A Day in Gyeonggi

Quoc Khanh An

Gyeonggi-do province surrounds Seoul city, which is home to a large number of famous tourist attractions in tours to visit Korea.

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress

Hwaseong Fortress surrounds the downtown area of Suwon, one of the major cities in Gyeonggi-do Province. The fortress is a symbol of King Jeongjo's filial piety to his father. The fortress, built from 1794 to 1796, is a very scientific architectural style, with four gates in the four directions of East, West, South, and North, and the Sumun Gate in a seven-arch style. The fortress walls are built with Seokjae and Jeondo bricks. The holes between the bricks are just large enough to fit the muzzles of guns, arrows, or long spears to guard against attacks. The fortress was recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage in 1997.

Heyri Art Village – Paju

Gyeonggi people are very proud of Heyri Village, where all the residents are artists, with unique self-designed houses. Nearly 500 artists working in various fields of art gather here. They open studios, galleries, museums, and cafes for visitors to visit and experience their art. Currently, there are more than 100 galleries in areas such as international folk instruments, toy museums, butterflies, stamps, movie posters, concert halls, bookstores, and traditional foods. Surely anyone working in the art field would want to live in this desirable environment, especially in a space filled with greenery.

DMZ

The DMZ is certainly the place that Vietnamese tourists are most interested in with deep sympathy. This is the border between South Korea and North Korea, 248km long, 4km wide, at the 38th parallel. This place symbolizes both war and peace, division and unification of the country. After some strict control measures at military checkpoints, visitors will be able to visit the relics of one of North Korea's infiltration tunnels, then go up to an observation deck at the military base to see the entire demilitarized zone, with flags of both sides. Visitors can even visit Panmunjeon, where negotiations between the two sides were held. Because for more than fifty years, this area has been strictly controlled, prohibiting all activities of the people, it has become a wonderful biological reserve with many wild animals and plants, and has created a special tourism potential.

Dorasan Peace Park

Right next to the DMZ is a large park with a complex of monuments and professional exhibition halls. Visitors are invited to draw memories on ceramic tiles, which will be used to build a commemorative wall with the wish for lasting peace.

A day exploring Gyeonggi would not be complete without enjoying the local specialties. Pocheon’s famous grilled ribs would be a pleasant end to the whole journey. The tender, fragrant grilled meat, made from beef ribs, pork ribs or chicken, combined with a delicious sauce will convince the culinary taste of any picky diner. And a cup of traditional Makgeolli will enhance the warm and charming flavor of Gyeonggi.

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