A tourist's weekend (Sunday)

On Sunday, we got up early again and headed south to the city of Suwon. Suwon is the provincial capital of the Gyeonggi-Do province with a population of just over 1 million people and is around a 15 minute cab ride (depending on traffic) from Dongtan.

In Suwon there is a fortress, Hwaesong Fortress which was built in the late 18th century by King Jeonjgo of the the Joseon Dynasty. This fortress surrounds the center of Suwon and was built by the king in honor of his father, Prince Sado. In 1997, this fortress became of UNESCO world heritage site. The wall is just over 3.5 miles long and stands just at 4ft.

After hopping on a random bus headed to Suwon, the bus pulled into a garage and we were forced to get off. We had no idea where we were so we shuffled our way to the front of the bus and gave the bus driver our lonely planet book in hopes of directing us in the right way. Luckily, there was an inspector on the bus as well and after both the driver and the inspector took a long look at the lonely planet, they told us to sit down and drove us 20 minutes closer to town. The inspector flagged down a bus and after speaking to the driver, we were dropped off at Deukjungjeong, a part of the wall where the King practiced archery and they still do today! We were so grateful for the bus drivers and the inspectors’ kindness and willingness to help us out.

Here are pictures from the fortress…














(We ran into a Buddhist Temple)

After walking around the fortress for a couple hours, we decided to go into the walled area and visit some markets.






(silkworm larvae, yum)



Since Suwon is known for their galbi, we hopped in the cab and showed the taxi driver the lonely planet where they had recommended a galbi place. With the language barrier, it was impossible, and after saying “galbi” and patting my stomach, we arrived in a galbi restaurant fit for a king.