There’s a cafe on Ganghwado I’d really been wanting to visit. A place called Joyang Bangjik. They’ve genuinely done it well.

The walk to Joyang Bangjik

We parked in the car park and walked over to Joyang Bangjik. It’s a remodelled textile mill, so the place is pretty big.

Entrance

The queue for bread is long, but you still need a drink or some bread if you want a break mid-trip.

A general’s statue

It’s a bit out of nowhere, but it does have a retro feel.

The building inside

Nice atmosphere.

Inside

Drinks menu

The prices are a little steep, but considering how the place has been done up, this much is fair to pay.

Inside

Daelim Changgo is the same way, but old factory buildings have wonderful light coming in through the ceiling. They’ve made good use of the traces of the textile mill.

The inner garden

Breads

Honestly, the bread isn’t all that great in quality.

Breads

Pretty ordinary.

Bread

This is what I bought that day.

Well, it was ordinary.

Inside

It’s hard to capture in a photo so it doesn’t come across, but the inside of the cafe is about the size of a football pitch. It’s genuinely huge and packed with people. The tables and chairs are all retro too.

Decorations inside

It’s full of odds and ends that look like they were picked up at some junk yard, and it really stirs up that retro feeling.

Marilyn Monroe is here too..

The Matrix is already turning up in places like this.

A film from the late ’90s is already a long time ago..

Inside

Inside

I wonder where on earth they found clocks like that.

Squirrels

The garden

The cafe

A dolphin

Lee Ju-il too..

Roman Holiday

Adults surely like the retro feeling, but I’d guess for kids these are an even bigger curiosity.

Anyway, that made it a good place, worth a trip in its own right. For instance, the air conditioners they use inside are all the Carrier brand — if they’d been Samsung or LG units, they wouldn’t have carried the retro feeling the way Carrier does. The bread selection was on the plain side and it’s a touch pricey, but they’ve done the place so well that you should just think of it as an admission fee.

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