[WARNING: Long introduction!]
Before i start to talk about Suwon, can i just say how this city was one of the cities that's just felt so wrong? Even before stepping into it, everything just seemed so wrong. Like i feel that we shouldn't be there. Or maybe, Suwon just doesn't like us to be there? LOL!
Remember i mentioned in my previous post that our KTX train went up to Seoul? It all started from there. The train driver made an announcement and due to my lack of Korean vocabulary proficiency, i couldn't really catch any keywords or understand a thing he was saying. Or rather, i did caught some keywords but i don't know what kind of situation we're in. Ugh! We were panicking slightly and thought that maybe we had to stop in Seoul and board another train from another track in order to go back to Suwon. Mini heart attack. Given that the both of us have shy characters, i didn't dare to ask another Korean who was seated in front of us because i was worried that he couldn't understand English or maybe a single Korean word that i'll say. Thankfully, Charmaine took the first step to ask. Turns out, we didn't need to change trains. Just had to continue sitting in there till it reaches Suwon.
Okay, story continues below...
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Suwon 수원, the capital city of Gyeonggi-do, was traditionally named as "The City of Filial Piety". Why? Because long long time ago, King Jeongno, one of the most visionary and successful ruler of the Joseon period, did many... filial deeds. LOL! For example, relocating his father's grave to Suwon to grant him eternal peace. Apparently his grandfather (King Yeongjo) was an asshole for killing his father (Prince Jangheon). So maybe the location of Suwon in the past had really good Feng Shui. I'm not sure. Also, King Jeongno helped to reform his nation by building the
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, to protect the city from being attacked. Something like the Great War of China. Just that this one cannot be seen through the satellite. Ah! And he even threw huge parties to show his appreciation for the workers who built the fortress and if i'm not wrong, he also threw a party for his mother's birthday or something. My memory is really bad. Probably, that's how Suwon was named the city of filial piety. The King was soooooo filial to his elders, he didn't took revenge for his father when he could had the chance to. Sucha' nice chap! Hmmm... anyways.... moving on.
This was the next place (
besides Daewangam, Ulsan) that i really wanted to visit because it is another world UNESCO heritage site and it seemed really pretty in pictures on the internet! (
even though there's the Seoul Fortress as well.) Partially, another reason to visit Suwon was to meet a friend since i was on the way up Seoul but turns out i didn't get to meet that person. Long long story BUT! To be honest, i actually left this place unplanned because i thought i could depend on that person to bring us around since we kind of talked about it. (
just that it wasn't on black & white, in another words, on contractual terms. lol.)
Thinking back as i'm typing this now, i feel so stupid to even place my trust on that person. I think.... i am really such a fool in believing that we could have met there. I didn't even felt shy or shameful agreeing to that idea. Just... "Oh okay! Sure! Why not?" Thus, because of that person, i didn't fully enjoyed myself in Suwon, but i TRIED! Okay?? I did tried! I really tried forgetting what happened and just live in that moment since i'm bloody 5000KM away from home and if i don't enjoy doing what i was doing then i rather just go home. (
Go hard or go home! moment.) I literally, backfired myself. Very clever indeed, Jade.
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| To be exact: 4644KM away from home. |
On a side note// IF! you happen to be reading this (i doubt you'll even step into my blog actually), i sincerely ask of you to not feel bad at all after reading the above because what's past is past. But to be honest, i think you probably don't even care at all?? Because if you did, you would have come and talk to me by now. But you haven't and probably won't ever? So..... i give up. I really do. Omg, why am i the only one feeling like shit and how could you be so heartless, no feeling at all. LOL! And why can't you just upload a picture of yourself with a girl you're dating or something else so that i can stop overthinking for an answer for how i've been treated by you like out of the blue. Just boom! Goodbye. Go away. Goddamit! I really need a wake up slap from somebody. Should i hand the honour over to you? And not like anyone can't read what i'm typing here in sucha small font. It's so legible! WTF!
Nevertheless, Suwon was really a nice place even though we didn't reach out to many other attractions. I just think we got lazier and lazier day by day. However, the city center was really convenient to get around by foot or by bicycle. And! you can actually visit Suwon for a 1-day trip from Seoul. Just catch the normal metro train down or if you're willing to spend a little bit more, catch a KTX train down!
