Turtles and Korean temples
Korean temple near Mt. Mudeung
This temple was locked up by the time I was finishing my hike on Mudeungsan. The location is on the Gwangju side of Jeungsimsa Temple (증심사), just inside Mudeungsan National Park.
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Posts tagged gwangju
Corona – Mexican Food in Gwangju
Corona – Gwangju ROK
My second visit to Corona was as pleasant as the first. This time I ordered tacos (mild spiciness) and an Indica IPA from Eureka, California. The owner seems to be ordering his imports based on the ratings they receive on beeradvocate.com. I was chatting with him about this when his latest shipment came in. Included in the shipment were a number of beers from Anderson Valley Brewing Company. He comped me a bottle of their Belk’s ESB. Corona also has something called Red Rock (on tap no less) that is supposed to be made by OB, but I can’t find out anything about this beer, and the owner of Corona says it is hard to find in Korea even though it is about the only decent Korean beer.
Hours now seemed to be fixed at noon to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. If you are coming from a distance (or with a large group), you may want to call first (062.251.7221) as they do close the place from time to time for private parties. Corona had two different groups reserve the place for different times on Friday evening.
Here is a photo of Corona from the outside:
Corona location near the back gate of CNU down the street with Dunkin Donuts on the corner
Hike up and over Mudeungsan and then back into Gwangju
Panorama of Gwangju from the side of Mudeungsan
I did the “six hour” hike on Mt. Mudeung (무등산) a couple days ago. Today’s photo is from about an hour in. Believe it or not, after taking this photo I made it to the top of the mountain and then all the way back down into the city pictured below where I took the Gwangju Subway for the first time to get back to my bike. The hike actually took me about eight hours, but I took lots of photos along the way and got slightly lost once as well. Note if you ever plan to do this hike (especially in summer when it’s in the 80s or 90s and humid) that you can fill up your water bottles at Jangbuljae Pass. My guidebook (2010 edition of Lonely Planet Korea) says restaurant shacks can be found along the way, but they have all been cleared out since this became a National Park. In other words, bring your own food. Also note that if you ask the ranger at Jangbuljae how much farther it is to the Hakdong-Jeungsimsa Subway Station (학동·증심사입구역) and he tells you two hours, don’t believe him. Even on fresh, running legs I couldn’t have made it that far in two hours. As it was, my legs were already spent, and the last few hours were rather difficult even though it was all downhill.
Park talk
Old Korean ladies chatting in the park
With summer in Korea being as hot and humid as it is, it is not surprising to find these old ladies in the park every day. Perhaps they don’t have AC at home. Usually they are sleeping in this little pavilion in the park, but on this occasion they were actually conscious.
Gwangju panorama
Panorama of Gwangju
This time of year in South Korea, good weather moments are few and far between. When this bit of sky looked like this last week, instead of its normal rainy-season gray, I decided I needed to find a way to the roof of my 7-story building. The doors at the top of the stairs were locked so I ended up climbing out a window and up a 20-rung-or-so ladder to reach the roof. This photo is a photomerge of many photos and covers more than 180 degrees of my view at the time. I haven’t seen more than a few minutes of blue patches in the sky since.
Corona – Mexican Food & Drinks – Gwangju
Mexican restaurants barely exist in Asia. During the three years I have lived in Japan I saw two, and one of those was on a U.S. military base. Chinese and Japanese restaurants aren’t hard to find in Gwangju, Korea, but discovering a Mexican place seemed too good to be true. I stopped by Corona, hoping to eat, three times before finally being able to. The first time was a Monday (and they are closed on Mondays). The second time I showed up at 3 p.m., but they hadn’t yet opened for lunch (now they are). The third time I was really craving Mexican food, but I forgot it was a Monday. 😉
Today (Tuesday) I went by again, and this time they were open! The owner, a Korean named Choong Jun, worked at a restaurant in Los Angeles with a bunch of Mexicans and that’s where the idea came from. He speaks good English. I think he was the first person I have had a conversation with in three days (as I don’t speak Korean).
Anyway, back to Corona… The food is a little different from any Mexican restaurant I have ever been to. It was good, on the spicy side, and inexpensive. Next time I may ask for it to be less spicy. I think the menu said something about various levels of spiciness, but I didn’t order any special level.
I had a burrito for about US$5 (6,000 won). It came with chips and salsa (three giant chips that were actually full-sized corn tortillas that had been turned into chips). After I finished my burrito I was given a plate of nachos (covered in cheese, meat, sour cream, salsa, jalapenos, and onions). I don’t think the nachos normally came with my order. Perhaps they were saying “thanks for coming back a fourth time even though we weren’t open the first three times” or they were just working on a new nacho recipe. In any event, I wasn’t charged for the nachos and left absolutely stuffed.
I just noticed that Gwangju Blog did a review of this place in which they complained about the speed of service. My food was served very quickly. Also, the menu looks totally different now. I think Corona did a recent makeover. My food looked better than the photos that they posted.
The drink selection here is outstanding and far more diverse than anything I have seen in Korea thus far. They had about a dozen different beers to chose from which is about ten more than most places. Included in the selection were all the major Mexican beers (Corona, Sol, Dos Equis, Modelo, etc.), tequila, and Lost Coast Brewery’s Indica India Pale Ale. I never expected to see an IPA from California in Korea. They also had things like blue lemonade and Cherry Coke!
Next time I’ll bring my camera for some photos.
You can find Corona near the Chonnam National University back gate. Head down the street/alley with Dunkin Donuts on the corner. Near the other end, look up on the opposite side of the street from Dunkin Donuts to see Corona. They are on the second floor.
The address is 159-8, 2F, Yongbong-don, Bukgu, Gwangju. They are open from about noon to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Maybe they are open later on Friday and Saturday nights.