Jeonju Hanok Village Hotel (전주한옥빌리지호텔)

We traveled 3 hours from Busan to Suncheon, then waited for about 30 minutes to transfer to normal train. It took another 1 hour from Suncheon to Jeonju. In total we spent 4 hours on railroad. Actually, we just want to experience S-train. ^^ 

Simple yet pleasant looking Jeonju Station...

Gallery with giwa roof outside the station.

Gallery exhibiting cultural heritage and arts of Jeonju city.

From the station, we took taxi to hotel, but the driver dropped us at wrong place. We walked around but couldn't find the hotel. We asked few people and we ended up walked here and there, as they gave different directions. Luckily, another man asked us to follow him after he called the hotel. And he walked us to Pungnammun and pointed to us the direction to our hotel. Thank you kind Ahjusshi. ^^

Jeonju Hanok Village Hotel

Finally, we arrived at the hotel after wandering for half and hour around Joongang Elementary School. The hotel is actually situated in the heart of the city. Pungnam Mun, Gyeonggijeon, Jeongdong Church and other attraction sites are just about 5 to 10 minutes walk away. 

In Jeonju Hanok Village, of course you'll want to stay in Hanok and experience Han-style. In our previous trip, we stayed in 300 years Hanok house in Seongyojang, but that time was autumn so it's just normal without ondol floor. 

Partial painting of famous Scenery of Dano Day outside the hotel.

When I browsed the rooms, I found this stylish yet with traditional Han-style hotel with attached bathroom, and some familiar paintings of famous painters Shin Yun-Bok (Hye-Won) and Kim Hong-Do (Danwon) of Joseon Dynasty. 

Hahaha... yup, you're right! I watched Painter of the Wind (바람의 화원).  So, I decided to stay here for 2 nights. ^^

Shin Yun-Bok's paintings.

Top - Dance with two swords (쌍검대무).

Bottom - Pillars of the Tavern (주사거배).

Cool! I stood and looked at the door for awhile... and somehow it's like rewinding drama scenes of these two paintings in my head. Do you still remember? Danwon painted Ssireum (씨름) for 'Fight' topic, and People at the Tavern (주막) for 'Tavern' topic. 

Cozy room with simple wooden furniture, mattress, flat-screen television, mini fridge in good-size room. Mattress, pillows and blanket were nicely fold and keep at the corner of the room. 

They're using durable Korean Hanji paper for walls and windows, and loess (황토) for the floor. Loesspension, where we stayed in Punggi also using loess, as it's effectively keeping the room cold in summer and warm in winter. 

 Mattress with natural cotton padding for bedclothes.

Korean music instruments Gayageum and Drum hanging

at the receptionist counter.

Korean style paintings 

 Korean natural dyed curtain.

You can access to Sky Garden (하늘정원) at 3rd floor. You you can sit and relax at this wooden terrace with outdoor bench, and...

enjoying the view of Jeonju city with the background of

Pungnammun and Jeongdong Church...

Painting on the wall showing Korean people wearing hanbok 

and gat (hat) happily gathering and enjoying food.

Excellent service rendered by friendly woman receptionist during our stay. Their system didn't captured my reservation as no payment made for room rate of 70,000 Won per day.

She asked me which room we want, but I forgot the name of the room with Yun-Bok's paintings. She didn't know which room, she opened almost all the vacant rooms from third floor to first floor for us to see. Finally we found it at first floor...추억 room.  

She also helped us to call and wait for the taxi when we check-out early in the morning. Thank you and sorry for the trouble...

Related Posts:

~ Hanguk Jip Jeonju Bibimbap (한국집 전주 전통 비빔밥)

~ [Jeonju] - Evening at Omokdae Pavilion(오목대) 

~ [Jeonju] - Hanbyeokdang Pavilion (한벽당) 

~ [Jeonju] - Cheongyeonru Pavilion (청연루)

~ [Jeonju] - Gyeonggijeon Main Hall (경기전 정전)

September in Seoul - Live 'FantaStick' Performance [Day 7]

Great that we didn't miss this non-verbal live performance. Initially thought to give it a miss, as we didn't manage to catch the show the day before. Didn't aware that they have 2 shows daily. I thought that there's only 8 pm show daily. My friend helped us to reserve for 5 pm show, and it's so coincidence that 8 pm show was cancelled on that day.

‘FantaStick’ (판타스틱)

Live Fusion Gukak Music Performance 

Thank you Korea In Motion (Koinmo) for free tickets 

from participating in Koinmo Stylist.

Huge Teddy Bear & Nice Wall Paintings outside Fantastick Theatre

Thanks to the pretty lady on the ticket counter that persuaded us to come for 80 minutes show before we headed to the airport for our flight back to Singapore.

~*~*~*~

All  photos credit to Fantastick Facebook Page

The mother of Gugak family started the show reminding audiences 

to silence the handphone, and no camera flash during the performance 

in Korean and English with Pansori singing version. LOL~!!!

Then the huge screen shown the synopsis in Korean, English, Chinese, and Japanese languages:
In the beginning, there were a man and a woman who loved each other. God loved them so much that he gave a 'Heavenly Drum' to the man and a 'Heavenly Flute' to the woman.



