Tsuruga

Of Interest: modern sculptures

Lodging: yes

Tourist Office: yes

I only made a brief stop in Tsuruga. Just long enough to find out that no one in the tourist office speaks English, but they do have a nice English-language brochure and map. Also, the local city hall has decided to beautify their town by purchasing a fair amount of public art. There are several modern sculptures placed throughout the town.

Tsuruga is a little less than an hour from Kyoto by express train. You can also take the shinkansen to Maibara and change to an express, but it takes about the same amount of time. Local trains take 45 minutes to an hour to get to Maibara along the Hokuriku line. Trains along this line sometimes only go between here and Omishiotsu which is fifteen minutes away. The trains end there because Omishiotsu is the first stop in Kyoto Prefecture. Train lines often end at prefectural borders.

According to the signs, technically Omishiotsu is the end of the Hokuriku line. However, what line a piece of track is or is not a part of does not really determine where the trains actually go.

Tsuruga is in the middle of an express route that connects Osaka and Toyama. Kyoto is on the way to Osaka. Going the other way this route passes through Fukui (30-45 minutes away), and Kanazawa. Occaisionnally these trains continue on to northern Japan, with ending points are far away as Niigata or Aomori.

The Obama local train starts in Tsuruga and runs to the city of Obama about an hour away. (The people in the area think that it is kind of funny that the US President has the same name as a small Japanese town.) Some of these trains continue on another hour to Higashi-Maizuru, on the edge of neighboring Kyoto Prefecture.

Trains on most routes run once an hour, sometimes less.

Kesennuma

Of Interest: not much

Lodging: one hotel

Tourist Office: yes

Restrooms: Clean with toilet paper and soap

Int'l ATM: There is post office a five to ten minute walk from the station

Kesennuma Station is in a suburban area of Kesunnuma City. As such very little is within walking distance. The city is known for commercial fishing and for seaside tourism. The harbor may be in walking distance for someone who likes long walks.

Two JR lines serve Kesennuma Station. The Kesennuma line, which starts here, follows the coast for most of its journey before heading inland to end at Kogota, Miyagi. Kesennuma is in the middle of the Ofunato Line which runs from Sakari, Ofunato, Iwate to Ichinoseki in Iwate. Both routes are scenic although the Ofunato line from Kesennuma is entirely inland.

Jeonju

Lodging: motels

Tourist Office: Yes

Of Interest: station is at the edge of town

Jeonju is mainly famous for its festivals, especially for its annual film festival. Unfortunately, Jeonju is not very accessible by train. The train station is not within walking distance of downtown, and trains only run about once an hour. They can sell out during festivals.

Until a couple of years ago there was a Jeollabuk-do commuter train that ran from Gunsan to Jeonju, but that has been discontinued. I am curious about what happened to the people who lived near the stations.

Jeonju is a good place to visit. The tourist office has lots of information about what to do in Jeonju and about how to get there as well as about the surrounding area. Besides festivals, Jeonju is rich in museums and artists. There is also a section of traditional houses that is near a Confucian shrine that was important during the Joseon period.

Jeongeup

Lodging: multiple motels

Tourist Office: Yes

Of interest: river walk, Jeongeupsa Park, Chungreolsa temple, Jeongeup Hyanggyo

The name Jeongeup comes from a Baekje era song, one of only five songs that survived to today. The country of Jeongeup is full of historical monuments. In the city itself there are two areas of interest.

Turning right when you leave the station will take you to a small river with paths along both banks. Go left to walk into the city, walk right to walk away. If you walk left along the river for about twenty-five minutes, you will come to Jeongeupsa Park which contains the Jeongeupsa Art Center.

Turn left when you leave the station and then right at the first major street will take you toward City Hall. Chungryeolsa and the Jeongeup Hyanggyo are behind the city hall. Hyanggyo were Joseon-era public elementary schools.

I didn't actually see any of the above. I walked along the river and then through the city instead. It is possible to walk from one end of the city to the other in less than an hour. There are not a lot of sidewalks, but drivers are very polite to pedestrians. I did find the town's central "pedestrian" area. Unlike most pedestrian areas, this one formally let cars drive down it. But there were actually less cars than on some other "pedestrian" areas in Korea because the road was curved like a river. It was also painted blue. There was a exhibition of traditional Korean painting along the road.

I had a hard time finding a restaurant to eat at, but once I did, I was very happy. I just went to a local kim bap place where I had excellent turnip green (yeol mu) bibimbap. One of the things that I like about Jeolla-do is that you can go to the simplest restaurant and eat better than at an expensive big city restaurant.

Busan Station

Lodging: Both motels and hotels. Ask the tourist office for recommendations.

