PloddingPanda

Jaman Mural Village

One of the places I was excited to visit in Seoul was the Ihwa Mural Village. However, when I got there, I was disappointed. I had imagined a place where the walls were covered with art. There were murals around, but much less than I had anticipated and many of them were in bad shape, worn away by weather. Perhaps the locals purposely let the murals waste away, as they brought a stream of loud, unwanted tourists to their quiet neighborhood.

Instead, if you’re going to Jeonju, I would say skip Ihwa Mural Village, and come to the one in Jeonju instead: Jaman Mural Village.

Jaman was everything I thought Ihwa would be—lots of beautiful murals adorned the twisting walls of the little neighborhood. The murals were detailed, colorful, and well maintained. As a bonus, the slopes were less steep and there were less stairs to climb in general.

At the beginning, I ran into a kind Korean ahjussi (older male) who ~~offered~~ demanded my phone to take a photo of me. I think he found a very nice scene and wanted to share. However, as I could not speak any Korean beyond “Kamsahamnida” (thank you), and he didn’t seem to know any English, I spent a lot of time nodding and smiling as he rambled and gestured.

The picture he really wanted to take for me.

We walked together for a bit and he took a bunch of photos for me, before we arrived at the parking lot where he parked his car. Waving goodbye, he gestured me to continue my journey through the mural village.

I spent roughly an hour wandering through Jaman, mainly taking pictures of the murals, but occasionally wrestling with my mini tripod to take a photo of myself. It was fun getting lost in the twisting passageways and finding surprising and beautiful murals around each corner. I’m not sure if I missed some murals, since I didn’t see some murals I found on other blogs, or the murals get repainted on a regular basis. I think the latter may be true because a lot of the murals were in pretty good shape, especially compared to Ihwa mural village. There were also some murals that looked slightly different from other photos I’ve seen, like the Spirited Away one above.

If you’re in Jeonju and have even 30 minutes to spare, I definitely recommend stopping by and checking out the murals here! Remember to do so quietly and to be respectful of the actual residents of the village.

Jaman mural village also provides a nice view of the hanok village!

Also, don’t limit yourself to the mural village. There are lots of pretty street art around the hanok village!

Banana Milk—My Newest Obsession

I don’t know why it took me so long to try banana milk: I love banana flavored things (like ice cream) and I have a bunch of friends raving about how great it is. Maybe I didn’t want to succumb to banana milk’s siren call because, deep down, I knew what my reaction would be.

Well, succumb I did. On my last day in Seoul, as I stood waiting around for my bus to Jeonju, I decided to pop into the nearest convenience store and try it.

At my first sip, I almost cried with regret. Why have I been avoiding this amazing drink for so long? From that point on, I decided to make it my mission to try every flavor of banana milk I could find.

By the end of my time in Seoul, I had tried three flavors: original, strawberry, and something that translated to pumpkin and/or sweet potato. There was another flavor I ran into but couldn’t translate properly.

One reason I like banana milk is how constant it is. It’s in every convenience store I walked into, even if not all the possible flavors were present. The price was always constant too, no matter where I was, from a random store on the street to one found inside the airport: a basic 1,400 won.

Besides being ubiquitous, banana milk is just plain delicious. Creamy, not overly sweet, with just a tinge of banana flavor, banana milk is an awesome treat. Honestly, I need to control my cravings, or I’m going to drink myself an extra 10 pounds.

Hitching an Unexpected Ride with the Seoul Police

Do you know that scene in Korean dramas, where a character runs after a departing bus and sighs in defeat as it keeps driving away? Well, I had the lucky chance to live through that, and let me tell you, it’s not fun–especially when you’re in a foreign country, it’s 12:30am, and you realize you just missed the last bus of the night.

After missing my bus, I frantically checked KakaoMaps for other options. But, alas, the next buses and trains only started up at 5am. However, I had a backup plan: KakaoTaxi! I’d read multiple times on the internet how it was an easy way to call a taxi, especially for foreigners with little grasp of Korean. The app was easy to navigate. After setting my destination, I requested a taxi and waited.

And waited.

Apparently the app was not as useful as the internet claimed. I spent over 20 minutes and attempted to use the app at least 3-4 times, each attempt timing out without a taxi appearing. I also tried to flag down taxis driving by, but the street corner where I missed the bus was barren. Empty taxis were few and far between. The one taxi driver that stopped for me just shook his head and left after I asked him to take me to Myeongdong, where my hostel was located.

Running out of options and not wanting to take an over one hour walk back to my hostel, I crossed the street to a police station and tried to ask the police inside for help. There were some communication struggles, as I knew pretty much no Korean, and their English was on the basic side. However, they were extremely kind and patient.

