Boeun, the city where time has stopped

My first impression of Boeun after leaving the terminal was that it was a 'city where time has stopped'. On the road without a single convenience store, there were old-looking neighborhood supermarkets like 'Daily Supermarket' and 'Haetae Supermarket', and inside the supermarket where I went to buy water, there was a refrigerator with an advertisement for 'Cola Independence! 815 Cola!' and a safe at the checkout counter made by Lucky Goldstar. On the way to Beopjusa Temple, I was dazzled by a tourist hotel with dusty windows, an unattended arcade, and a 'nightclub' heavily armed with neon signs. At this point, the entire neighborhood could be used as a set for the drama series 'Reply'. I found out that this area was a popular school trip destination for middle and high schools across the country in the 80s and 90s. This place was booming with students flocking from all over the country. But at some point, the number of schools coming here for field trips began to decrease, and as villagers started heading to the city, this village landscape where time seemed to have stopped was created. The buildings at the entrance of Mt. Sokri still remain as they were when the village was doing well. Are they reminiscing about the so-called 'Leeds days' when the village was doing well? The slogan drawn at the entrance of the Mt. Sokri hiking trail looked lonely for some reason. #safetravel #domestictravel #boeuntravel #lifetraveldestination #lifeshotspot #korea #jhtour