Manseok Park () is a large

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...

in the Jeongja-dong area of Jangan-gu,

Suwon Suwon (; ) is the largest city and capital of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's most populous province. The city lies approximately south of the national capital, Seoul. With a population of 1.2 million, Suwon has more inhabitants than Ulsan, tho ...

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Facilities

The centrepiece of the park is a man-made reservoir around which there is a 1200 m track used for walking, running, rollerblading and cycling. There is a huge paved area and permanent stage on the east side of the park, which hosts various outdoor events and celebrations every year, while the Suwon Arts Centre can be found on the south side. The park is also home to the 14 tennis-courts (Manseok tennis-court/Hard court) of the North Suwon Tennis Club. The specialized tennis shop is on the first floor across from the tennis court. There is a full size dirt soccer pitch on the west side and a high quality astroturf soccer pitch on the east side of the park. In 2004 the Suwon X-games skatepark opened at Manseok. This public facility has two half pipes (one being the highest public half-pipe in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

) and a large selection of top-quality ramps, rails and boxes. There is an oval speed track around the perimeter of the park for rollerbladers. The park also features high quality restrooms in accordance with Suwon City Council's stated policy. File:만석공원 한 바퀴 (2020.09.20) 06.jpg, Half-pipes

Events

Each June the park hosts the Suwon Galbi Festival, a highlight of the Korean gastronomic calendar. Galbi (marinated, barbecued beef ribs) originates from Suwon and is served all over

and around the world. The event consists of a massive number of ''pojangmacha'' (

Hangeul The Korean alphabet is the modern writing system for the Korean language. In North Korea, the alphabet is known as (), and in South Korea, it is known as (). The letters for the five basic consonants reflect the shape of the speech organs ...

: 포장마차) being erected and cooking up as much galbi as possible, accompanied by plenty of

soju Soju (English pronunciation: ; ) is a clear and colorless distilled alcoholic beverage from Korea, traditionally made from rice, but later from other grains and has a flavor similar to vodka. It is usually consumed neat. Its alcohol content ...

. During the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, Manseok became the Suwon World Cup Park and large screens and stages were erected to celebrate the country's co-hosting of the event. Tens of thousands of fans from

and around the world witnessed the performances of the South Korean team on the big screens.

Food and drink

The park has a variety of restaurants and bars along the street to the north-east. There is a wide range of Korean food, including galmaegisal (갈매기살) and stewed chicken (닭백숙), and Datzzang Donkas recently opened its first branch outside Seoul here. There is a range of Korean-style bars, and also It Bar, a western-style alternative.

Transport

Most buses which serve north Suwon and many express buses between

and

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

stop just outside the park, including the frequent 65 (

Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ...

–Woncheon Resort) and the 7770 (

– Sadang (

) express). The nearest subway stop is Hwaseo on Line 1. The park is also close to the Suwon kt Wiz park baseball stadium and the

Suwon FC Suwon FC (; Hanja: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Suwon, that competes in the K League 1, the South Korea's top professional league. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium. History Early years: semi-profes ...

football stadium.

References

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External links