July 06 (Sunday) – Sunow: a Fortress and Palace a Library and a Folk Village

Quick photo of Seoul on our way out of town. 

Our tour today takes us about 50 miles out of Seoul to the city of Sunow where we visited the Hwaseong Fortress. 

From there it was the Suwonhwaseong Palace.  Mary was still in a lot of pain, so Anthony suggested a wheelchair, which turned out to be pretty comfortable.  Liam and Anthony took turns pushing. 

Lots of oriental style buildings...

and a few interesting displays.

Lunch was at a vegan buffet.  The food was good and many dishes looked like, and tasted like, various meats. 

We asked Anthony to do a change in the tour and we went to visit the Suwon Starlight Mall.  This is a massive, massive mall with six floors of underground parking and at least seven floors of shops.  It was ultra-modern and beautiful. 

The goal here was to find the library.  We had seen photos online and were keen to see the visual marvel.  It soared four stories with lounge areas, floating “planets” hanging from the ceiling and was just a photographer’s dream. 

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More Starlight Library
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Video 1 of Starlight Library
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Video 2 of Starlight Library
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After taking tons of photos, we headed out to the Korean Folk Village.  We visited homes from different parts of Korea and stopped at various posts where there were demonstrations of various crafts…except that they were all closed.  At least the grounds and the buildings were open.  It was a restful area.  

There were some shops open with interesting displays.

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More Korean Folk Village
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We did get to see a lovely performance in the village with lovely women and energetic men performing Korean folk dances.  Very colorful.

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Video 1 of folk dancers
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Video 2 of folk dancers
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Video 3 of folk dancers
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Video 4 of folk dancers
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Video 5 of folk dancers
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Then it was off for our return to Seoul.  A good day.