Korea: sandblasted, Fortress of Busosanseong, Daejeon (Day 22)

dried fish

Wednesday, 3 June 2015

We planned a relaxing morning reading on the beach of Daecheon, however, there was sooo much wind that I was sandblasted when trying to sit on the beach.

Photo made from our balcony at the 11th floor (no rescue rope here btw)

It can be very very busy here in summer.

Peter made this panorama pic standing on our balcony: notice the many rice fields that are soo near.

A collage of just a few of the many Motels around that promote their rooms. They don't look very appealing ...

Daecheon beach 

Along the way we stopped at a small harbour which was very photogenic,

Coz the beach was no option today we drove  earlier than planned to Buyeo, where we visited the Mountain Fortress of Busosanseong, the Baekje capital of the former Sabi kingdom. 

One shrine, Samchung-sa , is dedicated to three loyal Baekje court officials, including General Gyebaek. Despite being outnumbered, he led his army in a last stand against the final Shilla and Chinese onslaught in AD 660. The Baekje army dauntlessly repulsed four enemy attacks but were defeated in the fifth – the coup de grâce for the kingdom.
In response, it is said, on the northern side of the fortress 3000 court ladies threw themselves off a cliff into the river Baengmagang, rather than submit to the conquering armies. The rock where they jumped is now called Nakhwa-am , ‘falling flowers rock’, in their honour; it also offers the best view of the area.

The three men that are honoured 

Nakhwa-am, ‘falling flowers rock’

hunk

sooo many gorgeous Acer trees 

fun stuff at the entrance of the park

The Calve peanut butter quest initiated on the first day of our stay here in Korea by my Uniface colleagues Maarten & Bert: no luck at the Emart at Daejeon, where we stay in the Good Morning Residence Hue

how to cool a Heineken 

Korea: ricefields, Gunsan, Daecheon (Day 21)

breakfast in Jeonju at the coffeeshop next to our hotel (Roni Tourist hotel)

Tuesday, 2 June 2015

We left Jeonju and headed to Gunsan, a former Japanese colonial town, where we visited the Modern History Museum and the exhibition in the former Gunsan Branch of the bank of Joseon. 

parked in front of the museum was this Renault Samsung QMR ^-^

 

Especially the exhibition in the former bank gave a good insight in life during the Japanese domination. 

many rice fields in the area developed by the Japanese 

Daecheon beach, near our hotel for this evening; the Hanwa Resort hotel.

This evening we will stay at a very big, sort of Las Vegas, hotel near Daecheon beach. In July they have a mud festival here, which seems to be very popular with expats and US GI's. Now it's quiet at the long stretch of sandy beach.

In the evening we have a Korean BBQ with shell fish only in one of the many restaurants opposite the beach. The west coast of Korea is famous for clams. 

 totally different BBQ this time; various types of clams: 

a culinary adventure

Koreans love to decorate the hotels with coloured lights  

Korea: Nambu Market, performance, a real bed, French fries (Day 20)

Monday, 1 June 2015:

Today we told our host of the Hannok we didn't wanna stay for another night and decided to move out.

After a night of no sleep at all and 2 broken backs we thought that was the right thing to do.

Our Hannok home for initially 2 nights, which looks cute from the outside

but the inside was crap. Although laying on 3 futons we felt like the princess on the pea. I didn't sleep a wink. Decided to read my ebook (De Vliegeraar) after turning, turning etc

After a Korean breakfast at the Hannok, we visited the Nambu market in Jeonju. Loved it, too many pictures. We bought a pair of purple scissors to cut the meat at home.

When we visited the former Palace in town, there was a lot of activity and people walking around in traditional Korean clothes and rehearsing

former throne

stage

rice ice cream

finishing De Vliegeraar in the shade: it's over 30 degrees and too hot

yummie 

Korea: agriculture area, swim at the beach, Gochang fortress, Hannok village Jeonju (Day 19)

agricultural area on the islands north of Mokpo 

Sunday, 31 May 2015

We started with a visit to Mount Yudalsan in Mokpo, where was a big bell. It's gonna be another very warm day here.

Afterwards we travelled along the islands north of Mokpo where is a lot of agriculture. There are far more rice fields here and we saw many onions that were harvested. Less mountains than in the East and even saw cows. All cows here are kept in the stables. Poor cows. But, we did saw one herd of Frieze pedigree grazing on a tiny meadow.  

graves (a dome of grass covered soil) with a sangsok (an offering table made of stone) are seen everywhere in the fields

Because it was warm we visited a beach and took a swim in the sea. Here at the west coast in a bay the water was nice and not so cold as at the East coast (Sokcho)

Korean way of enjoying the beach. We seldom see Koreans go into the sea, when they do they keep all their clothes on and wet their feet/legs.

low tide 

Before driving to our next accommodation address we visited the stone walled Fortress in Gochang.

An old superstition, dapseong is the act of putting a stone on one's head and walking around the castle wall three times. It was believed that this would prevent one from getting disease and ensure one goes to a better place after death.

We arrived very late at our next accommodation: a traditional Korean Hannok, in the Hannok village of Jeonju. The owner wasn't there and a non-English speaking kind girl helped us to settle into our 'room' (which resembled more a shed). We got some extra futons, but still this didn't look really comfy ......

We decided to go for a bite first and explored the Hannok village. 

traditional Korean BBQ, sitting on the ground

a lot of new Hannok houses/shops