I know I said in my post for Day 3 that I’d try to get this done early in the evening yesterday (May 7). Obviously, that did not happen. However, once you read about what I was doing instead of writing this, you will hopefully see that it was worth it.
Archery and a Fortress
Our first stops today were to do some archery and explore Suwon Fortress. The archery was fun, but super short. We each shot a grand total of 10 arrows, many of which completely missed the targets, and then we had to leave. But then we walked around the fortress which was really neat. We learned that the border was a three mile loop, some of which was going up a mountain. We thankfully did not have to walk up the mountain.
Here’s a video of our group at the fortress. If you look closely, you’ll spot Dr. Yun photobombing us in the back.
Lunch
After the fortress, we had an hour to get lunch on our own. Sophie, Kali, and I went to a nice little dumpling restaurant. We got two orders of dumplings (one fried, one steamed). They were delicious, but super hot (temperature, not spicy) which made eating fast a challenge. But, they were super cheap. 18,000 won for everything, which is about $12. There were about 20 dumplings total.
Samsung Innovation Museum
After lunch, we headed to the Samsung Innovation Museum. It was really neat to see the history and evolution of electricity and technology. We got to see some of Samsung’s newest technologies, including fancy smartphones, a TV that can rotate to accommodate landscape-oriented shows/movies and portrait-oriented videos and reels, and a fridge that can show you what is in it, what you take out, what you put in, and also play videos and music. We also got some pictures taken. We took a full group photo at the beginning, and by the end, the museum had printed the picture and turned it into mousepads for all of us!
On our way to the museum, I had also made some plans for the evening…keep reading to find out what we did!
My Evening Plans
After the museum, the bus dropped us off near Namdaemun Market. Sophie, Kali, Rohit, Dom, Aakash (one of our guides), and I walked around for a little bit. However, when we got off the bus, it was raining and cold. Hence why I said I should’ve checked the weather, because I did not have a jacket or umbrella with me, and I was wearing short sleeves. I powered through, and eventually we made it into a building with a roof. At some point, we lost Aakash, but since he’s not a student, he is allowed to go off on his own. I bought a gift for someone at one of the stores, and then the 5 of us got kimchi and pork dumplings at this little shop that Dom had seen on TikTok. The kimchi dumplings were so good. The pork ones were good too, but I preferred the kimchi. After all of that, Dom and Rohit broke off from the group to go somewhere. Kali, Sophie and I went to our next stop, which was so much fun!
The three of us went to a head spa to get fancy scalp treatments! We all got the 15-step treatment, which included neck and head massages, good smelling oils and other hair products (exfoliants, shampoos, etc.), a massage chair, and overall relaxation. I have never felt more relaxed in my entire life, it was so wonderful. Sophie also got her hair cut and dyed, and it looked really good. She had some of her hair in the front bleached, so she got it dyed to match her natural color, and they matched it perfectly. If you didn’t know her hair had been bleached, you would never even guess that it was. Kali and I just got the scalp treatment, and our hair also looks so much better than before. We did have to pay approx. $124, but it was so worth it. Here’s the before and after (also keep in mind I had my hair pulled back all day so that doesn’t help in the before picture):
After having the time of our lives at the spa, we headed back to the hotel. We stopped at the convenience store right next to the hotel first to get some food. I got a pig ice cream. No, there was no pork or other pig product in the ice cream, it was just shaped like a pig. We were told before we left the US that we should try fish ice cream (shaped like a fish, did not contain fish), and the pig seemed similar. It was just vanilla ice cream with some chocolate and strawberry filling type thing, and then it was surrounded by what essentially was a pig shaped ice cream cone.
Now, we’re almost at the DMZ. Then, we get to go to a baseball game. We’ll get back super late from the game, so I don’t expect to write another blog post tonight. I’ll do that on the way to the temple on Saturday.