Gyeonggi Children's Museum

A very interesting museum for children has opened up at Yongin city, very close to Suwon, recently. Located within the Gyeonggi Provincial Museum campus, this place was a novel experience for me!

Information and models on nature and daily life can be seen there. Quite a lot of activities for kids on the various floors of the museum. Considering the low entry ticketprices, no wonder there is a hourly restriction on the number of people allowed in. We waited for an hour since the tickets were sold out at the time we wanted to visit. 

Last time I checked, only Koreans could do advance booking online :( Since resident numbers are used for almost everything online here and database for Koreans is different from that of foreigners, I was not able to book online on the Korean website. Hope this is rectified soon...Despite increasing number of foreigners, a government initiative not bothering about the needs of foreigners was  a little strange. Although, there are quite a few websites which are interested in business with foreigners these days!

Going by public transport may be the most convenient keeping in mind car-parking woes during weekends.

Site Link:
http://www.gcmuseum.or.kr/en/museum/view.asp

Address:

85, SingalDong, Kiheung-gu, Yongin City, Gyeonggi-do

경기 용인시 기흥구 상갈동 85

T: 031-270-8600

Buses from Suwon:

Get off at Gyeonggi Provincial Museum
    Suwon (station): 10-5, 37
    Suwon (Nammun Gate): 58

Admission time:

Monsday - Friday 10:00 am - 8:00 pm (admission closing at 6 pm)
Saturday - Sunday 10:00 am - 10:00 pm (admission closing at 8 pm

Admission Fees:  

Under 3  years old free
Over 3 years(36 months) KRW 4000/ groups KRW 2000
Gyeonggi-do resident KRW 2000 wons

Jeondeungsa Temple, Ganghwa Island (전등사)

A recent Sunday saw us going to Ganghwa island (again!), courtesy our Korean friends who stay quite near the island at Incheon. We went to one of the most beautiful Korean Buddhist temples- Jeondeungsa Temple which is also the oldest in that area.

I loved the quiet long road to the temple. That is a luxury only ancient temples tucked inside mountains or forests enjoy. 

Only upon going there did I realize that Jeongdeungsa Temple was the one where the disgruntled head carpenter had carved images of a naked woman on the temple roo. I had read about it a few years back, but did not remember the location.

I would have loved to spend more time exploring the place. Maybe another time... I noticed that they have a temple stay program- its been over two years since I last went for one.  I may go there for one...who knows! 

I tend to like visiting Buddhist temples here. Not quite from a religious perspective even though I am involved with International Seon(Zen) Center. It has more to do for the traditional architecture and a slice of Korean history.

I hope to visit other famous temples in Korea while I can!

Links: 
Temple site (in Korean) : http://www.jeondeungsa.org/
Korea Tourism Link
Korea Temple Link

Never Mess with architect!

 

2012 TOPIK SCHEDULE

Test No.	Test Date	Registration Period	Test Locations	Test Results
25	2012.01.29	2011.12.10 to 12.23	Korea Only	2012.02.09
26	2012.04.14~04.15	2012.02.01 to 02.14	Worldwide	2012.06.04
27	2012.07.22	2012.06.12 to 06.25	Korea Only	2012.08.03
28	2012.10.27~10.28	2012.08.07 to 08.20	Worldwide	2012.12.11

Musical fountain at Dongtan Central Park (동탄 센트럴 파크)

This year, summer seems to have been replaced by a longish monsoon season! Call me a cynic, but, it seems to me that rain or snow find their way punctually on weekends in Korea! The result being that this summer, which was supposed to be our belated "discover Korea" time during weekends has been rather a lean time. Not much travel and much lesser pictures clicked translates to lesser blogging here...

After a  few false starts, last Sunday found us finally visiting Dongtan Central Park. This place is hardly 10 km away, yet we could never find a suitable time to visit in good weather. These upcoming areas have great infrastructure in terms of central parks with lots of facilities. The eye-catching feature of Dongtan central park being its musical fountain!  We reached the place for the evening 8:30 show and the 20 minutes experience left us dazzled. I am not quite familiar with Korean songs, so don't remember the songs played. In English, Billy Joel's "Sing us a song, piano man" and ABBA's Mama Mia songs were played.

I am continually impressed with the money poured into public facilities in South Korea and more importantly the fact that they are not abused by the public-at-large.

This park has facilities for roller skating, tennis, wall climbing, football as far as I could see... Probably a good idea to go there before dark and have a small picnic before winter strikes. There is enough to spend a few hours there! 

Musical fountain timings:
weekends/holidays- 2pm, 5pm, 8:30pm (about 20 min)
weekdays - 8:30 pm

Location:
경기 화성시 반송동 동탄 센트럴 파크
Dongtan Central Park, BanSongDong, Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi-do


For Car Navigation(Korean):동탄센트럴파크

International Seon(zen) Center, Seoul

Last Sunday, I drove a little over 50 km to reach the International Seon Center(국제선세터). As I understand, the International Seon Center aims to connect with foreigners and Koreans speaking English.

Scale Model of the Center

Last year, during our visit to Gangwa Island, had met a monk from the International Seon Center. A visit had been playing in my mind for the last many months. Considering the distance, I waited until I was alone in Korea! Though, until now, I have not yet visited the most important Buddhist temples in Korea, I have a huge fascination for the elegant temple architecture. I did read an observation somewhere that once you have been to a Korean Buddhist temple, you have visited all temples- a sly comment on the similarity in architecture of temples here.

I had been asked to reach by 12 noon so as to have lunch at the center and then attend the meditation experience as well as Dhamma talk. Feeling a tad too hesitant to go over and eat on my own, I went over to the office and someone there took me over to the Dining floor, all the while talking in English. These days, since I talk with all and sundry with my bad Korean, I find it a little odd talking in English with Koreans!!!

It is always a peasure getting to eat Korean food- so rare to find vegan options! I got to eat Jajang bap - Rice with Black Bean Sauce(자장밥). Quite delicious!

Having some free time I went around clicking pictures and reading a book I had brought along.

I met Ven. Bo-Kwan, the nun who is responsible for foreigners. After guiding us on the meditative method, we had to meditate for an hour!Was too tough for me. And tougher, not to feel too relaxed and fall asleep, after lunch!

After meditation, we had dhamma talk while sipping green tea! Teachings from the nun's teacher's discourses are read in English and then discussed.

It was quite an eventful Sunday afternoon!

Links:

Homepage: www.seoncenter.or.kr
Address: 
319-11, Sinjeong 6-dong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul 158-076


우158-076, 서울 양천구 신정6동 319-11


Phone: +82-2-2650-2241