Before heading to Korea, I had never heard of the city of Gunsan. It wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook I used as a first round of research. Even when I got in the country, it didn’t come up as a potential destination. It wasn’t until I was making plans to meet up with a friend who moved to Korea a year or so before me, did Gunsan come to my notice. It was the city she was living in and I was to go down there and stay with her for a weekend. ( Gunsan hadn’t been on my travel list, but it would have been worthy of it. )

As I probably mentioned in one of my previous travel guides, I went through one big dinosaur phase when I was a kid. Jurassic Park is still one of my favourite movies. I still think dinosaurs are awesome, even if paleontologist is no longer my dream job. That’s why, when I came across a brochure for a place called Jeju Dinosaur Theme Park while browsing a gift shop, I knew I was going there. The next day, on my last day in Jeju, that was what I went to do. ( Since my companions wanted to spend their last day relaxing, it turned into a solo venture. Given my penchant for solo travel, that was more than alright with me. )

Well I’m about to date this travel guide in such an obvious way that it might be cringeworthy if I ever look back at it in the future, but here we go. It’s during the Covid-19 outbreak of 2020, when we’re all supposed to be staying inside to slow the spread of the pandemic. None of us can travel at the moment, so I figured now is a good time to take a walk down memory lane so you can at least read about it.

( It was our second full day on Jeju, and it was going to be the most surreal of all. )

Jeju Island Day 1

Come to Korea and ask any given person what the country’s top vacation spot is, and there’s a 99% chance they’ll give you the same answer. That answer is probably going to be Jeju Island. Jeju is basically the Hawaii of Korea, and it’s a pretty popular throughout East Asia (China in particular). It’s tropical and small enough to explore most of the sights in a week if you feel the need to rush, which is a plus in my book (not everyone has a lot of time to travel). I also agree with the sentiment- I’ve been to Jeju twice now, and plan to go back again at some point. For this entry, I’m going to focus mainly on my first trip, which a few mentions and an add on or two from my second trip if I went to the same place twice. ( So, let’s look at my first day in Jeju. )

A few thousand years ago, Korea was not the unified place it is today (well...sort of unified). Instead, the peninsula was ruled by three different kingdoms- the Silla kingdom, the Goguryeo kingdom, and the Baekje kingdom. This period, appropriately enough, is refereed to as the Three Kingdoms Period. While both Silla and Goguryeo are fascinating and historically important, it's going to be the Baekje kingdom we're going to be focusing on this travel guide. Why, you may ask? It all harkens back to last month's guide. If you were to take a quick glance through it, you may have seen a mention or two about the history of Olympic Park that goes past just the '88 Olympics. ( If you were wondering what I meant, here's your answer. )

If there's one thing Korea, and Seoul in particular, does well, it's themed cafes. They are EVERYWHERE in Seoul, from big ones to small ones, very themey or not. Some are simple, like the hundreds of dog and cat cafes in the most random places scattered throughout the city (and while I'm not writing about any of them, I HIGHLY recommend finding one if possible and going there when you're feeling sad. Cuddly puppies and kitties equals instant happy). There are board game (so much fun) and study cafes, for those who like some quiet pastimes or just a quiet places to read. Then there are the more out there ideas, like the Hello Kitty or Lego cafes (which I will get to at some point). The one I want to inform you all about is The Princess Diary Cafe. Fun fact- I love fairy tales and princesses, the whole shebang. So clearly, after being told it existed, I was so at a cafe where you could dress up like a princess. ( Yes, you heard me right- dress up like a princess. )

Last month, I gave you all a pretty extensive review of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and one of the things I mentioned was that it took a very, very long time to take a tour of the place. I said straight up that it felt impossible to do it all in one afternoon, and I completely hold to that. There was, however, another reason that I found it hard to see the whole palace. That reason was that Gyeongbokgung isn't the only thing to see near the palace, and I had to take some time to see (rush through) them as well. One of those things is a quick look from across the street, and the other two are museums. ( It's a LOT to do in one day, but it is possible to see the palace, the house, and the two museums in one day...just be prepared to be exhausted by the time you're heading home. )

