Oh yeah, I'd forgotten all about the dog meat thing. That's Korea, isn't it? That was probably one of the first things I'd think of if Korea was mentioned in the old, pre-travelling days (let's not give me more credit than I was due - it was the only thing I'd think of), but obviously it's not the sort of thing you see in every high street or restaurant in the South Korea of today. I haven't seen it anywhere, or even heard anything about it, and the thorough research I've just carried out reveals that it's basically illegal.
So dog lovers have nothing to worry about there - you can happily tear away at the scorched flesh of some other intelligent mammal without the nagging doubt that it might be a lovely pooch. Yeah, because I'm so vegetarian. A few weeks ago I actually planned to abstain from meat for a week in Korea to see if it's too difficult (provisional blog title: 'Vegetakorean') but by 7PM on Monday I was happily tucking into a bulgogi pizza and the experiment was void. Just eat bibimbap all the time and stop whining - save your strength.
But today I met an irritating little bowwowin' bastard who was cruisin' for a marinadin', and who I'll pretend hindered my plans to wander the hills around Jeonju, when in reality I just couldn't work out what was a public footpath and what was someone's private driveway. Never mind, this blog is a catalogue of failures and I wouldn't want to disappoint you by doing something right.
Hanbyeokdang
(한벽당)
Namcheongyo Bridge to Hanok Village
Pleasant Hanbyeokdang pavilion (1404)
My blurry destination: will he make it?
(I've already destroyed any narrative tension by revealing I didn't)
I'm not sure I was even going the right way, but the creepy lantern trail must lead somewhere
Cemetery for soldiers and police officers. The gate was open, but already a lack of other tourists, high fences and security cameras were making me uneasy, so I didn't go inside
Donggo Buddhist Temple (unless my map lied), where the visible trail ended and I had to contend with loud and hostile fleabags
They even had a guard cat that hissed at me. Tied to a kennel. A cat. WHAT'S GOING ON?
Omokdae
(오목대)
Back in Hanok Village, this more clearly defined hill trail offered some reasonable foliage-obscured views
And unnecessarily freakish statues
Plateau stuff
I didn't understand what was so significant about this, to be honest. But I obligingly took a photo anyway. Maybe it's a historical Photo Spot sign or something?
Dog
