Thursday, September 3, 2009

Going To Gongju? Gongju - Part 1


 At the Incheon International Airport (IIA), the immigration officer’s eyebrows go up when he reads my last entry in the entry card. “Gongju?” he asks this lone female who obviously does not belong to any tour group. I enjoy his look of surprise.

Why Gongju? Well, it was the second capital of the ancient kingdom of Baekje and it’s home to quite an interesting collection of royal tombs, a fortress and a great National Museum. Secondly, it’s a convenient place to visit two important temples – Gapsa and Donghaksa. Finally, there’s a free city tour from here with a promising itinerary.

It’s not that hard to get to Gongju from IIA. Just get a ticket from the express bus counter to head first to Daejeon and at the terminal there, board a local bus for Gongju. I think I take more time looking for a place to stay because the information in my Lonely Planet is outdated and the yeoinsuk that I hope to stay in has already closed down. But eventually I find a yeogwan which is close enough to the main sights, near Sanseong Sijang, the traditional market place where affordable meals are also available.

Make a beeline for a tiny sik-dang ( restaurant) within the marketplace as soon as I figure out its signboard in Hangul spells out “Jjajangmyeon”. The proprieters are quite intrigued that I’m in Korea on my own but am quite accustomed at such bemusement and continue to enjoy my reunion with the Chinese black bean sauce noodles first enjoyed in Seoul. After dinner, pass enticing piles of boseot (mushrooms), persimmons and mandarins. On my way out of the sijang, am startled by the explosions from a rice-cake making machine (bbong-dui-gi  or pung-twi-gi) Korea’s version of the popcorn machine except the sound is much louder and dramatic).
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment