By popular demand: kawaiikunai, vibrators in Gwangju, getting around Jeollanam-do by bus, and more.

In February 2008 I introduced something I had hoped would be a regular feature: "By Popular Demand." Sitemeter tells me what internet searches bring people to my site for the last 100 visitors, but because my pages don't always answer their questions, I tried to adddress some of the more popular or interesting ones. I didn't keep it going long, back when I was getting "only" a few hundred hits a day, and since I was averaging over 1,500 per day in December it's now really hard to do it well. Nevertheless, it's a creative way to be informative and address some of the shortcomings here.

** "kawaikunai translation" Kawaiikunai means "not cute" in Japanese. I used it to describe Seoul's Haechi mascot. Cuz I mean it really is.

** "Gwangju to Songgwangsa" Songgwangsa (송광사) is one of two very well-known temples in Suncheon. The website of Gwangju's bus terminal, USquare, says there are five buses a day from Gwangju departing from gate 21: 8:50 9:55 10:45 14:55 15:45. The 80.9-kilometer trip takes 90 minutes and costs 6,500 won. If you'd like to see more of Suncheon---I actually think Seonamsa is the nicer of the two temples anyway---you can catch buses 63 and 111 to Songgwangsa.

** "how many hours from yeosu to suncheon" Depends how you're trying to get there. According to the timetable on USquare, from the terminal in Suncheon to the one in Yeosu is 37.3 kilometers and will take 50 minutes. I did it backwards there because I can't get a time the other way around since Suncheon isn't the final destination for buses from Yeosu. The bus from Suncheon to Yeosu makes three stops---Deokyang, Seokchang, and Yeocheon---before reaching the terminal in Yeosu.

If you're going by car, Naver maps puts the distance at 33.4 kilometers and says it'll take 55 minutes, though I'm not convinced it takes an hour to drive 21 miles.

** A lot of visitors come here looking for transportation information: "how to get to muju resort from suncheon," "gwangju to gurye," and "what is the website for the intercity bus schedule from yeosu." The first two are easy enough. From Suncheon you can either grab a bus to Muju from Gwangju or Jeonju, so it'll be a long ride. And, from Gwangju to Gurye, a lot of buses make the ninety-minute trip east: 6:20 6:35 6:50 7:05 7:20 7:50 8:20 8:40 9:30 10:45 11:45 12:30 13:05 13:30 14:25 15:05 15:35 15:50 16:05 16:35 17:15 17:50 18:20 19:10 20:00 20:35.

That last question, and indeed all of these transportation-related questions give me an opportunity to bring up a few things. First, a lot of this information is quite easy to find in Korean, and I'll give you some tips in a second. It's unfortunate that tracking it down in English is such a chore, but most people seem to cope just fine. Next, I'll remind you that I spent the better part of a day last April putting together a list of bus schedules and timetables for Jeollanam-do. But, there's one thing that really pisses me off about Korean government websites:



The links break all the goddamn time. That's the link I posted in the spring to "the website for the intercity bus schedule from yeosu," and it looks like I'll need to revise that post next month, though it's really time-consuming to stay on top of all the changes. Here's the link for Yeosu city buses, and you'll find information about intercity buses from Yeosu on the USquare page.

Anyway, if you can navigate Korean-language pages, you can often find bus timetables on the official government pages for your city or county. In Suncheon's case it's listed under the tab "정보광장" under the heading "교통정보" (transportation information), and for Yeosu you'll see the 교통정보 links right on the homepage.

Another link that's now broken is to the timetable for intercity buses out of Suncheon. You can now get that information on that USquare homepage along with information on buses out of Mokpo, Yeosu, Haenam, Jeonju, Daegu, and of course Gwangju.



Go to the page, click on the bus icon on the right, and click the 직행버스 tab.

So, in conclusion, if you're looking for bus information, it's best to consult the webpages for the bus terminals or for the local government. You'll need to be able to navigate Korean-language pages, and it takes a little doing, but it's not too difficult. If you're in a larger city, you can visit a tourist information booth (often at tourist sites or at train or bus stations) and they can tell you what bus to take and when to take it.

** "vibrator gwangju" What? I don't know. A Naver search for "성인용품"---and how the fuck can I make that search without logging in and verifying my age?---shows 14 sex-toy shops, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot more. Hell, even Gangjin county has one. I guess you can buy vibrators there. Ah, Navering 성인용품 brings up the log-in page. Good thing I made a Naver ID for times like this.

** "lotte theater jeonju" Here's the webpage for the Lotte Cinema in Jeonju, but links on movie theater sites break all the time, too. I tried to keep track of showtimes for theaters in Gwangju and Suncheon, but I said in a post last summer that all of the broken links and Flash made it impossible to keep them current. Then, as now, I'll refer you to Korea Movie Times, which has all that information in English.