Website Highlight #3 - The Silk Road

Another awesome website that I just found and really wanted to share.  This one is called The Silk Road and is relatively new.  It's a series of short videos about Korea, lots of different topics from shopping and bars to culture and places to visit.

Great videos and what looks to be the start of a really interesting and informative site - be sure to check them out.  The website address is http://www.thesilkroad.tv/ and as always I have put a permanent link in the list of useful sites on the side of the blog.

Sneak Peek at The Silk Road:

Summer Vacation

Yay it's finally here - Summer Vacation.

For many of us teaching here in Korea this coming week is Summer Vacation and I for one am super excited for it.  It will be the first real holiday I've had since coming here, I took a short one to Jeju Island for Winter Break but last Summer I worked at a camp so didn't get a holiday.

Also super excited as I decided to spend a bit of money and go home, I feel like I should go an explore Asia more but to be honest its been a year and a half and I'm a bit homesick.

So I fly out this afternoon and will be in New Zealand by this time tomorrow - I will do Music Monday from home but not sure if I will get to do any other posts.  We will see how we go but I only have one week so will probably be busy trying to do everything and see everyone I want to.

Seoul Metropolitan Subway

The Seoul Subway system is one of the best and busiest in the world. It consists of 16 lines and around 546 stations.

Just looking at the subway system map can make it seem daunting but in fact it is relatively easy to navigate. Lucky for us most of the signs are in both Korean and English and the pre-recorded Subway Station announcements that tell you the station, any transfers and which side to exit are all followed after the Korean by the English translation.

The subway connects almost all destinations of Central and Greater Seoul and due to heavy traffic on the roads it can often times make travel faster.

The cost is minimal, around 1000-2000 won and you can buy your ticket at the stations using the ticket machines (which have English). You can also purchase a rechargeable transport card such as T-Money  - these have the added bonus of being able to be used on the buses and some taxis and they also offer a small discount on ticket prices.

The metro stations are one of the best landmarks for navigation in Seoul. You will find that if meeting someone it is easiest to arrange a meeting at one of the stations as you can designate the number exit to ensure that you are both in the same place.

Seoul Metro Map

There are a few websites that you can use to plot your journey, they usually will tell you the fastest way or the way with the least amount of transfers. There are also some smart phone apps that you can use that do the same thing.

Websites

https://www.seoulmetro.co.kr/eng/

http://www.smrt.co.kr/program/cyberStation/main2.jsp?lang=e

Apps

Jihachul - Apple and Samsung

Seoul City Metro (Lite version for free, Pro version costs) - Apple

Korea, Seoul Metro Navi - Samsung

Suwon

Suwon is on the Dark Blue - Number 1 line.  There are four stations that service the Suwon area - they are Sungkyunkwan University Station, Hwaseo Station, Suwon Station and Seryu Station.

Suwon Station is the main subway station for Suwon, the station itself shares the building with AK plaza which is a large shopping mall.  There are many shops and restaurants both in and around the station and there are buses and taxis available right outside the station if you need them.



Travel: DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)

Where: Demilitarized zone in Paju ,Gyeonggi-do
How: Tour with Adventure Korea
Length: One day

In February I took a one day tour to the DMZ, it was a great trip and I would recommend it to anyone who is coming over to Korea. If you are in Seoul then its not too far away and you can easily do it as a one day trip. I went with Adventure Korea, I have used them before when I went to Jeju Island and found them to be very good.

There are various stops along the way when you do this tour:

Imjingak

Imjingak is as far as you can go towards the North without permission, it was built for the people who had to leave their homes in the North and there is an altar where they can pray for their ancestors.

At Imjingak you can also see the Peace Bell which was built in 2000 and is a symbol for the hope of peace and unification between the North and the South. There is also the Freedom Bridge where they used to exchange prisoners after the war and you can buy some North Korean money here which is a great souvenir.

Imjingak

The Altar

Freedom Bridge

The Third Tunnel

South Korea has discovered four tunnels dug by North Korea to infiltrate the south. They think there could be more but it has only been by chance that they discovered these ones so far. The 3rd Tunnel was found in 1978 and you can walk down into it for a ways – its about 73 meters below the surface. I’m pretty unfit at the moment and it was a bit of a hike – it’s not bad going down but you have to come back up at the end and that was a bit of a climb. There is a little car that goes down but the Adventure Korea tour price does not cover that. The actual infiltration tunnel at the end is pretty small, they give you hard hats so you don’t hit your head and after bumping mine with the hat on (after feeling a bit silly wearing it) I was glad of it.

