Back from Suwon...

An afternoon after going out of the Catholic University Hospital in Suwon. The silhouette of the buildings over Suwon....then..I grabbed a bus...heading towards Suwon Station.

and enroute to the station...I got myself fancied over the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress that encapsulates the city of Suwon. Now..I was approaching the Paldalmun Gate (팔달문).

Taking pictures on the moving bus...yet I could appreciate the view that it offered.

This Paldalmus is dubbed to be the southern gate of Hwaseong Fortress. It is said to be the only detached gate of the fortress. I didn't know why...but I bet there must be reasons for this. (learn your history, Suray..:)^^ 

then...as the bus continued its journey...suddenly there were locations that rang the bell. Yep..I'd been there, of course. 

Now..more and more facades of the Hwaseong Fortress came into full view through the window of the bus. 

I bet...taking a stroll along the fortress while learning the history behind this walled-city could be an inviting course....maybe next time.

Then...as far as I could see...the fortress' magnitude came into full view..as I was driving away ..from them. 

There were people jogging or strolling along the perimeter of the wall...which I presume is all public spaces.  

Oh, I got informed that with only 1,000 Won admission ticket for an adult, we could explore the whole fortress. Sounds too good to be true.  

I shrunk the pictures so as to give a perspective of what's cool about Suwon...has to be found by ourselves. 

See you again, Suwon.

Korean traditional wedding ceremony

It was still in 민속촌. After watching the whole session of tightrope trapeze, I rushed into the 'nobleman (yangban)'s mansion' where an elaborate Korean traditional wedding was about to embark its journey.
Since it is carried out daily as part of the show, I wonder that the bride and bridegroom must've gotten married everyday and repeat the whole session  each day...in their life.
In addition to its long and seemingly tedious processes of wedding ceremony, I guessed that was what really happening. ^^.

So, the so-called priest and the whole family came and recited the process of the ceremony.
I found it attractive to see it live like that..despite its being 'touristy'.
Ok, back to reality.
We were ushered into the realm of traditional and yet nostalgic feeling of what it would've been like being  a bride at that time...^^
Since there were lots of spectators, I could not find a proper angle to take the picture, though. But I do hope that it pretty much summed up what did happen on that day.

Autumn in Korean Folk Village 민속촌 (part 3)

It was the traditional Korean dance performed by villagers' farmers to celebrate the harvest. I suppose that was the meaning of it all.
As soon as we got there, we knew that in about 20 minutes or so, some performances were ready to start.
First, at 11.00 there was this so called 'farmers' music and dance; followed by acrobatics on a tightrope at 11.30. So, it was a good timing that we came at about 10.15 so that we could see the whole programs available in the village.

There were hundreds of people visited the village today. I kinda wonder if this was an everyday sight Should this be true, well then...the village can be considered as a success in itself in term of attracting     the visitors to come. 

Oh, about the performance: I liked the farmers' dance since it was really an interesting combination of music and dance with a twist. Samulnori--Korean traditional musical instruments--that accompanied the dance stirred the whole spirit of the dance. 

As for the tightrope show, it was not that attractive, but still it stirred the crowds' cheers since  it showed a bit of suspense of what to expect from an elderly and aged man in his 60's who's still doing this as his job at his age. I mean.....shouldn't they just find younger generation to inherit his skills?

Autumn in 민속촌 Korean Folk Village (part 2)

I loved the way the village is outlined and sketched (in the first place).
I mean, it does not have any paved street or roads. Instead, the dirt, rock, leaves, and all of the past-time ambiance and nuance are all right there.
It seemed like we were going back to the past with minor disruptions like: public telephone, ATM, automatic toilets, etc --which are OK considering this is --after all --a tourist area.^^
But, still..the atmosphere is somewhat different, once again, I am sure it was because I went there in Autumn.

Ducks freely goosing around a lake inside the village...

 

I wonder if it was how it looked in the past, suppose it was...what a tranquil place , indeed

A stone bridge over a creek inside the village.....

