Mummy's Solo Day 5: Gwangju

We slept in a bit more as our bodies were still aching and recovering from the camp but once we were all awake, we were ready to take on the day's adventure. First on the itinerary - Gwangju National Museum. As it was rather inconvenient to take the public transport (subway, bus, walk), we decided to just take a cab from the hotel. The hotel concierge not only called a cab for us but they were able to tell us exactly how long it would take and how much it would cost. Imagine our surprise when the information they gave was spot-on! It is really amazing how they can track everything...well, almost. 

Admission to Gwangju National Museum is free. 

Weekdays 9am - 6pm. Weekends and Public Holidays 9am - 7pm. Extended hours on Sat 9am - 9pm (March to Oct) 

Big garden just outside the museum. 

Call us childish but we did spend some time playing with the autumn leaves. 

The museum consists of 2 floors. The museum has English, Chinese and Japanese tour guides and we were very blessed to have an English guide, Mr Yoo Soo Woong, available when we were there. Mr Yoo was a retired principal of an elementary school in Korea and is now volunteering in the museum. 

The museum does not have much English description. Most just comes with the English titles so having an English tour guide was very useful. We gained so much valuable insights because of all the explanation and that made our visit to the museum so much more meaningful. 

Some of the pottery display.

The walkway outside the museum. Due to the lack of time, we had to move onto our next destination. Gwangju National Museum is definitely a place where you should spend a few hours in. We spent 2.5 hours and wished we had more time to unearth the marvelous history. 

Just outside the museum. It was really refreshing to see the city surrounded by so much nature. 

Next stop - Gwangju Arts Museum. Located about 10 minutes walk away from the National Museum, there are several exhibition halls and it would take another few hours to explore all the halls. 

Situated in a big park and there were many families having picnic. A good family bonding spot, with a nice cool weather to boot. 

Our view from the roof-top garden at the Arts Museum. 

Art installation outside the museum. It sure inspired me to get more shoes. 

Just a short walk away from the Arts Museum is the Biennial Exhibition Hall. 

After all the walking and learning, we were all ready for a good meal. We took a cab to the town's famous buckwheat noodle store. According to the taxi-driver, there is no one in Gwangju who does not know Chongwon Momil. Chongwon being the store's name and momil being buckwheat. We were brought to the store in a jiffy and when we got there, we realized it was already almost 3pm!

We took the recommended dishes - buckwheat noodles and buckwheat soba. 

No worries about ordering as there are pictures on the menu board. 

Enough for three hungry ladies. 

The store front. 

As we were all tired from all the cultural immersion, we decided to take a slow and easy ride back to the hotel. Gwangju definitely has more to offer and if you have the time, do spend at least 3 days there to enjoy the city.