Armed with a Post-It note with the address of my hostel written in Korean, I attempted again to flag down a taxi. A couple of minutes later, the kind policeman that wrote down the address came outside and helped me.

After 15-20 more fruitless minutes, the policeman seemed to give up and told me to follow him. I followed him to one of the police cars parked around the station, where he had a quick conversation with another policeman sitting inside. Then he opened the backseat and motioned for me to sit inside. I slid into the back and fumbled to put on the seatbelt. After all, I didn’t want to get in trouble for not wearing a seatbelt while IN a police car.

“Is he going to drive me back to Myeongdong?” I fretted in the car. He seemed to be driving further away, as I tracked our journey through KakaoaMaps.

In the end, he pulled over by a taxi stand, with a row of empty taxis sitting still, waiting for passengers to arrive. Flagging down an empty taxi, the policeman had a brief conversation with the driver, and I handed over the little Post-It note with the address. The taxi driver nodded, I slid in, and off we went back to my hostel.

Finally, I was homebound.

Winter 2020’s Itinerary: Korea, Taiwan, Japan

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been combatting my travel nerves by intensely researching my travels and drafting up itineraries. I spent most of my time researching what to do in Korea, because I haven’t been to the country before. However, I have dashed through both Taiwan and Japan on a short, whirlwind trip before, so I’m trying to plan around some major sites that I have already been to. My dad will actually be in Taiwan during my stay there, so I’m simply planning on just taking day trips or going hiking with him.

I was pretty nervous about the whole solo travel situation, so I ended up booking some guided tours instead of striking out on my own the whole time. I also opted to stay in hostels in order to meet some fellow travelers. While I was planning my trip, I posted my general itinerary on a Facebook travel group, and found other people who were in the same cities around the same time. So far, there’s about 10 of us planning a KBBQ meetup in Seoul!

There’s definitely lots of food I’m planning on eating but haven’t listed below, like Jokbal, XiaoLongBao and Hida beef. Is there any must-eats or must-sees I missed? Let me know!

While I was planning, I used Booking.com to book all my accommodations, and found some tours and tickets for my trip on Klook.

My semi-finalized ideas are below.

Korea

Seoul

Day 0

Land in Incheon Airport in the afternoon
Eat street food around my hostel
Visit a Jjimjilbang (Spa Lei) and relax after my long flight

Day 1

Free walking tour of India-dong and check out Tongin Market if time permits
Get a facial at Whoo Spa
Potentially check out a language exchange meetup to meet some other travelers

Day 2

Rent a Hanbok and explore the palaces and Bukchon Hanok Village
Eat KBBQ with a group of other fellow travelers from various traveling Facebook groups
Potentially go to noraebang with KBBQ friends

Day 3

Booked a day tour to visit Gangchon Rail Bike, Nami Island, and Garden of Morning Calm
Visit Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Day 4

This day is a sort of buffer to finish different things on my To-Do list that I was not able to hit on previous days. Some activities I’m considering include:

Visit Sinchon (university) district and meander through the shopping areas nearby
Explore the streets and go cafe hopping in Hongdae
Wander through the stores in Myeongdong
Check out Bongeunsu Temple, COEX mall and other sights around Gangnam
Go up N Seoul Tower and see Seoul at night

Day 5 (part 1)

If there’s anything in the morning I want to do in Seoul, last chance!
Take bus/train from Seoul to Jeonju

Jeonju

Day 5 (part 2)

Wander around Jeonju and check out Gyeonggijeon, Jeonju Hanok village, Jaman mural village etc.
Stay in a traditional Korean Hanok
Eat bibimbap and the bakery. version of chocopie

Day 6 (part 1)

Explore more of Jeonju and see sights I wasn’t able to see on the first day
Head on a bus to Busan!

Busan

Day 6 (part 2)

If there’s time before sunset, visit either the White fox cultural village or Taekongdae Resort
Wander around the markets at night

Day 7

Visit Gamcheon Culture Village, Yongdusan Park, Jagalchi Market, BIFF square
If time permits, check out Gwangan Bridge views around sunset or visit Haeundae beach
Head to airport to catch a flight to Taiwan!

Taiwan

Taipei

Day 8

Day trip to Yingge
Eat some delicious Taiwanese nightmarket food 😋

Day 9-11

Take day trips out with my dad! Probably centered around hiking, but no solid plans have been made

Day 12

Spend the day around Taipei
Flight to Japan in the late afternoon

Japan

Osaka

Day 13

Visit Osaka castle and see the views from above
Admire Shitennoji and it’s gardens
Eat and explore my way through Kuromon Market and Dotombori
See Osaka from above from the Umeda Sky Building

Alpine Region (Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go, Takayama)

Using the Takayama Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass, explore this region.

