Do you have any plans after the EIE program? If you don’t have any plans, how about traveling around the Korea by using Rail-ro? Rail-ro is a free rail ticket that allows you to travel on all trains in Korea (except KTX) for 5 days or 7 days. The ticket is only for people under the age of 25. You have to make plans by yourself before traveling by Rail-ro. So we want to help you choose where you go: We recommend Yeosu and Tongyeong!  

  

Yeosu

              Yeosu is a city located on the Southern coast of Korea in South Jeolla Province. It is famous for lots of tourist attractions and delicious foods, so many people hope to visit Yeosu.

Sightseeing

              Among lots of wonderful sights in Yeosu, we recommend Odong-do and Yeosu Expo.

Odong-do is an island, but there is a bridge linking it to the mainland, so you can go there easily-even on foot. It is quite far to walk, so it is better to take the Dongbaek train or to ride a bike. In Odong-do, you should go to the Hallyohaesang National Park. This park has nice views and other attractions such as a bamboo forest, a lighthouse, and a sunrise observatory.

Yeosu Expo consists of 3 parts- Aquarium, Expo Digital Gallery, and Big-O.

The aquarium is the biggest aquarium in Korea. It consists of 4 floors and 3000 people can attend here at the same time. Most notably, it has rare varieties of marine species like the beluga and baikal seal.
 

 

 

At the Expo Digital Gallery, you can see a large light emitting diode (LED), which is installed on the ceiling of the center of the ‘Hall of Universe’. You can watch and experience huge moving images. They show marine life, oriental style drawings, and western style drawings. We recommend that you experience ‘whale of dream’. In this show, whale images are shown to give you the feeling you are really in the ocean among the whales.

The Big O is the most famous place in the Expo site. It has an ‘O’ shape structure, which has a diameter of 35m. The site also features an ocean fountain and a stage which projects over the water. All of this is for the ‘Big O show’. You will not regret watching this show!

Famous Food in Yeosu

              Yeosu is famous for its delicious food, so there is a word 'Yeosu 10 mi' which means 10 famous foods of Yeosu. Among them, we’ll explain two foods: Marinated Crab and Leaf Mustard Kimchi (Dolsan Gat Kimchi).

Yeosu’s Marinated Crab is famous, because it is cheaper and tastier than marinated crabs found in other cities.
 

In Korea, Leaf Mustard only grows in the Dolsan in Yeosu. Because of that, Leaf Mustard Kimchi is specialty from Yeosu. There is also a festival in Yeosu, which is about Leaf Mustard Kimchi.

We hope you enjoy various foods while traveling.

Tongyeong

             Tongyeong is a coastal city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea and the area near it consists of 41 inhabited and 110 uninhabited islands. Owing to the beautiful scenery, the area has been used as a filming location. In addition, Tongyoeng Port, the east gate of Hallyeo Marine National Park, is referred to as the most beautiful port in South Korea. 

Sightseeing
            Which sites are must-see destinations in Tongyeong?　We recommended the Dongpirang Wall Pringting Village, Yi Sun-sin Park and the Undersea Tunnel.

           

The first site in Tongyeong you have to go to is “Dongpirang Wall Painting Village.” This village is located behind the Central Marketplace which is one of the well-known representative fish markets in Tongyeong. When you go to the village, a lot of wall paintings catch your eyes.

           

The second place is Yi Sun-sin Park. Yi Sun-sin is one of the most famous people from Korean history. The park commemorates his patriotic spirit and the Han-san war where the Joseon armies defeated the Japanese forces in the Han-san island sea. The park has a fine view and thus is a nice place to walk around.

           

The last destination is the Undersea Tunnel which connects the city with Mireuk Island. In fact, it was built by the Japanese during the period of colonial rule (1910-45) to shorten the distance between the two areas. Although initiated and implemented by the Japanese, the tunnel has great historical value because the labor and materials used for construction were provided by the Korean people.


Famous Food of Tongyeong

           

The famous food of Tongyeong is honey bread. It consists of red bean jam inside crispy bread. It is fried in oil, and is complemented by Korean starch syrup and sesame. The taste is similar to Manju which is a Japanese bread filled with red bean jam fillings. Owing to its sweet taste, some people don't like it; however, if you like something sweet, then try it! You may be able to be one of the Tongyeong Honey Bread lovers.

           

Like Honey Bread, Chumg-mu style Gimbap is one of the most popular foods. It is not just a typical Gimbap that most people have eaten, but a simple Gimbap, consisting of white rice rapped with kim. With it, people eat some seasoning made into white radish, squid, chili powder, sugar and vinegar which tastes like spicy raw fish salad. In addition, in Tongyeong, there are a lot of restaurants, therefore, it is not hard for you to know where they are.

          Even though Yeosu and Tongyeong are both near the sea, there are some differences, especially in regard to foods and places. In terms of dishes, Yeosu is more diverse than Tongyeong. Because Yeosu isn’t encircled by the sea , they not only developed seafood foods but also vegetable dishes like namul, gimchi. On the other hand, Tongyeong developed the seafood plates, not the vegetable dishes, because most of the areas are surrounded by water. As for sightseeing, Tongyeong has more natural landscapes than Yeosu, it is good for people who love nature to travel. Unfortunately, without any car, their traffic system is so uncomfortable that parents who have children may feel irritated. To them, Yeosu might be a good place. Anyway, Tongyeong and Yeosu are beautiful and nice cities to travel. Thus, it is worth going to both of them. However, if you have to choose one of them, then think about what foods you like and transportation methods.