Suji-gu, A trip to the Korean Folk Village

We've been in Suji now for a couple of weeks and have had the chance to wander the streets and see what we could find. Now, depending on what your looking for thats either a lot, or pretty much nothing at all! Don't get me wrong, Suji seems like a lovely place so far and we're very happy to be here. However, if your looking for a hotspot of social activity and a booming nightlife, you might want to look else where.

Here's what we found, our apartment is nice and well situated in central Suji. With just a 20min walk we're at work, 15mins from the subway station into Seoul, also around that area is a theatre, shopping complex and sports centre. We're only 10mins from downtown which is where we found our favourite restaurant Sor li (I'm unsure of how to romanize it's title) and only 5 mins away from a Lotte Mart. Even closer to home we have some floodlit basketball courts open to the public, literally 30 seconds away. So far so good!

My favourite restaurant in Korea, downtown Suji

With our first weekend here in Suji, we decided to take a trip to the traditional folk village which is here in Suji. Now, whilst exploring, we noticed road signs stating that it was 8 kilometers away from where we are. So, we decided that it would be a nice walk for a sunny Saturday afternoon. With clear blue skies and temperatures reaching highs of 29 degrees, this turned out to be more like a trek in the Sahara for us pasty Brits.

It was all well and good for the first 3K of the trip and we were enjoying the walk, pretty flowers lined the path with beautiful butterflies fluttering around, to make it the perfect rom-com setting. The stench of romantic cheese thickening in the air before being overpowered with the smell of burning skin,  Sophie's pale complexion falling victim the the powerful rays of the sun was set to turn this rom-com adventure into a devastating episode of British soap quality!

Mood and morale soon begins to fall as the realization sets in that we still have 5k ahead of us in this heat, and a little further on decide to take a rest at the first convenience store we came across. With a cold drink and shade we contemplated turning back but decided that the burn would be for nothing if we admit defeat! So we soldier on through what seems like an endless journey, now with the knowledge of future pain that comes with sunburn. 

One thing I've noticed from walking around in Suji is the amount of apartments here, it's unbelievable just how many are here. The skyline in almost every view is an endless sea of apartment buildings!

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I'd hate to be a paper boy in Korea!

As we continued our walk we came to the destination on the map that I had found to be the location of the folk village, only to find out we still had a fair distance to go. When asking for directions we were just advised to jump in a taxi, but having already walked 8k in blistering heat, what's a few more! We took up shelter from the sun in a coffee shop and had a nice cold drink before noticing a road sign stating that the village was only 2k from where we were. So, once our energy was fully replenished, we set out for the final push of what should have been an easy Saturday stroll. 

We Finally arrived at the traditional folk village three hours and 10.5k later, not quite the distance you might have expected from the experiences along the way - note to self, don't make Sophie walk in high temperatures and blistering sunshine, skin exposed with no sun cream for more than 3k! Tired and hungry we decided to head in and find somewhere to park our rears and refuel - restaurant of choice - a pizza cafe. 

I don't think I've ever mentioned before in my previous blog the quality of bank cards here in Korea - they never flipping work! As I try to pay by card for our pizza's, the machine, much like 90% of machines in Korea, doesn't even recognize it. Great, this is shaping up to be a top day. I head off to find the cash machine I had seen on entering the park leaving Sophie at the cafe, only to find out that I can't withdraw any money. Now, I'm sure I had enough money in my account so what could possibly be the problem - Thank you very much Barclays fraud prevention team for blocking my card due to suspicious activity. It's not like I've been living and using it in Korea for the past year!

Lets now put aside the amateur dramatics of our journey and talk about our final destination, the Suji traditional folk village. It's a great place to visit and to be honest a little surprised I hadn't heard of it from last year. The place is huge and full of traditional thatched roofs, tools and tree carvings. With many shows and performances running throughout the day, it truly makes for a great day out. We however, missed all the performances, as we decided to walk and take three hours about it. We must have wandered around for at least an hour or so, and hadn't made it around the whole village before we decided it was probably time to head home. We're here for a year and will have plenty of time to revisit the place earlier, in time for the performances and in better mood. 

A small area of the traditional folk village, Suji

The site isn't just the traditional village either, where we ate was a small fair for all the youngsters to enjoy themselves. Also, there's an art gallery and sculpture garden. I think it cost us about 22,000 Won each (around £15) to get it, but worth it as you can easily spend a good few hours, perhaps the day there. 

Oh, one last thing - we got a taxi home! 

For the full photo album of our day out please follow the link below.

Suji Folk Village