Day 9 - Arrival at Suwon > Accommodation > Supper at Lotteria
The day we left Gyeongju, we arrived at Suwon at about 9pm++ nearly 10pm due to the delay. We took a taxi to our accommodation, booked through
Airbnb, because to be honest, i don't know where that place was. This time round, we met a super lazy taxi driver. There was a long queue of taxis and you know, usually taxi drivers tend to drive to where you are standing but this uncle was super lazy. Hello? You're on wheels. We're on foot with luggages. No courtesy at all. But! i wouldn't say he's that bad because he read the address of our accommodation on my phone. (The taxi uncle in Gyeongju was the worst.) The accommodation was an officetel at
Paldal-gu, a district at center Suwon. The building, ('happiness' was the name of the building) looked so dubious that i had to call up our host. All i remembered was there's a supermarket just downstairs and the street behind our building leads us to
Hwaseong Haenggung Gongbang Handicraft/Arts Street which could also lead us to the
Hwaseong Haenggung Palace. Super convenient as well. So, this was our accommodation.
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| TA-DAAAA~~!! |
That's the main door. You walk in, on the left is the kitchen area. There was a fridge provided but was super filthy! The host mentioned that he or the past visitors left some condiments like eggs or sauces in the fridge so that the next visitors who stays in his officetel could use them. (i left my left-over soju bottle in there as well before i left) But the thing was, we couldn't even trust that those were clean/safe to use because the fridge was really dirty. There were stains and all that. I don't know how could people give him good reviews on
Airbnb. I appreciate his kind thought but i couldn't accept that quality of cleanliness.
On the right is the small punny toilet. I was quite skeptical about it because there are cases whereby people actually install hidden camera. I had to switched off all the lights and check to see if there was any red dot. LOL! That was how paranoid i was. In fact! the toilet was clean but had a kind of stench from the drain when you start bathing in it. The towels provided weren't even touched! We used our own towels. We even washed the washing machine first before using it. HAHAHA!
Our bed? (it was a loft kind of bed but it was only 1 bed, i had to sleep on a mattress) Charmaine slept on top while i slept below. My mattress, pillow, blanket all felt so dirty. I think because after all that fridge and towels and toilet, i felt so paranoid. My back started itching after i lied down on it. LOL! I was just so negative about everything!!! Not to mention, our corridor felt so scary as well. To be honest, i didn't felt safe staying in there. The walls were so thin we could hear our neighbour. Thankfully, they weren't doing anything strange.
Anyways, we left our luggages and headed out to find food since we haven't had dinner. Starving like mad and the only thing we could find at our area was Lotteria that was still open! Since we haven't tried the cheese burger, we had to stop by there.
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| Paldamun-ro에서~ |
I remembered we were freeeeeeezing! It was so cold that night!!
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| Get fat get fat get fat! Burger face! Those cheese sticks were awesome! |
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| Bread, hash brown, beef patty, cheese, mozzarella cheese, bread |
The mozzarella cheese really can stretch damn long! This Lotteria burger cannot be compared to Burger King's mozzarella burger. And you'll never get soggy fries in Korea. So far, i haven't but that's because i seldom eat fast food. After dinner, we walked back straight to our apartment because it was so damn bloody cold and i was holding on to my soft drink as i didn't want to waste it. Negative + Negative = NEGATIVE STILL! There's no such thing as eating an ice-cream in the cold that can help to prevent you from feeling cold. It's bullshit. You'll feel even more cold. We ended our day, bathed and slept.
Day 10 - Hwaseong Fortress > Suwon Hwaseong Museum > Hwaseong Haenggung Palace > Hwaseong Haenggung Gongbang Handicraft/Arts Street > Suwon Chicken Street
The next morning, we had our breakfast at some random restaurant which i can't really recall where that was because we randomly roamed about in the markets. The markets were just... markets. Nothing really interest me before as i've been to
Noryangjin/Gwangjang market in Seoul back in Oct/Nov 2015. But i just took some pictures anyways.
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| Looks like in Seoul's Cheonggyecheon stream. |
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| Jidong Market |
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| Vegetablessss |
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| Motgolchonghap Market. lol. |
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| Crazy amount of packed side dishes |
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| Sick! |
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| Kimchi~ |
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| Huge ass cockles |
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| Yukgaejang. Beef soup with vegetables. |
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| Galbitang. Beef ribs soup |
The food store aunty wasn't really generous with her food. After brunch, we headed over to the fortress. We didn't know where to start, so we kind of anyhow roam about till we find a stairway up to the wall and just... you know, anyhow. again. We were super 'anyhow' when in Suwon. We were wandering souls. LOL!
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| The wall looks like it's been renovated recently. |
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| The start |
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| The Hwaseong Haenggung Palace is just there |
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I have no idea what is the name of this church. I tried searching on Naver map but i can't seem to find. :(
EDIT// Char managed to find it. It's called, Suwon Jeil Presbyterian Church 수원제일교회. |
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| More fortress wall |
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Took this at one of the guard post. That church behind.
I'll call it the 'Gothic Church'. |
While walking, we happened to see the
Hwaseong Museum from the top! And we were thinking how to get down to where it was. Again, we anyhow-ed made our way through paths which was accessible, through the residential area, before reaching the museum. Lol. Sibei (super) anyhow. Visited the museum to learn more about the city's history which i have mentioned at the start of this post. I shall include a few pictures i took at the museum. Wasn't a lot because i was busy reading but we encountered a few small little interesting figurines that i find it quite cute and tedious to craft.