Tourist Office: Yes, excellent.

Of interest: Fake Chinatown, City Tour

There are really two stations, one for the subway and one for the train. They are separated by a plaza which has frequent public events. When I was there last, floats for a Buddha's Birthday parade were being displayed in the plaza.

Busan is the main KTX station for Busan. There is an excellent tourist office here. The staff in this office know a lot about Busan. Ask them any questions that you have about Busan or the surrounding area. They have good maps of Busan and other places in Korea.

Some slower trains for Seoul leave from Busan Station, but most of Busan's intercity trains leave from Bujeon.

Across the street from both the stations is a fake Chinatown. A couple of Busan's older Chinese restaurants are here, but there are more Russians than any other nationality. It is not really that international, and it is kind of skanky at night.

The City Tour buses leave from the side of the station plaza. There are two lines during the day, one going east and one going west. You have to buy a separate ticket for each line. Tickets are 10.000 won each with a 20% discount for people arriving by KTX and for groups of 20 or more. Tours run everyday except Monday.

Busan is spread out along the coast, so these tours are a good idea for a first time visitor. There is also a night time tour that runs once each night.

Seodaejeon Station

Of interest: Costco

Lodging: one motel
Tourist Office: Yes
In Station Computers: Yes

Note: There is also a Seodaejeon subway station which is a fifteen minute walk away from the train station.

Seodeajeon is the secondary train station in Daejoen. Seo means west. This station handles traffic going to the southwest. These trains go to Gwangju and Mokpo. Trains going north go to Yongsan Station in Seoul. There is a KTX line here, but trains are much less frequent than the ones running on the Seoul-Busan line. The upside is that they are also less crowded except for peak tourist season.

The station is located in a residential neighborhood about fifteen minutes by bus from Daejeon Station. The Daejeon Costco is right next door. Several good, but modest restaurants are in the area. There is also a department store, cinema, grocery store complex about five minutes away. Really this area is nothing special although it is a good place to live. It takes about ten minutes to walk to the subway.

There is one motel visible from the main station exit, however, I can't find the entrance when I walk down the street. Actually, getting to this motel may be more difficult than it appears at first.

Daejeon

Of interest: old downtown, traditional food and clothing market, art cinema, city tour

Lodging: Motel

Tourist office: Yes, a good one. There is also an international center across the street.

In Station Computers: Yes

Nearest Int'l ATM: In the underground subway station

Daejeon Station is the main train station for Daejeon. It also has the main tourist information office for Daejeon. This is unusual because few train stations have tourist info offices anymore. The people working here are a good source of information about Daejeon AND Seoul. Note that while the maps and pamphlets on local attractions are in multiple languages, those for Seoul are only in Korean. However, it may be worth stopping here before starting a trip to Seoul because there is NO tourist office at Seoul Station. They are inside. If you leave with the crowds when you arrive in Daejeon, you have to walk back into the train station. The tourist office is on the second floor, the same floor as ticket purchases.

Trains from Daejeon Station run southeast to Daegu and Busan, north to Seoul Station, and into Chungcheongbuk-do. KTX trains run along the Seoul-Busan route. Seoul is about an hour away to the north. To the south Daegu is also about an hour away, while Busan is two hours, all by KTX. Saemaeul and Mugungwha trains take about twice that long, but they are also half as much. There are also five Mugungwha trains a day that run to the mountains. (Trains running southwest leave from Seodaejeon Station.) Cheongju Station, near the capital of Chungcheongbuk-do, is 37 minutes away to the northwest. The line ends at Jecheon, two and a half hours away. At that point travelers can transfer to two other mountain lines.

Daejeon Station is also the name for a subway station which runs underneath the train station.

Daejeon Station is in old downtown. The station plaza is sometimes the location for citizen sponsored events. For the downtown food market, turn to your left when you leave the train station. It starts at the edge of the parking lot.

To get to the international center or the art cinema, go into the subway station to cross the street. There is an underground shopping center. Walk into this. The first set of stairs to your left will take you up to the international center. Keep walking straight away from the train station and shortly you will see some movie posters and flyers. The art cinema is on the third floor. Their website is http://cafe.naver.com/artcinema (Korean). There is also a more conventional multiplex near the station.

There are some good traditional Korean restaurants a five to ten minute walk from the train station. Again, cross under the street through the subway station and exit on the first set of stairs to the left. Keep walking straight, parallel to the train station, until you come to the first street on your right. Walk down this street. On it you will find used clothing stores, a couple of Buddhist stores, and various other small shops. The small streets to your left will take you to a market for luggage, hats, and clothing. Near the end of this small street there are several restaurants.

On the weekends, a city tour leaves from in front of the station.