A thatched-roof house with a watermill 

A stable with horses at large...

another angle of the colorful Autumn

One of the visage: donkeys used to be treasures, I guess.

A look out into a stable with horses around it...

A typical village road in Korea (back then)

I love the ways falling trees just scattered all over the place...just like that...

I would not have loved it, should it be in Summer:)^^

another tranquil stream ...

a lonely boat in the midst of Autumn

Autumn in Korean Folk Village - 민속촌 (part 1)

Friday, Nov. 4, 2011.
Autumn really soaked into my feeling.
Although my sentence seemed a bit odd and weird, I think it pretty much summed up the feeling I had inside me when I visited the 민속촌 or Korean Folk Village.
It was a good time to visit this traditionally kept village where villagers* still live there.
Autumn atmosphere greeted me when I set my feet there.

I was impressed by the tranquility of the lake (I am not sure whether it was man-made or nature-made stream).
One thing for sure, it was like a calm picturesque nature ....lost in time.
I guess it would not be this pretty in Summer. That's why I was impressed to visit this village during Autumn.
*  I just learned that the people are paid to live there. Well, somebody got to pay for them since it must be hard to be living the way they are in this modernity. After all, it is a tourist area.

South Pole, anyone?

Yes, it is easy to find South Pole 남극점. At least the direction is clear should we go there from Suwon. Yes, this road sign stood majestically visible at the entrance towards the Suwon palace. I wonder why someone bothered putting it here in the first place.

The funny thing is that....if South Pole is into that direction, why is it that Sydney is any different?

I thought they were in the same direction....hmmmmmm

Paint Ball War

Would the real-war would give time
for its soldier to take a pose, eh?

The first time ever for me. Well, the first thing that came up to my mind when I read an announcement about it was ....that...hmm.....it would be worth to try. Oh, well.
It was indeed, really.
How would I miss such a hilariously fun time 'killing' and 'shooting' our own friends in the real-field and war-like   'jungles' ^^ (chuckles).
I thought that I might just quit the stance when I first got a chance to listen to the instructor of the 'game' on how to's and what's not to's during an orientation. It sounded so tempting and dangerous at the same time. But, I might as well do it since I was there all along. I may have regretted it had I not tried it on.
Yep, it was true.
I was glad that I decided to play in the game.

bla-bla-bla safety precautions

We arrived in a remote area I did not know where. ^^ But, I am sure that it was still in the vicinity of Suwon.
There were around 60 of us; divided into two groups: Asian guys with mostly European girls (group B) VS European guys with mostly Asian girls (group A).
I did not know what in the world should we be divided into such a criteria....Oh, swell.....it did not bother us.

....
Off we went to change our clothes. The first impression: OK. got to do it. Looked so fun.

action!!! see the smoke?

The helmet: cool. the guns: cool, only to find that they were in different sizes for girls and boys. Oh, swell. I got mine which was a bit heavy, actually.^^
The trousers: hmmm that green Army-look type trousers....which were too big for me^^
But wait: there were some restrictions and precautions that we must take heed of since we did not want to injure others or let alone ourselves simply out of stupidity of -- say -- not locking the safety pin when taking a rest:) or the bullets just blow us off.^^ WHaat? : well, that was what the instructor said..:(
...
Off we started the games.

hmmm.....where are my friends?

We loaded each of our guns with yellow bullets made out gelatin. They were as big as usual marbles. Look so intimidatingly cute but, what if they hit us?
IT TURNED OUT to be so painful. especially when it hurt our arms or legs.

serious-looking Jobirson

It would not be a big problem should the bullets hit our helmet for they would easily melted, dissolved, or splashed into colorful arrays of colors^^. Mostly, yellow and blue.
I wouldn't imagine them being red!!
Oh, the sound of the speeding bullets spreading around the 'jungle' was ear-splitting though actually it was just a pop with a hissing sound. I would not imagine what it would be like in the real wars. Guess, never want to get one of those.
The four-round game lasted for about 2 hours. An exhausting game, but it was really fun, especially for me: the first timer.
Once again, was it worth-it? Oh, yeah.