actually held an Art Expo at the EXCO center- my pulse raced, the thought blew my mind– Did it look like this?

Nooo. It was one floor, mostly paintings and enough space to play tennis down the aisles! Nope.  No modern dance,  gallery walks, performing arts center, black box theater, film… all the things I’ve ever built my creative life around, are not in this city.  Sometimes, finding contemporary, artistic or individualistic expression in a highly socialized country like Korea can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack! Nonetheless, artists and rebel thinkers do exist and the challenge is to find them.

I will eventually talk about the few redeeming qualities Daegu offers, but not now. Not this blog.

Passion for Soul over Food
I seldom go down the path of seeking regret over resolution.  I rant about my difficulties as a vegetarian, but I’m actually less disturbed with my lack of food options, than I am my art ones.  Funny right? But I find there are more important things than feeding my body,… like inspiring my soul. How? Poetry.  I’m a sucker for living and breathing it; and most poets if given the choice between food or art are, as you know, pretty comfortable with physical starvation.

Chance in front of our breakfast smoothie cafe, The Story.
Perfectly titled it has photo exhibition upstairs of peoples’ stories.
You can write your own story or sentiments on a bookmark and
add it to their counter wall inside.

Meeting your soulmates
Somehow, you can always sense a soulmate, even in passing. Like a vibe or sound rippling through your soul, it wakes you up so you take notice and like magnets placed apart in opposite ends, you can always trust that the two will find a way to come back together.  Soulmates can be places, not only people and when I passed my soulmate I was on the night bus to Gunsan , I got that feeling I always get whenever a great love or something big is about to enter my life.  I got up from my bus nap, just in time to see colorful city bridge lights, fun food shops, etc… and had a crazy feeling that this city would be a place I’d want to return to.  I quickly stole a glance at a nameplate in passing. JEONJU.

Ironically, it was a city I had planned to visit it a few weeks back before I knew I was going on the EPIK Farm Tour.  But things have an odd way of working out. That weekend, we found out the  Seonyudo Islands could be covered in one day! Why not squeeze in 2 places for our Jeollabuk-do weekend, right? By the day’s end, we were back at Gunsan’s Express Bus Terminal, checking our schedule options and in the roll of the die, Jeonju was the name which rang out. Amongst our 3 presiding artists (Chance Margaret & myself), it was a good fit.  Jeonju was about 2 hours (maybe less) away by bus. Once there, we found a love motel to rest our head for the night and in the morning we were off.

Artsy, innovative, creative… Jeonju was a refreshing surprise from other towns or cities I had visited
It also had a bright, down-to-earth and youthful vibe to it. In the short time I was there, I’d venture to say, it would be second favorite city next to Seoul. Online sources might tell you that Jeonju is small enough city that you can get around everywhere by foot (our route was The Hanok Village, a traditional market and  3 walking streets) but we quickly found that our entire route could not be done on foot. From Jeonju’s Express Bus Terminal or Intercity bus terminal (located a couple of blocks apart from each other), the distance to The Hanok Village was 15-20 minutes by taxi!

How many times can you do Hanok Villages in Korea? Many. Jeonju’s Hanok Village is filled with some 800 traditional styled houses and owners are not allowed to change that theme. As a Sunday walking street, all feels traditional and yet remodeled to embody tasteful, innovative artsy cafes (accompanied by squeals of joy from me), small craft museums, traditional craft workshops (i.e. calligraphy or paper making) and restaurants. Some of the craft sellers there showcase their own hand-woven eclectic and artistic jewelry/ crafts, which is delightfully surprising for Korea. While it’s common to see traditional Korean craft sellers and shops, seeing “artists” selling their own creative designs or artwork on the streets (as you might see amongst Thailand’s walking streets) is pretty rare.

Jeonju is known for its Jeonju bibimbap, so we couldn’t very well go home without trying it. So we decided to choose a funky-cool hanok restaurant and hunker down for the city’s house specialty. A mixture of mushroom, corn, carrots, sprouts, etc… If you look the picture, you’ll understand what makes it special.  It’s a vegetarian’s heaven. Yum!

Only a bit later did I it sink in what it was about the city and the province that affected me.  With EPIK, we’re allowed to list anywhere up to 5 of our top preferences of cities to live in- I battled with that choice of living in the Jeollabuk-do area. Every intuitive bone in my body was attracted to the mix of supposed gorgeous scenery, vegetarian bibimbap and the arts/crafts, while every imagined fear made me think I might be placed in rural country. So I listed Daegu. Gauging from guidebooks or online resources, Korea is not a highly traveled or known country. In many respects, its highly developed but largely untapped.  At the time, researching cities in Korea, there wasn’t a wealth of information to work with. Browsing through the Hanok Village, I turned green with envy; only to later feel a bit of self-flagellation…

There are 3 main tourist streets in Jeonju
…and from the Hanok Village to the three Walking Streets it took aproximately 15 minutes by foot.

1) Culture Street
Not really sure what it was- many shops were closed on Sunday, but there sure were a hell of a lot of public artwork that were conceptually fun, performance oriented and interesting.  Yes, Jeonju has an art scene which is very vibrant,  searching for a way to grow and gain recognition and innovation.

2) Movie Street
Aside from art institutes and innovative street art, Jeonju boasts a small film scene which it is steadily growing. Each year Jeonju holds JIFF (The Jeonju International Film Festival). This area houses theaters and movie making and performance workshops *gasp* .Clothing boutiques and artsy cafes make up the rest of the neighborhood real estate.

3) Walking Street
If you’ve been throughout Korea, then this shopping street will be nothing new to you. Other than the fact it’s pathway lights up above and does fun light shows, this area is your standard shopping area, though probably less crazy and elaborate as larger cities, such as Seoul’s Myeongdong, Busan’s PIFF area and Daegu’s Bandwoldang area. Nonetheless it’s still a great shopping area and hotspot for friends and couples to draw to at night.

When I follow my artist’s intuition there are seldom mistakes, only a prosperous destiny; but when I make my decisions based on fear and logic…
I screw myself. What could the Jeollabuk province or my possible placement have offered me? Is there a future for me here yet? I don’t know. My eyes are rolling back now. All I know is that Jeonju is one word, POETRY and as far as soulmates go, the note I’ll end on is~

To be continued…

Getting There:
By Express buses from Daegu and SeoulYou can catch a bus from Seoul’s Express Bus Terminal as well as,

Daegu’s Seobu Bus Terminal
1135 Daemyeong 11-dong, Namgu, Daegu
(take subway line 1 Seongdangmot Station).
From Daegu, the trip will take 3 hours 50 min.
Cost: 11,300 General, 16,500 Excellent

For more information:

Jeonju Tourist Website (English version available)
Jeonju Hub
Jeonju Guidebook 16.5 MB pdf download (got it off the web – wish I remembered where I got it off the internet