Suwon

A city south of Seoul with a big history is Suwon.
There is a large fortress surrounding the original city that has been mainly restored but still gives a glimpse of how it used to be.
It's a popular spot for those looking to brush up a little on korean history and marvel at some of the architecture.

The new city has built itself outside of the gates and makes an interesting contrast.

Inside is a palace of the provinces kings. There were many and here is me with some of his girls.

You can sample traditional korean life here. This was the kitchen. The palace is set out like a story book of one girl. In this room she passes her chef's exam. Many of the ancient artefacts remain.

This is part of a praying (to Buddha) room.

Cheryl hiding when the camera is near.
The back of my new favourite t-shirt as I'm looking around it says "waygook saram" I wonder who can guess what that means.

This man and horse were getting ready for a demonstration which I will show you shortly...


I took this picture just as a snap of korean life. This is just outside the palace but these men are just sitting, chipping at the brick while tourists ignore them.

There was a display for the entrance of the king. It was very impressive. The korean life continued inside with pottery and paper making.
The king observes his subjects in almost a roman gladitorial way.
The flags of the returning hunting party.
Trumpeteers

These guys were actually playing shells and it sounded pretty good (for a horn)
Musketeers proving thier hunting skills.
And the archers followed suit.

We were able to get pics with the king who made the most of his acting role. He recieved a great ovation and shook everyone's hand. I was almost sure he was really noble.

The base of statue for buddhism, just wanted to show the detail as well as the size.

No bad people are allowed in Suwon. It's as if the ancients knew where modern people were going to build the train station!
More monuments to Suwon's fallen heroes. Korea loves to recognise it's brave.

The statue I showed you the base of earlier.
Inscriptions on the wall. These show many things about the traditions, almost like cave drawings.

Seoul Grand Park

south of Seoul there is a a huge park which contains a zoo, an amusement park, an art centre and an expo convention. There was also an aquarium at a nearby shopping centre so we thought we'd take a look.

I don't know if Cheryl prefers playing with the fish or the kids but she helped the koreans feel the fish furthest away.
The turtle stayed fairly still for this pic in a shark tank.

If you enlarge these pics you'll see that koreans have wierd fish tanks, check out the tv's, fridge and washing machine.

A sea lion and dolphin show was realy impressive. I'll try and post some video.




There was a cool chairlift around the park that gave some great views.

Finally we ate dinner in an Egyptian restaurant. Thats right in Korea I have been to Egyptian, Morocan and Indian restaurants. The Japanese sushi doesn't appeal to me though.