What if you feel it's a shame to just look around the Hanok Village and leave?
Want to experience a different kind of Jeonju flavor besides bean sprout soup and bibimbap?

Walking, staying, reading, eating, leaving slowly and affectionately
A trip to Jeonju, a new city that's great any time of year

The first city in the Blue Fragrance emotional travel essay series, "Travel Anytime," for those who are always ready to take a break from their daily lives is Jeonju.
Jeonju is a city where quietly accumulated time and warm emotions coexist.
The author, who has lived in Jeonju for a long time, begins a special guide for those who love travel and books.
From the tranquil atmosphere of Jeonju Hanok Village to the atmosphere of local alleys rarely visited by tourists, the author shares stories of people met in small bookstores and neighborhood bookstores, as well as lesser-known local dishes, through his unique and delicate perspective, providing a new perspective on Jeonju travel.

Anytime Travel Series

Blue Fragrance's emotional travel essay series, "Anytime Travel Series," is a small comma for those tired of everyday life, and a traveler's record of viewing the city at their own pace.
A scene encountered in an unfamiliar alley, the quiet air of a bookstore, even the warmth of a warm meal.
The "Anytime Travel Series" captures a city in depth and at a tender pace.
So that we can start our journey at any time.
If you want to discover a travel destination where you can walk and stay at your own pace, try the "Anytime Travel Series."
There you will discover your next travel destination.

There are places that have been around for tens or hundreds of years, and there are places that disappear overnight.
But the story remains there and still fascinates me.
It's not strange.
So, just stop by.
Spring, summer, fall, winter.
Anytime is fine.
You can do it on purpose or just sneak it in while passing by.
You will find your own breathtaking scenery no matter what season or time.
Tell your story to the city I love.
There are many places where you can see the present over the past, and the future over the present again, among the midday sunlight breaking down on the blue river, the sunset that turns the green, concave mountain ridges crimson, and the stars dotted across the dark night sky.

The Southern Market on Fridays is different.
Long-established shops stay open late, and mobile food stalls are set up in between.
There are so many people that it is difficult to tell if they are regulars or tourists.
Not as individuals, but as a crowd, not as entities with individual narratives, but as the original components that make up the Southern Market.
The night has just begun, and this night-only market seems like it will never end.

In spring, I walked along the stone wall road before the game.
Passing by the Kyodong Art Center right next to Jungang Elementary School, I glanced around to see what exhibitions were on these days and whether they were worth seeing.
There were times when I happened to pass under the white flower buds that were in full bloom in the darkness and were pouring out over the wall.
I reached out even though I knew I wouldn't be able to reach it.
And soon I started to feel regretful.
Whenever I passed by an old writing shop or herbal medicine shop, I could smell the faint scent of ink and the bitter smell of herbal medicine.


A train runs on the Palbok-dong railroad twice a day, at 7 and 11 a.m. on weekdays.
This is a freight train transporting raw materials for Jeonju Paper.
In spring, white flowers of poplar trees bloom along both sides of the railroad tracks, and in summer, green leaves are abundant.
The red train crossing between them looks like a scene from a movie.
Right next door is the Palbok Art Factory, which was created by recycling an abandoned factory.

The Minjung Library of that time and the dozen or so used bookstores of that era have now disappeared, but new bookstores have emerged.
There are still many bookstores in Jeonju.
In bookstores like 'Well-ripened Languages' or 'Wave Narrative', the bookkeepers stack up books they have already read and sell them.
Thanks to them, I still wander between sentences and paragraphs.
A story that seems great comes to mind, only to shrink when you realize it's nothing special.
When I'm happy, I buy books, and when I'm sad, I read books.

When I want to get away but can't turn away from reality, when I'm more afraid of the backlog of daily life I'll have to face after returning than of the act of leaving, I head to the Traveler's Library.
As soon as I open the door and step in, the phrase, “Travel is reading while standing, and reading is traveling while sitting,” greets me.
If you look closely at the letters, you will see, “Yes.
“Traveling and reading are both completed when you return to the same place spatially, but some part of the person who has passed through has completely changed,” he mutters.


I want to share with those I love the moments when the owner's appropriate indifference and the bookshelf's indifferent surprise intersect.
Whenever I have such thoughts, I set a trap by saying, “Meet me at Kafka.”
And he secretly observes the bookshelves they have browsed and the books they have picked up and put down, and when they leave, he secretly calculates the amount and gives it to them as a gift when they leave.
In that way, they often hand over books that they would not have read otherwise.
Open a new door to each other's world.


If I were to stay for a very long time or even forever, I have yet to find a city more suitable than Jeonju, where I have lived so far.

If Seoul is a city where you can rush through the subway at 100 kilometers per hour like a typhoon, Jeonju is a city where you can flow through the city like a breeze at 20 kilometers per hour on a bicycle.
A gentle breeze is the fastest speed I can endure in life.
It's not that I don't leave this quiet city, it's that I can't leave.

When you want to go to the forest or the beach but can't go right now, visit the cold dawn.
It's fun to sit in a corner and watch other people order, whether they're in your group or not.
It's lovely to see a first-time visitor order with a dubious look on their face, then receive a drink and their eyes widen in disarray, and to see a repeat visitor describe their mood or the scenery of the day and wait for a drink to match with sparkling eyes.


First, I quickly drink a cup of mojito coffee, then I slowly savor it with an Americano and a cinnamon roll.
But when cherry blossom petals flutter in the spring breeze, when green leaves flutter in the midsummer rain, when leaves fall one by one in late autumn, and when white snow falls in midwinter and snowflakes bloom on the bare trees, I put down my book and stare blankly out the window.
Savor time, not coffee.

--- From the text