Day 14 (Kanazawa)

Spend the morning exploring Kenroku-en, Kanazawa Castle Park, Oyama Shrine
Wander down the cobblestone streets of Nagamachi neighborhood
Munch my way through Omicho Fish Market
Check out the traditional neighborhood: Higashiyama Higashi Chaya District
If time permits, visit Myouryuji, also known as the Ninja temple

Day 15 (Shirakawa-go)

If there’s anything left in Kanazawa I want to see, spend the morning here
Take the bus to Shirakawa-go, and spend 2-3 hours exploring the small village
Take the bus to Takayama, and wander some streets if time allows

Day 16 (Takayama)

Start the day at the morning markets around Takayama
Meander through the Sanmachi-suji District
Check out Takayama Festival Floats Exhibition Hall and the nearby Sakaurayama-Hachimangu Shrine
Stroll down the Higashiyama Walkway and admire the temples along the way

Day 17 (Nagoya)

Take an early Hida train down to Nagoya
Explore the city
Eat the famous Hitsumabushi, Nagoya’s local eel dish

Innovation Discovery Japan trip

Day 18-22

Visit companies in cities around Japan! (Nagoya, Kyoto, Tokyo) Itinerary is already planned out by the program

Day 23

I have one free day in Tokyo! What should I do? Have yet to be planned….

Will this trip be way too intense and too hectic to actually follow through? Who knows? I just have to wait and see.

Planning my first solo trip

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
– Neale Donald Walsch

I am kicking off the new decade by planning a three and a half week long trip through Asia, visiting Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Half of my trip will be spent traveling solo, which is super exciting but also nerve-racking. To combat my worries, I’ve been intensely studying about traveling through Korea and Japan, reading many other travel blogs and drooling over food videos on Youtube.

The Countdown

2020-01-08T08:20:00

days

hours minutes seconds

until

Flight to Korea!

All in all, I’ll be spending a week in Korea (solo), 4.5 days in Taiwan (with my dad), and 11 days in Japan (about half solo, half with a group). The cities I’ll be visiting is as follows:

South Korea
- Seoul
- Jeonju
- Busan
Taiwan
- Taipei
Japan
- Osaka
- Kanazawa
- Shirakawa-go
- Takayama
- Nagoya
- Kyoto
- Tokyo

The real question is, why am I traveling through Asia at this time? Winter isn’t the best time for traveling, and although I’m somewhat used to cold winters from my time studying in Boston, I’m not a fan of freezing temperatures, which Korea and parts of Japan will be suffering from. However, earlier this semester, I got the chance to participate in a program offered at my university called “Innovation Discover Japan” or IDJ for short. The program brings students to visit different companies throughout Japan. I thought this was an interesting opportunity, and since I already booked flights to Asia, why not extend the trip and visit other countries?

I chose to visit Korea because it’s been high on my to-visit list for awhile, and it’s really close to Japan. By the time I realized it was freezing in the winters there, I already had set my heart on visiting the country and didn’t want to back out. I ended up sliding in Taiwan because my dad had a business trip there, giving me a chance to crash at his hotel. I loved Taiwan last time I went, and am super excited to visit more of the country this time. Finally, I ended up adding a couple days at the beginning of my Japan trip because the prices of flights from Taiwan to Japan soared around Lunar New Year (which is on 1/25 this year, a day before I have to meet up for IDJ). Flying a couple days earlier was cheaper, so I snuck in an extra visit to the alpine region of Japan.

Travel Worries

As the date of my first flight draws nearer, I’m definitely getting more and more nervous for my trip. When I was first planning this trip, I was also being hosed by school work, so I only laid down the most basic plans. I didn’t have the extra energy to be worried.

However, now, sitting at home with nothing much to do over winter break, I have had plenty of time to plan and worry over each detail of my trip. What if my checked luggage gets lost during transit? What if I didn’t pack enough clothes and am freezing? Will I be able to see everything I want to? Will I be able to navigate the public transportation easily?

No matter what, these worries will always be there, but by doing intensive research, I’ve managed to get them under control. Knowing what I’ll face once I stepped into a new country makes the new experience seem less intimidating. Mapping out estimated time to travel between locations and reading up on different itineraries that others have created has given me a better understanding of how I can pace my travels, and what I can feasibly see during my time in a country.

Now with the clock ticking closer and closer to when I take off, I take a deep breath, double check my bookings, and get ready to pack my bags for my adventure .