Korean folk village

Sunday...

Woke up to the sound of more water falling out of the sky. Bummer. Still, Yujung and Greg and I had planned to visit the Korean Folk Village today, and we decided not to let a bit of rain spoil things. So I grabbed my trusted umbrella from yesterday and we headed out. I'm glad we did, because about half an hour after that the rain stopped, the sun kinda came out and it turned out to be a completely nice day.

So the folk village is this big area where they've recreated what traditional villages in Korea would have looked like in different parts of the country and at different points in history. It's extremely well done and they even have a bunch of wood/paper/silk workshops and traditional theatre and dance and acrobatic performances.

It's hard to describe it really, so here's pictures.

Traditional rich landlord's house.

Me visiting rich landlord people.

Horse riding - these guys were spectacular. Those horses were going pretty darn fast and yet their riders were so graceful in their acrobatics.

Lunch being cooked - that's haemul pajan (pancakes stuffed with seafood and green onions)

Lunch. It was really good!

Yujung crossing a stepping stones bridge - she was wearing sandals so I don't think it was too easy, especially since those stones were pretty slippery - I had my "wear everywhere all year round" boots on and still had to watch my step.

Folk dancers - very impressive.

This guy looked like he was about to fall through the entire twenty minutes of his performance - he tripped and hopped and wobbled and skipped and I have no idea how he managed to stay on that rope, with only a fan for balance. That was some extreme tightrope walking.

It was about 6-ish by the time we were done seeing everything at the village - the last show was a traditional Korean wedding, which was extremely pretty - brides look gorgeous anywhere in the world! And then we headed back to Seoul and went for dinner at a laboki place (basically a mix of noodles, rice cakes, vegetables, pork and the spiciest red sauce I've ever had). It was amazingly good, but insanely spicy and two bites into it I was in absolute agony! My ears were hurting, my eyes were watering, I was turning every possible shade of red, and yet I just kept eating because it just tasted so good. It was crazy!! But wow! After that, we had a dessert of fruit and red beans in crushed ice (papingsu)

And I'm back in my hotel now and looking forward to next week. I think I've about covered most of the major touristy activities and places, so now I'll probably just wing it and hang out.

Maybe I'll go to Insadong again (tha arts and crafts alley).

More later...