But the woman tore off the Heavenly drum because the man got obsessed by the Heavenly Drum. As a result, God hid the Heavenly flute and made her family become ghosts. The only way to turn back into human is to play ‘Fanta-Stick’ music with the lost heavenly flute.


Guess what will happen to them next when the ghosts come to car workshop?

Before the battle start, let me introduce these 2 families: 'Fantasy' (fantasy world created by string music from Gugak Family) and 'Stick' (drumming elements from Percussion Family):

Percussion Family running an auto repair shop and living a fun and peaceful life. One day, they find the heavenly flute in the corner of the auto repair shop. The Gukak family sees the heavenly flute in the repair shop and they tries to take it back from the percussion family. Since then, weird happenings occur to the percussion family every day.

The Percussion Family (타악가문)

* Semachi : First-born son of the percussion family who is very handsome

   Semachi (세마치) is instrument that makes a variety of rhythm. 

* Goodgeori : Sexy and charismatic daughter and takes good care of her siblings in her daily life.
   Goodgeori (굿거리) is the rhythm that has excitement.

* Jinyangjo : Trouble maker of the family but also adorable.
   Jinyangjo (진양조) is the rhythm that is the slowest.

* Danmori : The youngest and cutest daughter of the percussion family.
   Danmori (단모리) is the rhythm that is the fastest in the traditional way.

* Jangdan : Father of the percussion family who keeps family tradition of performance.
   Jangdan (장단) is the Korean traditional rhythm.

Jang-gu: the most widely used drum used in the traditional music of Korea. 

Hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from animal skin. 

The two heads produce sounds of different pitch and timbre, which when played 

together are believed to represent the harmony of man and woman.

Gukak Family became Ghosts because the Youngest Daughter tore the heavenly drum off. They have to play ‘Fanta-Stick’ music to turn back into human. But they can’t play ‘Fanta-Stick’ music without the lost heavenly flute. One day, they find out that the percussion family has the heavenly flute in their auto repair shop. So they try to take the heavenly flute back.

The Gukak Family (현악가문)

* Joong (Sol) : Strict mother of Ghost family, she has heavenly voice.

   Pansori (판소리)  is a genre of  Korean  traditional  music. It  is a  vocal and  percussion  music performed by a  singer 

   and a drummer.

* Lim (Ra) : Daughter who always has odd way on playing Gayageum.
   Gayageum (가야금) is a  zither-like string  instrument  with 12 strings. Recently variants have been constructed with 21
    or other numbers of strings

Pretty Daegeum falls in love with Saemachi.

* Moo (Do) : Beautiful youngest daughter who plays Daegeum.
   Daegeum (대금) is a large  bamboo  transverse  flute. It has a  buzzing  membrane that gives it a special timbre.

* Hwang (Re) : Cold-hearted daughter with gloomy face who plays Haegeum.
  Haegeum (해금) is a string  instrument, resembling a  fiddle. It has a rod-like  neck, a  hollow  wooden sound box, and
  two silk strings, and is held vertically on the knee of the performer and played with a bow.

* Tae (Mi) : Mischievous daughter who plays Ajaeng, that always blamed by others.

  Ajaeng (아쟁) is a wide zither with strings made of twisted silk. It played by means of a slender stick made of forsythia 
   wood, which is scraped against the strings in the manner of a bow.

FantaStick team is comprised of talented musicians, actors, dancers, and mimes to perform fusion percussion, Korean music, B-Boy (breakdancing), acrobatics to create this awesome show.

~Romance and Music~

Sad melody from this bamboo flute and her longing for Semachi...

unexpected tears suddenly rolling down my face. 

Somehow, I fall in love with the sound from the bamboo flute. 

The 'trouble-maker' Jinyangjo accidentally created big problem 

and being blamed by his siblings and father for his reckless action.

He's being chased out and sadly left the workshop...

No... No!!! This is not tear-jerking show, so don't worry that you'll come out with puffy eyes and reindeer nose. The show only consist 10% of sadness. You'll be entertained for the rest of the show and laugh your heart out!

...and wandered around the audiences to get Free Hug.

Sad and hilarious at the same time as nobody willing to hug him!

My 2 kiddos like him the most, as he's the funniest guy! Indeed he's talented performing lots of difficult actions to make the audiences burst into laughter.

well blending of heart pounding percussion beats and heart stirring melodies 

from strings instruments and bamboo flute. 

I love their colorful eye-catching fusion hanbok! The more I see the more I want to get these pretty hanbok for myself!

How's the ending of this Korean Romeo & Juliet?

There's photo-taking before entering the theater for every audiences.

My husband was randomly selected to go up the stage to mimic their actions.

Received Fantastick Tee as a souvenir after completing mimicking. Haha~!!!

It's non-verbal, that everyone could appreciate it without the need to understand Korean language to watch this performance. It's so much fun, interactive, hilarious and entertaining. Really excellent show that even my two kiddos enjoyed it much.

Ok, make sure you catch this 'FantaStick' moment in Seoul or Jeju Island.

Kyunhyang Arthill 2F
22, Jung-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul
For more information on direction and Jeju theater, please check:
www.fanta-stick.co.kr

 

 I'm addicted to this musical show and will catch others performances next time!

 Let me introduce this site, where you can get discounted tickets for the performances.