National Folk Village, Suwon (Seoul Vicinity)

National Folk Village (Seoul Vicinity)

We beat the weather forecasts and took a train down to Suwon as per our pre-planned agenda of visiting the National Folk Village there. We took a train that took about 20 minutes to reach Suwon from Youngdeungpo. We had the option of going in a Metro Train but we decided to take the Korail instead of Line 1. The morning sky was threatening to pour but nothing could deter us and for a change the Rain God was on our side in the wrong way; if you know what I mean.

The tickets were a bit expensive I thought and we had to fork out 14000 KRW (about 14 USD) for each of us. We meaning Bikram, Manoj, Anup, Bindu and Chikoo (the small cutie) were all excited about this rendezvous. The village was well laid out over a huge area. The exhibits were all life size. The farmers’ houses, the layouts, the gardens, the landscapes, they were all real! The added attractions were the performances. Seesaw jumping was quite enthralling, but more than that I enjoyed the “tight-rope walking”. The performer was excellent with his skill and antics that was followed by some equestrian feats. Now that we were hungry we reached the nearby village bazaar for grabbing some traditional type of eats. The bazaar was not only about food but it was also about crafts and souvenirs. Blacksmiths, goldsmiths, carpenters, painters, sculptors, they were all there displaying their respective prowess.

After lunch some of us tried out the huge swings and then we reached an indoor museum. Cameras were not allowed, but neither was I inclined to take any shots of the displays inside. We quickly finished this and somebody suggested that we should get back to the modern world. So off we went to the “amusement park” that was a separate enclosure inside the village. I was not really inclined to take any of the rides, and I sat down with a Coke to relax.

It was getting late and we still had to visit the World Fork Museum and we saw lifestyle exhibits of different countries, though India was missing in the list. The displays were elaborate but due to lack of time we just breezed past them to take our bus back to the station.

Oh I forgot to mention that the confusion of “L” versus “R” has made them spell the word “Folk” as “Fork”. The last piece of advice I would like to impart is that if you have the opportunity, do visit the Lotte World Folk Museum in Jamsil. The experience is going to be much better and that’s a promise provided you are really interested in some in-depth knowledge about Korean culture. Sphere: Related Content