Sintaein

Of Interest: downtown of a small town
Lodging: no
Tourist Office: no
Nearest ATM: Nong-hyeop Bank next to the station plaza (There is also a Nonghyeop grocery store.)
Computers in station: no

I went to Sintaein, and there was nothing special there. I had a great time. I didn't find any particular tourist sites, but I had a good lunch and a good walk. The town spreads from one side of the station, and the whole place is walkable. Most of the residents are older.

While I was wandering around, I found a street of traditional style houses, many of which had the same design on their roof end tiles. The design looked a lot the crests that were the symbols of the old samurai families in Japan. This is the first time that I have seen something like this in Korea. Further research is needed.

Sintaein is on the Yongsan - Gwangju/Mokpo line in Jeoneup-si.

Photo or photos will be added as soon as my computer problems are fixed.

Iksan

Lodging: No
Tourist Office: No
Of Interest: peach jam

Iksan is the point where the Jeolla and Janghang lines meet the Honam Line. The most interesting thing near the Iksan train station is the covered market. I went in the early evening when it radiated the color of sunset.

But what I remember most is peach jam. I have been looking for peach jam everywhere. I used to be able to find all kinds of good jam in the basement of the Galleria department store in Daejeon, but not anymore. The grocery stores have strawberry and grape which I don't like. The snooty bakery downtown has things like mangopassionfruit (alloneword). In Busan I found fig. (Note: the peach jam was gone the last time I was there.)

Iksan is about an hour and forty-five minutes from Yongsan (Seoul) and fifty minutes from Seo-Daejeon by KTX. Those times are three hours + for other trains to Yongsan and an hour+ for Daejeon. Going the other way, it takes an hour to go to Gwangju and an hour and a half to go to Mokpo by KTX. By Saemaeul or Mugungwha, it takes 75-90 minutes to Gwanju with a trip to Mokpo taking about two hours. There is also a line to Yeosu that is Saemaeul/Mugungwha only that takes two hours to get to Suncheon and two and a half to arrive in Yeosu.