Ted and I dismissed warnings from our Korean friends that the taxi ride from Bucheon to Suwon would be too long and expensive and set out for Suwon to visit a South Korea folk village. An anthropologist we met warned us that this particular folk village was a stage set, a theme park and not a 'living village'. Further south near Busan, villages are maintained as they were before South Korea was industrialized. People live and work in these villages. But our schedule didn't leave us the time needed to visit the area around Busan.
The taxi ride to Suwon was neither long or expensive. This particular village was a 20 minute bus ride from the Suwon train station and was definitely not a destination location for an anthropologist. Situated along a river the village was made up of small huts and farmhouses connected by well trodden dirt paths. There were cows and chickens, ducks, dogs and kittens. The indigenous architecture was beautifully maintained. The farm houses had been moved from other parts of South Korea.
There were just a few actors working that day and the village did have the feeling of a stage set. But for the first time western visitor it was a wonderful introduction to how Koreans lived when they were farmers.
The day we visited the sky was overcast producing some of the most beautiful light I've ever photographed under. All the textures and earth colors on this over cast day were lovely.
The unfired pots were set outside on a path between two huts. Inside potters were working.
South Koreans impressed me with their practicality so I wasn't too surprised to see an electric kiln being loaded in one of the pottery huts. The pots were hand thrown but the hand fired kiln had fallen out of favor.
Even through the village was a staged theme park it was a great place to wander around. There was even a Buddhist temple tuck deep in the woods which I'll leave for another post.
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