I'm a very, very organized person. I plan most things down to the tiny details, especially when it comes to any sort of writing. My travel guides are the same. I have the order already planned, so I could tell you exactly what I'll be covering a year from now. I can go off schedule if I need/want to, but I usually try to stick to it. Yet every once and awhile, something comes up that you see a reason to go off script. The world gives you a perfect opening to a topic, and you have to take it. This is one of those times. I don't know if it's reached the Canadian media, but Korea has been in the news lately, and not for a good reason. There have been massive protests in Seoul, with huge crowds from a number of diverse groups protesting in Seoul (and being put down with a great degree of violence). The people are angry for a number of reasons, many of which are just too extensive to put into one travel guide. One of those reasons is the government imposing a new, universal textbook to be used in all Korean schools. While I haven't read the book myself, most of the teachers and educational professionals have panned it, saying it downplays the terrible things that happened during the military dictatorship (that went until the 80s), villainized the pro-democracy movement, and made a lot of excuses for the politicians who were quite pro-Japanese. The government has claimed the historical revision is because the current way of teaching doesn't make Korean students proud of Korea/their history (always a red flag), and while reading/watching the news of all this, I was reminded of a place that I visited in Seoul. While it's not as dramatic a place as protests at city hall, there's a remnant of the history they're talking about there. ( This is the perfect time to talk about it...so I give you the Seodaemun Prison History Hall and Independence Park. )

Once upon a time, I spend a few months living in the city of Incheon. Still connected to Seoul by public transport, Incheon is Korea's main port city, where large container ships dot the seascape and most international travellers pass through (Incheon International Airport is the main airport into the country). Not only is it incredibly important to trade, but historically, Incheon is a pretty big deal. This is where the famous Incheon Landing in the Korean War, where the Americans joined the fight against the North happened, and that's one of the reasons that eventually the North was beaten back. For all that it's economically and historically important, and I'm going to have to give Incheon a bit of the short straw when it comes to 'interesting things to do'. There really aren't that many things for me to recommend in general, because there really wasn't all that much to do. Shopping and eating yes, but when it came to just going out and doing something fun for the day? Not so much. That said, there are still a few things I can suggest. ( Two of those things are, rather continently, in the same spot. Those two places are Chinatown and Jayu Park. )

Back in September, I did something I've been wanting to do since forever- I went to my first Con! Alleycon is the name, and it's down in Gwangju (a handful of hours south of Seoul). It's a tiny thing, but a friend and I went down for the weekend and had a blast!

There weren't many people, but people who were there were pretty cool. It was a really laid back atmosphere, which was really nice for my first con (less stress). There were some great, really informative writing panels (one of coming up with stories in general, and the other on self publishing. The last one I found especially good, since you never know if I'll go that route someday. It now seems far less of a terrible idea if traditional publishing doesn't work out). A third panel I went to was on Game Theory, which was a lot more complicated than the first two (and kind of random), but I actually managed to understand a good part of it (thank you TV!). It's basically how people will react in situations, based on logic. It was interesting, and totally a thing you can use later on when coming up with how characters in are going to act in whatever you're writing.

Outside of the writing, there were a few costume/acting panels. One was make up (fun fact- I didn't realize how much effort goes into seriously applying makeup. It's downright bewildering to someone who rarely uses it. I salute you, ladies and gentlemen who take the time). The second was supposed to be about getting into character for cosplaying, but it turned out to one about acting in general. That didn't actually apply to me, but it was fun. It was full of those 'practice walking this way' kind of exercises. It was so silly, but it was good to feel silly. I hadn't done that in awhile. The same woman did both workshops, and she was so good. She was really nice and approachable (actually, everyone working at the Con was. They were all so welcoming and great), and man did she kill her cosplay (Snow White day one, and then a Vulcan on day two). Another workshop, which kind of goes with the acting, was how to choreograph a fight scene. Also a blast- I now know how to make it look like I'm beating someone up. I looked really good too! I'm good at fake fighting, especially slapping. Since then I've shocked some of my students with it.

Of course, there was cosplay! My first cosplay! It was pretty low key, with not as much effort put into it. Tracking down some of the pieces was hard, but an overall simple but effective costume. I was Capable from the new Mad Max. I rocked it, and my friend went with Nux, so it was a pseudo couples costume (it was funny, because a photographer said something about a category for couples and then started to backtrack awkwardly, and I just turned to my friend and said 'see! I told you!). We didn't win of course, but posing in costume was 100% worth it.

All that said, it was kind of disorganized at times (a timetable/map was only available on the internet or a Smartphone app, which left my Smartphone-less self out in the cold). There were also random room changes. discussions being booked that was basically just a table (I'm so sad no one showed up for the Tolkien discussion. I was SO excited for that) that weren't clearly marked. You know what though? It was the perfect way to dip my toes into the world that is Cons.
If possible, I am totally going again next year.