Gurye and Incheon
After we arrived at our Hanok the night before, we visited a friendly local coffee and tea shop.
Note: When Lois and I cycled in Korea we always looked for a Paris Baguette, a chain which sold coffee, pastries and cheese cake. Now it is possible to find coffee shops everywhere. On this trip I had an espresso a couple of times and found it similar to Starbucks, although I read that there are quality roasteries, at least in Seoul. The pastries are very light and fluffy as Korean wheat has a lower gluten content compared to that used North America and Europe. Fruit juices and smoothies are also commonly served.
In the morning we stopped at another coffee shop before heading to Gwangju to meet Shiny’s other nephew for lunch at a sushi restaurant near his university. The visit was short, but fun. He left to go to a seminar on Benedict Anderson an Anglo-Irish political scientist with whom I admitted I was not familiar.
In the misty rain we walked along the trails of the Juknokwon Bamboo Forest Plantation which was a quite different experience than strolling through an evergreen or deciduous forest.
Later by the time we reached the Sunchang Fermentation Theme Park it was hot and sunny again. The park was a revelation. There were pavilions with permanent exhibits on the making of yeast, the different bacilli used in food fermentation, food safety, packaging, and additives. The children’s section was just for diversion and included a climbing wall, skiing machine and treadmills on which I was I was convinced to race against my grandchildren!
There was a traditional village street close by which features businesses selling home made fermented products, the Sunchang Traditional Paste Museum and the Sunchang Sauce Industry Special Zone Complex. This sauce refers to fermented pastes such as doenjang (soybean paste) or gochujang (chili paste) widely used in Korean cuisine and made in Sunchang County.
We left the town across a bridge with depictions of fermentation vessels.
Dinner included yet another new dish, Yeon-ip-bap: sticky rice with grains, chestnuts, dates, pine nuts and beans wrapped and steamed in a lotus leaf; a meal in itself.
Note: I should mention that cheese is one of my favourite foods but I ate it only twice during this trip. Once as a breaded cutlet of cheese and tofu, katsu, and in salad from large supermarket.
We ended our day at sunset walking around the peaceful park, lakes and gardens surrounding many fine buildings including the Gwanghallu Pavillion, in Namwon. This pavilion was rebuilt in 1638 and is described as one of the Joseon Dynasty’s most exemplary structures.
Our hanok for the night was recently constructed but very traditional, to my eyes, and well appointed (again I slept on a bed while the others were on mats…). It was at the foot of the Jirisan National Park and Mount Jirisan (1,915 m).
Nearby there was a large Temple Gate, over the road which eventually led to the large Heaeomsa Temple, nestled in the mountains. We entered past a large metal gate topped with a dragon
and three buddhas (see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evi).
It was busy with visitors and ceremonies in the three large halls, but tranquil nonetheless.
Afterwards we did not have time to go on the steam train at the Seomjingang Train Village but took a short fun jaunt around the park on train tracks riding on pedal powered cycles.
As we made our way back north the landscape changed. There are many large towns and cities in the south and they suddenly appear amongst the hills and agricultural land, as collections of large closely packed high-rises. Closer to Incheon and Seoul there is increasing industry and urban development but still interspersed with irrigated farmland, with rice being predominant. The traffic became heavier and more congested.
The population of the two cities is around 13 million but our hanok, which had been refurbished expertly, was situated in a surprisingly quiet area on the edge of a small forest in the centre of Incheon.
