Suwon

Last weekend the gang decided to head to Suwon. And so we did. 

Suwon is famous for two things: its UNESCO fortress wall and galbi (beef ribs). We tried to eat galbi at a place in the Lonely Planet, but they jacked up their prices after lunchtime and we figured we could do better than 25,000 won per person. We walked through the ancient part of Suwon, where people live in hanok, and found this amazing place. We didn't take a picture of it (d'oh!), and I can't find it on the map, but if you get a taxi to take you to Yeonpo Galbi, begin walking towards Janganmun. When you see a sign that says "Janganmun 400 metres", turn to your right. That's the place. They served us whole crabs as a side dish! The Mr. went to town on those. My favorite was the owner's homemade 쌈장 (the orange spicy paste). I'd never had it homemade before, and it was amazing!

So after you eat yourself silly, there's nothing like a long, uphill hike in the freezing cold. We walked along the fortress wall to an outlook post that's on top of the highest hill.

The view from the Southwest Pavilion

We need lots of couple photos while we're still young and sexy

So we clowned around there for awhile and headed back down. At the base of the hill there's a spring where locals can come get fresh spring water.

Natron getting spring water

Across from the spring are the restrooms. Inside the restrooms we heard a guy singing plaintively a song with the memorable words: Pa chil a gong gong, pa chil a gong gong. YK told us the song was about a guy who loved a woman so much he tied her down so she wouldn't leave. That's about as creepy as hanging out in a bathroom singing. 

YK had heard of a big jjimjilbang in Suwon, so we took a taxi there. (Taxis are ridiculously cheap if you have 4 people in the car.) Both YK and I had been to many a mogyogtang (naked, sex-segregated sauna) before, but the Mr. and Natron never had. They were, however, "ready to get intimate" as they put it.

This was a big, nice mogyogtang. They had different sauna rooms of varying temperatures, cold baths and hot baths, an outdoor bath, water jets for back massages ... just about everything. We soaked for awhile and talked, then put on our jjimjilbang outfit and met the boys in the jjimjilbang.

Natron, the Mr., Linguist Ashley and YK at a jjimjilbang

We relaxed here, getting in different saunas, hot and then cold, and eating corn and mandu when the galbi wore off. I love jjimjilbangs. I can't believe how cheap they are. You can pay about 8000 won and even spend the night. It's a great way to travel cheap. It's much more entertaining than any hotel, and easily one-fourth the price.

We had a great night in Suwon, doing three very Korean things: grilling our own food in a restaurant, hiking up a hill, and chilling in a jjimjilbang. For four 외국인 (foreigners), it was a very Korean excursion. We even capped off the night with a visit to Lotteria.