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Other entries in Seoul

Choose the Suwon Samsung Bluewings!

Finally got around to seeing Gyeongbokgung today and managed to get a free guided tour thrown in too! the tour itself was interesting enough but the Palace as we can see it is only 30% of its origianl size and consists entirely of reconstructions built between 1867 and the present day, certainly nothing to compare with the Forbidden City in Beijing, but a nice place for a walk and a fascinating introduction to the Korean tradition of Onsol, or underfloor heating which they have been using for hundreds of years!
After that it was off in search of Camp Kim, the main US Army base in Seoul to see if I could get on there tour to the Panmunjeom and the Joint Security Area of the North Korean Border as its reckoned to be the best. But alas, no dice, although the tour wasn`t until Saturday it had already booked up.
In the evening I decided to take something of a modern day pilgrimage. The site: Suwon, where Ireland had been defeated by Spain on penalties in the 2002 World Cup. Having read that the Korean K-League was in season and seeking a good night`s entertainment I looked up the fixtures and saw that Suwon Samsung Bluebirds were playing. Now, Suwon I had found out are one of the top Korean teams and reckoned to be one of the best in all of Asia, but are having somewhat of a nightmare start to the season. The game itself was fantastic, I randomly pciked to sit in the North Stand (one of the cheapest!) and fpound that I was among the hardcore fans. For 90 mins they sung there lungs out, led most ably by 4 taiko drummers at the front, a repetorie of classic numbers including ole, ole, ole and "suwon's blue and white army' as well as humming the tune of the entertainer for some unknown reason. All this created a fantastic atmosphere despite the fact that the ground was maybe 10% full at most. Even when Suwon went from 1-0 up to 2-1 down they still never stopped. A great nights entertainment for 3 quid!

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