On Monday, March 10 I ventured out to sight see in this great city of Suwon and wound up at the Hwaesong Fortress, a 5 km wall that housed King Jeonsig (spelling error) home and future capital of Korea until plans were changed. It was a cloudy, warm day and I had a stomach full of my favorite Korean food, Mon-Du, and enough energy from my Dunkin Donuts coffee I drank earlier at Suwon Station, just 15 minutes away from the 400 year old castle and fortress.
I meet a couple of Japanese tourists and one Korean girl all studying geography as first year students. We split off and wondered around. The wall and inner buildings where King Jeonsong lived has been reconstructed but nonetheless, it's a real treat to see how they documented the moving of 7.5 ton slabs of rock to build the two exterior walls against enemies. In 1950 Korean War a lot of the compound was destroyed but the Korean government paid homage and built up the area again including the Paldamun gate just three minutes from the main entrance.
This area of Suwon houses some cute cafes and active nightlife. None of which I partook because everyone is working from 7am-6pm Monday through Friday. The streets explode with people after six pm. It's pretty cool to see it happen when students come out of school or language institutes, parents pick up their kids, workers start the commute home or go to the thousands of restaurants that support each little neighborhood nook and cranny in Suwon.
The fortress should be seen again this time in late spring. It should be another treat to walk the perimeter with the flowers in bloom. I will take a date up to this wooden cafe up the hill from the fortress to have some snacks. I'm looking forward to that!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment