Gyeonggi English Village

Korea has so many global villages throughout the country. They are really trying hard to get their citizens to be more culturally conscious. Most young Koreans have to study a certain amount of English for school and this village helps with that, which is the purpose for this village. This village favors a place you would see in the United Kingdom.

English Village!

When you get off the bus you have to cross the street to get to the village. At the entrance you can see stonehenge's, which look exactly like the ones in the UK but obviously not real. It was in the center of the parking lot and had cars surrounding it, which kind of sucked. No matter what angle you tried to take the picture there was always a car in your photo.

Stongehenge

As we talked to the entrance we spotted red telephone booth which we so excited. I've always wanted to go to England for some

Signature red phonebooth

 Then you have to go through immigration which is the entrance. So we paid our free of 5,000 won and headed towards immigration.

Airport terminal

Our tickets were passports, which was pretty cool. There was also a pledge inside about only speaking English here. This pertains to the students who visit during the week. For them there are different stations they need to complete in the village to gets stamps in their books. A really fun idea, I wish they had these cultural villages in Canada. Learning French would be so much more fun!

My passport

I love this theme it's really fun. We had to stop in front and snap some photos before we went in. I'm standing in front of immigration. They even have airplane arrival times on the wall and gate numbers like a real airport.

After we took our pictures we continued on to immigration. I can definitely say this is the first time I was not nervous going to immigration! There was actually a lady sitting at immigration and she asks a few questions before you go in. Not hard questions just questions like "where are you from", "how long have you been here" well at least for foreigners.

Immigration

After immigration we made our way to the village entrance which was a castle gateway.

Beyond the castle walls

When we got in the place was deserted. But I didn't mind because that meant we could take pictures everywhere and weren't rushed. Even though I've never been to the UK, this village made me feel like I was in the UK with its buildings and other things. At first we just walked around the buildings and noticed there are building where people actually live. There are also pensions where students would stay on a school trip.

Village

I was so happy to spot another telephone booth. The first was in the parking lot and was not ideal for a photo shoot. So we took so pictures in the photo booth. I was like a child in a candy store; way too excited!

Phone booth again

After taking our pictures we headed to city hall. This is an exactly replica to the city hall in London. They actually have pictures of city hall so you can see. I was very amazed. They even have the water fountain which is really beautiful. A lot of couple do wedding photos here, their pictures are amazing. There are a few photography shops with pictures outside in which you can see.

City Hall

Promenade

I was hoping to see a double decker bus, because everyone knows that's a staple in England. Unfortunately there wasn't one. Instead they had vintage streetcars. Not really sure if they even have those in England but we had fun with them. I always pictured going to San Francisco and taking a picture hanging outside of the famous red streetcars they have, but instead I got to do it here. I got really excited because I thought the streetcar moved because there was tracks along the pathway. But it was just for show.

Street car love

This place was so deserted! I guess most of their customers are students during the week for school. Students who come here actually get a credit for school, which is amazing. For us, not so much. Since it was not one of their busy days only three places were open to eat. Tom n Tom's (coffee shop), a pizza & pasta restaurant and a burger place. We chose the latter. It wasn't the best burger I've ever had but it was okay and it was cheaper than most burger places I go to. While we were eating we finally found out what the tracks were for on the path; the rail bike. We saw people ride by and it looked fun so we decided to do it.

Ville

If you want to rent a rail bike you have to do it at the same place where you pay to get inside the village. Renting the bike costs 6,000 a person. It's supposed to be a 30min ride but it literally took us like 10 minutes and we were not happy. It was a rip off! You just do one loop through the village and then it's over. There is no way it would take you 30min! I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you were bored or something.

Rail bike ride

Overall, I though the village was a neat idea. During the week I'm sure there's a lot more to do than on the weekend when it isn't as busy. I think I would go here again. There is lots to see if you take your time and you love to take photos. Otherwise this place may not be for you. You could easily be done here in like 45 minutes. But its a nice trip away from Seoul. In Paju they have the best outlets in Korea, so you could spend the day here. Or you could visit Hyeri art village which is close by. If you want to see the rest of the pictures from Gyeonggi English village CLICK HERE.

Directions:
- Take the subway to Hapjeong station (green line 3 & brown line 6)
- Leave through exit 1
- There will be a red bus stop sign and line area for bus 2200
- It takes about 45 minutes. They will stay the stop in English.