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

Posted on July 13th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: beer, corona, food, gwangju, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Corona – Mexican Food in Gwangju

Signs in Mudeungsan National Park pointing hikers in various directions

My first time on Mount Mudeung was confusing, to say the least. I didn’t have a plan, and there were so many trails, taking me who knows where, that I knew I needed to come back with a better plan. Near the bus stop where Bus 1187 drops you off, you will see the above fork in the road. The trails are pretty well marked but for some of them they are only marked in Korean.

The map below can be viewed in much more detail if you click on the image. This large map with hiking trails and key locations clearly listed in Korean and English can be viewed near the bus stop as well.

Large map of hiking trails on and around Mount Mudeung (Gwangju, South Korea)

My plan for next time is to begin at Wonhyo-sa, climb up to Seoseokdae and Ipseokdae, pass Jeungsimsa (증심사) and Uijae (Art Museum), and then walk to the Hakdong-Jeungsimsa subway station (학동·증심사입구역). Supposedly this takes about six hours.

Note that guidebooks usually refer to Mount Mudeung as Mudeungsan Provincial Park, but the name was changed to Mudeungsan National Park in 2013.

Posted on July 9th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: directions, hiking, Mount Mudeung National Park, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, signs. Comments Off on Mudeungsan National Park (무등산국립공원) Hiking – so many choices…

Photomerge of Dragon Lotus Pond (용지) @ CNU in Gwangju, Korea

My office on the Chonnam National University (전남대학교) campus is in the Yongji Building which is right across the road from this lovely lotus pond with the same name. The pond is actually larger than this photo makes it look. This is a photomerge of about six images so it includes about 180 degrees of view. During the current rainy season seeing the pond looking like this is rare as the more typical gray sky usually makes it look rather drab. I grabbed the chance to take this photo when a rare bit of sun and blue sky came poking through the clouds one day.

Posted on July 7th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: chonnam national university, clouds, gwangju, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, photomerge. Comments Off on Yongji Lotus Pond

Chungjangsa Shrine (충장사)

I had a day with no plans in Gwangju, and the weather forecast was for “clear” (for once). I wanted to check out the nearby national park. My guidebook said to get on Bus 1187 at the bus terminal. I had never been to the bus terminal before, and my map was pretty bad. I finally gave up trying to get there by bike, parked, and walked over the train tracks via a foot bridge. On the other side I realized I wasn’t going to find the bus terminal easily, it was hot, and I was frustrated so I caught a cab. I told the cab driver I wanted to go to Mt. Mudeung. He made it sound like that wasn’t possible. I’m not sure if he thought I meant I wanted him to actually take me to top or if he just didn’t want to go there because it was morning and he would have to come back down with an empty cab. In any event, I assumed the former and tried to explain that I wanted him to take me to where the buses drop people off. He understood bus, and proceeded to take me to a bus stop. Oh well. At least I could now take a bus into the park.

Bus 1187 (fare only 1200 Won or about $1), it turns out, stops all over the place including the Gwangju Train Station, a place I could have easily found had I known it stopped there.

The park was incredible–like entering another world. I hiked around for four hours or so before ending up at Chungjansa, pictured here. This isn’t one of the more famous shrines or temples in the park, but it was pretty darn cool since the weather was fantastic and I had the place to myself.

Next time I’ll take a different route. You can easily head into Mt. Mudeung National Park (무등산국립공원) numerous times and never hike the same trail twice.

Posted on July 6th, 2013 under Korea. Tags: gwangju, Mount Mudeung National Park, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600. Comments Off on Chungjangsa Shrine (충장사) in Mount Mudeung National Park

Honkki Japanese Restaurant menu (near back gate of Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea)

Most Korean restaurants aren’t set up for single, foreign travelers. The menus are only in Korean, the portion sizes (and prices) are for two to four people ordering one thing, and the tables are set up for parties of four (or less frequently parties of two). Some places even turn you away if you come in by yourself. One workaround if you can read Japanese is to patronize Japanese restaurants in Korea. Although the employees won’t likely be able to speak English or Japanese, the two that I have been to have menus in both Korean and Japanese so at least I know what I’m ordering.

On this day I went with the Miso Ramen (みそら～めん).

It was good, one of the better bowls of ramen I’ve had outside Japan. The half a hard-boiled egg was a little different than how eggs are usually served in Japanese Ramen, but other than that it seemed pretty authentic.

Posted on July 5th, 2013 under Japan, Korea. Tags: food, gwangju, Nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D nikkor lens, Nikon D600, ramen. Comments Off on Ramen in Korea