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| This is the overview map of the Hwaseong fortress. Walkable. |
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| The Museum |
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| Suwon village. Lol! |
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| That's the King in blue |
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| How they build the wall in the past |
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| Oh. That bell looks familiar. |
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| One of a grand event, i forgot what was it. |
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| Guards on duty. |
After that, we walked along the stream to get to the temporary palace. We really! really! had no sense of direction. We just followed our instinct and walked around. The
Suwon Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, almost similar to the past temples and palaces we visited, was slightly smaller as expected and less complicated. Charmaine and i didn't follow any tour guide thus we didn't really know about the history of this palace. However, what i found out was, King Jeongno's father was killed in this palace, locked in a rice chest and starved to death by his own father. I read it from the other blogs but it was a pity that me and Charmaine took things for granted and not explore the rooms of the palace because we had visited too many that we became bored of it. Not forgetting to mention that there was a 600 year old wishing tree in this palace and legend says that if you wish upon this tree, your wish apparently comes true. I wonder if it's true. We'll see... Hopefully my piece of paper is still there.
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| That bell from the museum! |
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| The temporary palace |
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| Entrance |
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| Placed my wish... |
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| I left a wish on that wishing tree. Please come true! |
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| This is that 600 year old tree. I wonder if leaves still appear in spring/summer. |
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| Another door. |
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| Main building of the palace |
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| More random snapshots of the palace's architecture. |
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| Proof shot! Camera on timer. |
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| The view from the park behind the palace. Had to climb a bit. |
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| Another proof shot! |
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| Walked down |
We continued walking to find my favourite gate, the
Hwahongmun, which i saw it on the internet before this whole trip. I instantly fell in love with it and i have no freaking idea why! It's just... so pretty to me. Before that, this was me, trying to walk across the stream, by stepping on those rocks. Always wanted to do this. HAHA! Thanks Char for capturing the moment. :)
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| Lol. |
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| Must be careful not to fall into the water, if not gg. |
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| I think my bag's pretty attractive |
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| Twist! |
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| Hwahongmun from afar. |
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| It's on renovation as well. |
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| The back of the gate |
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| from the top of the gate |
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| Pretty guard post. There were students having picnic up there. |
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| So pretty! Probably prettier in summer. |
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| A pond |
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| An asian twist from Char. |
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Had to step into one of those holes on the wall to capture this.
Short people's problem. |
Shortly after, we arrived at
Yeonmudae where we took the Dragon Train to the
Paldamun Mountain because we're 2 lazy girls who just want to take shortcuts to conquer the whole Hwaseong Fortress. Before that, we ate again. I don't know why i agreed to eat again but i just did anyways since we had some time to kill before the next timing for the train.
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| Char's Dolsot Bibimbap |
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| Bulgogi - I felt bad not touching the rice. Should have returned it to the aunty. |
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| On ze train! |
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| Over exposed face. |
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| The doggy caught my eye; my camera caught that guy's eye |
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| One of the guard post |
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| And another one |
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| Idk why i took this |
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| We had to walk up there. |
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| This was what we got - a view of Suwon's center city! |
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| If only the sky was just pure blue without any clouds |
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| The other side. So many HDBs. |
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This was the pavilion that you might have seen in my other pictures above! ^
(18th picture) |
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| Another asian twist. 2 Day 1 Night filmed here before! |
Didn't regret climbing up because i thought it was going to be difficult but surprisingly it wasn't. Must be due to all the stamina we've built up the last few days. (Now that i'm back in Singapore, my stamina have dropped A LOT!) After that, we headed back down and visited the
Gongbang Handicraft/Art Street which was just beside the palace. I wouldn't say that it's worth visiting that street unless you're into cute little little crafts. Well, i wasn't, so nothing really interests me when i was there other than the street art we saw.
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| THE DRAGON BALLZ |
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| Can't help but notice this slanted building - Leaning tower of Suwon |
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| Hmmm, whats that? |
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| Pretty cool |
After walking for almost the whole day, we couldn't tahan (endure) any longer. We decided to chill at TomNToms before getting dinner. In fact, i think we didn't know what to get for dinner so we did a little research at the cafe. Oh yea! The toilet at the cafe! LOL! Charmaine, do you remember? The toilet at TomNToms had this security pin system that every Koreans uses at their home main door. So obviously, we weren't accustomed to such technology. And... Isn't it better to use the normal lock? Instead, that security pin system was used on that toilet door. The thing is, once you enter, the door locks on its own BUT! you have to double lock it so that the next person who wants to use the toilet cannot enter it. Both of us, kena-ed! The both of us had people typing in pin numbers while using the toilet. Thank goodness, we had our pants on by the time it got unlocked. Super duper embarrassing. So beware guys! the next time u go to Korea's cafe toilet, especially the ones with such high technology pin lock, remember to double lock it! You'll be fine. Just don't come out having the alarm going off which i did many times. :D
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| The last time i had a sweet potato latte was the last night i had in Korea in November 2015. |
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| Researching~ |
I love how Korea's cafes are designed in a way that there's ample space and have really good views. Unlike Singapore, cafes are usually in shopping malls and all you see are shops, shops and more shops. But recently, i've found some with good views!
