The Great Wall of Korea

My lord it's been a wierd few weeks! It started with goodbyes and ended in hellos, and all I can say is that I am sad for the for the former and happy for the latter. It all serves as the reminder that we are expats...everything changes all the time. Aaaah the merry-go-round!  

This weekend I needed a change. Korean cities tend to look the same no matter where you are - highrise apartment blocks here, a 7/11 there, throw in a dunkin donuts and a norabang and, yes, it could be a city anywhere in the country. But walking around unknown streets and feeling......away from home.....is highly refreshing sometimes. So we abandoned Siheung for the shores of Suwon.....exciting new place here we come!

Well, yes, it looked the same. Until....what's this? Rising up around Suwon city are the mighty Hwaseong Fortress walls....the Great Wall of Korea! (perhaps I'm getting a little over-excited there). But they are ancient, they are impressive, and skirting 5km around the inner city, it was all we could do to stop ourselves a-hop, skippping and jumping around the trail.

That was, until we got about 4km round, realised we'd worn remarkably flat-footed shoes, and were now walking more like penguins than elegant ladies on a stroll. Neverthless, this did not stop us from entering the 'hat museum' (cap shop) or finishing the beautiful walk, which ended with a 30 foot high golden buddha.

It did, to my regret, mean that we were unable to do the worlds only public toilet tour. Suwon's former mayor went on to be the founder of the World Toilet Organisation, and consequently, Suwon is blessed to have a whole lot of high-quality public toilets, all with pamphlets available at the tourist information office. Alas, penguin feet syndrome meant we could not make it, but I'm sure I'll be back one day.

Instead we jumped into a cab and headed for the bars on Rodeo Street - the main area for bars and restaurants and Long Island Ice Teas, it seems. After getting suitably tipsy after a shockingly small amount of alcohol, we headed to the 'Grand Sauna' sauna to freshen up and go to sleep. The Grand Sauna (which really isn't very grand) offers you a place to bathe and sleep for a mere 7,000 won (£3.50). Pretty reasonable eh?

Well that's because you share a floor with lots of snoring people with a wooden block for your pillow. I couldn't decide whether lying on my back with my head on the wooden block, or on my side facing the dead-looking Korean women to my left, was more comfortable. I decided neither was going to cut it, and so persuaded Nat (who didn't take much persuasion) that we should abondon ship and get a love motel together.

We went to so many motels. The rascals were determined to make us pay almost double the Korean rate, even if the rate was announced on the door. Some owners wouldn't even offer us a room, and refused to serve waiting Korean customers until we left. The cheek! The racism! Thankfully we found a place willing to take the risk of two small English girls and bedded down.

The next morning we took the free shuttle bus to the magical world of Suwon Folk Village. Magical, because it takes you back a few hundred years to traditional Korea. And rural areas of Korea today aren't much different. Besides the fact that it's all fake (and frequently used as film sets for Korean period dramas), it was very pretty and gave an interesting insight into traditional Korean life, which now seems so long forgotten.

The village holds live performances of traditional Korean dance.The dancing is very impressive and must take a lot of skill, but they wear outrageous costumes......did old skool Korea really dress like this? Hmmm....

Doesn't stop me wanting one of those hats though.