The tunnel could apparently allow 10, 000 to 30, 000 soldiers to invade Seoul within an hour. Lucky for us it’s all blocked off now.

Tongilchon (unification village)

There are two villages inside the DMZ, which I found to be very strange and interesting as I had not known that anyone actually lived there besides the soldiers.

One village is Daesongdong and the other is Tongilchon, you can see some of the houses and hear about the life of the people who live here. The tour guide was really knowledgeable about this and it was really interesting – there are no gates or anything because there is no crime. There are too many soldiers about for there to be any problems. The villages are famous for their produce as the environment is a lot more natural up there.

Dora Observatory

The observatory is where you can actually see the DMZ and the North. Its pretty far away but they do have some binoculars that you can use (500 won to make them go). You can see some of the cities of the North, again its pretty far so you really just get an impression. Kijongdong is the ‘Propaganda Village’ which was built so that when you looked into the North you could see how prosperous they are.

Dorasan Station

You also visit the last train station that goes towards the North, you can even buy a ticket (really cheap) and go onto the platform to see the train.

Welcome to my Neighborhood - Ingye-dong, Suwon

A short video I took on my new smartphone, it's the first time I used it so its not that great. I had the phone up the wrong way. I think it would be better on it's side next time.

Anyway this is my neighborhood, just after my apartment building and walking along the street for a little way. You can see the big Cinepark building toward the end of the video, it's a big building that houses lots of shops and restaurants along with a cinema.

Also at the very end you can see a great example of 'couple culture'. Korea is very focused on couples, they like to advertise the fact that they are in a relationship. This can be something simple like having the same phone or things like having matching phone charms or other accessories. Or you can get the 'Couple T'shirts' like in this video, the couple at the very end are wearing matching T's.

Only in Korea!

Suwon, South Korea

Suwon (수원) is a city about 30 kilometers south of Seoul.  Its is located in the Gyeongii-do province of which is is the capital. Suwon is a major city of over one million people and 14 universities. The city is divided into four districts or gu - Gwonseon-Gu, Jangan-gu, Paldal-gu and Yeongtong-gu. In turn each of these gu are divided into smaller neighborhoods called dong.

Suwon is home to the Samsung Electronics headquarters and factory.  There is an increasing number of  foreigners living in Suwon and because of Samsung these are not just English teachers.  You can find quite a mix of nationalities for example there are many Indians and Eastern Europeans.

Suwon is famous for Hwaseong Fortress it is the only remaining completely walled city in South Korea so it is a very popular tourist destination. Built in 1796 the wall is 5.74 kilometers long, there are four main gates and numerous other structures along the wall. Hwaseong is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Galbi is the city's most famous dish - it is marinated and grilled short rib.

Suwon is connected to Seoul and other nearby cities by the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system and numerous buses, trains and the KTX also makes some stops on services from Seoul to Busan. Suwon is on the dark blue Seoul Subway Line 1 and has numerous stations namely Sungkyunkwan University, Hwaseo, Suwon and Seryu.

Transport within Suwon is very easy to find with the green city buses being numerous, frequent and cheap.  There are also many taxis available which are also reasonably priced.

All in all Suwon is a really nice city to either visit or to live.  When I was originally looking for a job, while still back in New Zealand, I was only looking at Seoul.  I am a very picky eater and knew that I could not go anywhere rural where the options would be more limited.  Seoul as the capital is very metropolitan so I figured I would be able to find numerous amounts of western food should I not like the Korean options.

However as many of you will know it is quite hard to find a job in Seoul, not impossible but it can take a while.  I turned down a few options before I took the job I have now and I am very glad I did, I was not confident in them and the job I have is really good compared to some of the horror stories I have heard.  When looking at the job I figured that it was close enough to Seoul to be a reasonable trip and I was right.  I often go into Seoul to go shopping or to meet up with friends.

Suwon is big enough to be have a really great city life but its also not too big. I also think that the air is a bit better out here, the first time I went to Seoul I really noticed the pollution. I don't really notice it much now but that first time I remember coming out from the Subway station into Itaewon and being very glad I lived in Suwon.

(Suwon Information Reference: Wikipedia)