so this morning was a bright clear sunny day and the weather had finally turned for the better. breakfast was a fish noodle soup and i had to tell my landlady that would be enough for today. i noticed a lookout point on the mountain from the bus so i walked over to get a clear city view shot of all the skyscrapers and the seoul tower. then took the long train ride to suwon again with vendors peddling shaving machines to magic wipes!

video : mountaintop panaroma http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/21/zF0ipMC6QpE
video : subway vendor http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/20/POjGcC1Ibow

its actually a one hour ride and made me realize you could still technically be living in seoul but commuting one hour to the city centre. today is like boxing day, now that everyone has done their family stuff yesterday and still have a holiday, guess where they all decide to go... suwon! this is a must see location for anyone living in korea that hasnt gone and its very popular due to its closeness to seoul. the first thing you realize when you get to suwon station is its desi central as they are everywhere!! so the roads were like on a bank holiday in england and barely moving. there was a free shuttle from the train station to the village but what would have taken 20 mins took an hour.

when we arrive, the line ups for the ticket kiosks are just as bad and are stretching into the parking lot. luckily i found a shorter queue that was obscured so only waited 15 mins. there was even a helicopter from a tv station circling to film all the crowds. i was amazed from the moment i entered the gates.

they had a village troupe in full costume including elders, children, village leaders, and peasants. they were doing some sort of ritual dance honouring their surroundings. but the fun part is they moved around the folk village so the crowd of onlookers kept moving around the village as the performers moved to various parts of the village.

video : farmers march http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/19/0E2fBRxy3io

then i branched off and moved to the performance stage area. the first act was another farmers dance of men using long ribbons, drums, and jumping and twirling 90 degrees in the air. the next performance a little area over was the equestrian riders. this can only be described like mongolian horseback riders i've seen on tv. they would stand up, jump off, jump on, stand upside down, swing sideways, stack two people, fire a bow and arrow, and all other kinds of acrobatics.

video : farmers dance http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/17/7zt2pcnqrAw
video : horseback acrobats http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/15/LSBul_EZAVE

the third performance later on was a tightrope walker who would again do various acrobatics such as hopping, running, walking backwards, stand on one hand, jumping on the rope and landing on his bottom, and more. these three performances were definately the highlight and well worth the long ride getting here. there was a fourth wedding ceremony performance but i had to skip that

video : tightrope acrobats http://www.youtube.com/user/londone73#p /u/14/P-Sl1c07cVY

the rest of the village is a mock traditional village, but is also used as a film set for movie and soap operas. there were various signs showing where famous scenes had been filmed. there was also a folk museum and other areas i didnt get to see as i wanted to take the bus back to town to see the fortress. the free bus was every hour and only 20 mins, or the regular city bus takes one hours as it goes thru all the local neighbourhoods, so i wanted to catch the free one as it was quicker.

the fortress was a bit of a trek longer than it looked on the map but was also amazing. this is a walled city like what i saw in xian china with different gates and city wall. you can walk the perimiter of the city wall and its kinda like the great wall of china meets the quebec city walls. this area is also a unesco world heritage site. in the centre is another traditonal style palace.

suwon has definately been a highlight of this week and i would definately go back. one day is not enough and you lose an hour commuting from seoul each way. next time i would stay overnight in suwon and explore both places properly. i was also meeting a friend later who lives in suwon, or so i thought, but he's actually 45 mins out so a long trek into seoul for him when he wants to go