7D Korea Golden Rama Tour: Seongeup Folk Village, Jeju Part 2
Anyeong! Let's continue our exploration at Seongeup Folk Village at Jeju, shall we? The last time we were here, we have seen where the traditional Korean folks in Jeju live and how does the inside of the house looks like. In addition, we have also seen the tools that those folks used to hunt/ farm back in those days. Now, we are going to check out one particular culture which is uniquely belonging to Jeju natives. It's the gate system. Oh, look, There's one gate right in front of us. As you saw previously, houses in Jeju do not really have door because there is lack of criminals living in Jeju (not sure about the current modern Jeju) so the only gate that the residents of Jeju have is those three bars of wooden fence.
There are meaning beyong those three bars of wood to indicate whether the owner of the house is currently in the house or away for short/ long time. In a way, this is how the residents informing their neighbours their away status back then. So for instance, if all the three logs of wood are in their current place like the picture above, that means the owner of the house is currently away and won't be back for a few hours. Interesting, right?
At the next house that we passed by, we saw a very weird stuff which we initially thought were used for another hunting trip. But turns out, these gadgets are games for people living in those days. Gone are the days where people playing with non-electronic gadgets in the modern society. You barely even see people flying kites nowadays. Aigoo.
Another house is open for us to take a peek inside. Hmm, this house looks kinda different from the houses that we saw initially. It seems that the owner of this house is richer than the rug house that we saw earlier in the previous post.
The house has its own kitchen. A lot of pots are used for cooking back in the days. Maybe the Koreans have started eating broth since ages.
More pots and stoves. We started hearing some traditional songs coming up from the houses nearby. Half-spooked, half-curious, we asked Jenny if there are some cultural performances nearby but she just shrug it off and said cooly that recordings of various folk songs are placed in some of the houses to give the traditional atmosphere of the folk village.
The next set showed us what seems to be a dining room of a noble house. Hmm looking at the number of bowls placed on the table, I suppose the tradition of having many side dishes when eating has started for a way back.
Huh? How come there is a prison cell here? I thought thieves did not exist in Jeju (since life was hard and everyone supposedly worked together to survive). Oh well, maybe there is always an anomaly even in those days. So for those anomaly thieves, the wooden prison cell is where they are going to spend their punishment for not sure how long.
We have gone in circle and came back to the entrance where the beautiful flowers bloom. At this stage of the tour, I kinda imagining myself working as tour guide. I wonder if I can endure visiting the same place and explaining the same thing again and again (it's just to different crowd) at least once a week. Hmm...I bet Jenny has memorised all the information for those places that she often visits in South Korea. Hahaha.
Admission fees:
FREE
Opening hours:
Open all year round