The next location was
Suwon's Fried Chicken Street! There were lots of chicken stores there but we happened to pass by this one (
Maehyang Tongdak 매향통닭) which was crowded with people. We were lucky we had seats. We ordered a whole chicken and had it with soju since we were feeling cold and that's probably the only way to keep ourselves warm. Dunk ourselves in alcohol. Hell yeah~!
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Korea's spring chicken. or rather their kampong chicken.
@ 매향통닭 |
Believe it or not, we couldn't even finish one whole chicken because we were full from lunch. Lol! And to be honest, i don't find anything special about this chicken even though it was fried in a traditional korean iron pot. It wasn't as oily as i thought it would be and it was really crispy. As for the taste, i don't find anything special lehhh. I thought maybe the iron pot can give some fragrance to the chicken but okay lah, close one eye la huh. Maybe i wasn't really awake at that point of time to pay attention. I think my tastebuds were asleep. Anyways, I still prefer my grandma's fried chicken. Keke! We walked home after dinner, half drunk and I remember laughing our way back home. I don't know what we were laughing at. LOL! We dropped by Daiso and the supermarket before heading home.
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Charmain didn't had enough soju so she decided to have one last drink with King Jeongno.
I cannot stop laughing while looking at this picture. HAHAHAHAHA XD |
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| Decided to get more soju from the mart downstairs. This time, we tried peach flavoured! |
Slept pretty well that night without remembering how dirty my surrounding was because i was under alcohol. Did we watch some shows? I think we did. Our accommodation provided us with a computer so we could log in to Youtube to catch up on our Korean variety show. But! Oh! We watched 'Inside Out' instead. Yeahhhh, we did.
Day 11 - Suwon Traditional Markets > Departure to Seoul
The next morning, we woke up slightly late since we had so much time before leaving for Seoul to meet Lucy언니 at 6PM. Charmaine initially suggested to visit the
Korean Folk Village 한국민속촌 but we didn't in the end due to our laziness. or rather my laziness. Lol! Sorry Char~ But we visited so many folk villages already! But still i regret because maybe the one in Suwon is different? Keke! We then walked along the street behind our building and had Seolleongtang, broth that's made from ox bone, for brunch. My first time trying it though i've always wanted to since my first visit to Korea. Super yummy. There's this kind of subtle taste, not too salty.
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| Goes well with green chili, bean paste, kimchi and kkakdugi (radish kimchi) |
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| LOL! Somebody food coma. |
After brunch, we went back home to chill since we didn't know what to do next. Charmaine kind of slept awhile, while i just stared into blank space and used facebook. Lol. Anyways, in the end, we decided to kill time at the markets once again. We walked around at the
Paldalmun Market 팔달문시장,
Suwon Yeongdong Market 수원영동시장,
Jidong Market 지동시장,
Minarigwang Market 미나리광시장 and the
Motgoljonghap Market 못골종합시장. LOL! There were hell loads of market that sells different things. Your one stop market place to get everything for the week. Since it was a Sunday, it was crowded with people. So we kind of got that market feeling or rather, the aunty feeling. After which, we decided to chill at this cafe called the
Java Dave Coffee.
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| Did some people watching and saw this car that had doggies in it. |
That was pretty much it in Suwon. We packed our luggages, took a bus to Suwon Station and made our way to Seoul. We happened to see a street opposite the station that was filled with youngsters and kind of regretted not going there to explore before going off. But i think we would have started shopping if we went there. What's that street called again? Is it called the
Suwon Rodeo Street 수원로데오점? Hmmm... most probably.
To think about it, we had a really short time in Suwon. However, i was glad that we managed to see the fortress!! It was a pity that there were other places that was on our list that we couldn't visit. Next time!! Next time, i'll be back there to create even better and good memories!! Till next time...
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While waiting for the train... since i've got no more train ticket pictures, this shall be it.
And guess what? We got lost!! LOL! Will talk about it on my next post!! |
Our last stop was Seoul, where we spent 3 weeks taking day trips and making memories with other Korean friends, before we flew back to Singapore. Stay tuned for more!! :D
Leave a comment below for any questions!!
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