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!