We go to the Yong-In Korean Folk Village... it's the Korean equivalent of USA's Williamsburg replica village of the "old days". It's a brief step back in time to more primitive, less advanced times when most works were done by hand and people lived hand to mouth.
Of course, we need a good breakfast to start the day!
A quick walk around the garden in the back of Dragon Hill Lodge
Then on the bus, get through the city and its serpentine roads that surround both sides of the Han River. The colossal build up skyscrapers and such is totally amazing. I was here last in 1991, we left in early 1992 and most of the buildings surrounding the base and along the sides of the river are all new to me... the growth has been mushroom-ish!
Then onto the "expressway" with bumper to bumper traffic. It took nearly 40 minutes to go several miles, but eventually, it dwindles into "normal" traffic.
Our tour guide, Rachel... a young lady whose English was a lot more polished than Yurika's in Japan.
A view of the N Seoul Tower from the south side of the Han River.
More traffic, but the blue line means we're in the bus only lane which moves things along very well. Ahead in the bus lane is a rule breaker who should get a huge fine... you would NEVER see that in Japan, other drivers would report him for breaking the rules... another subtle but big difference between Japan and Korea.
We arrived in Yong-In and the Korean Flag flies proudly.
The main entrance to the Folk Village. There were hundreds and hundreds of school children visiting to learn their history and past cultural heritage. There were so many, from preschoolers to high school students. Most were so well behaved with very, very few disruptions or misbehaviors.
My Darling with the little ones! We both are so happy to see so many happy, well disciplined and well-mannered children. There was a large group of handicapped and special needs children and young adults. We did not see ANY, totally NONE of disrespect or dismissal by the other students of these challenged students.
Some of the many, many souvenirs.
My Darling in front of one of the gates...
And, moving right along with our group,
The children left their backpacks on mats and no one would do anything bad to them, no theft, no malicious or mischievous vandalism... just respect for other's properties.
One of the many service buildings.
A map of the key areas of the Folk Village.
Guardian poles at the entrance to a part of the village.
A store in the village.
Typical village building, with rice thatch roofs and mud sides.
A closer look at the interior.
My darling is amazed at the simplicity and antiquity.
A small bedroom.
More views of the building.
Moving to the "upper class" buildings... tile roofs, walls, and many more items for comfort and convenience for the residents.
A bit more luxurious room.
A typical kitchen.
The roof of the main gate to the upper class home
I hope the videos come through for you to see the harvest celebration dance.
And, finally, a horsemanship show to wrap up the day.
Then took the hour-plus ride back to base and rested. Then we went to the KATUSA "snack bar", Koren Augmentation to US Army... Korean soldiers who are TDY to US Forces units to provide liaison and interpretation services/capabilities to US troops.
Well, it was a another long and educational day. Tomorrow we're headed to the DMZ and JSA. That should be interesting!
Thursday we are taking the bullet train to Busan to look around my last known home and memory place where I lived with my real Appa, Korean Father... so that should be interesting.
I hope and pray that you are all well.
with much love and prayers for all of you.
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