A Big Day Out

look Mum finally conquered that mountAin

What an adventure today turned out to be. Liz finally achieved a bucket list item and led us out to Suwon Fortress. Although it is still on the Seoul Metropolitan Railway network, suwon is technically a separate city. It took over an hour and a half to get there and not simply because we were on the stopping all stations train.

on Guard at Sowon Fortress

Liz originally thought we'd have a couple of hours exploring the fortress, surrounds have lunch and return home. Well we spent every bit of the two hours and then tripled that.

Our three wishes for the Family

Our initial arrival included a visit to the tourist information office outside the railway station. The gentleman there could not have been more helpful. He gave us a map the. Proceeded to write all sorts of suggestions of what to see, how much it cost, where to have lunch and what activities are worth doing.

We too,a taxi down to the first gate. Fro ther hung a left to scale the fortress battlement. At this point gazing up an endless flight of stairs to the top of the hill, we really missed Mother; I'm sure she was glad to be back in Australia. The whole fortress wall is just under 5 klms so compares favourably with Lake Wendouree back home except that is flat.

Up top we paid to ring the bell of filial piety. Once for your parents, twice for family health and thrice for you own wishes and goals. I've kept mine secret, but am sure you can guess the general content.

Now where was that darned Apple?

Next cama long walk to have a go at Archery. What good fun that turned out to be, although we told a White lie to allow amelie to have a turn. the minimum age is 8. technically in Western terms, she is 7 as we start birt as zero. but in Korea, the tradition is to count age from 1 so at birth a child is one. sing the Korean method we to.d the truth, Ame.ke is 8.

Next we boarded the Trolley for a ride around Bout half of the fortress.it is nothing much more than the proverbiL train at an amusement park with a internal combustion engine up front pulling several carriages. however what made the trip was the setting. weaving its way around the sights and inside and outside the fortress wall all to a mixed commentary in both Korean and English made it quite enjoyable.

the Fortress and Palace within date from the joseon dynasty, most work seems to have been completed somewhere towards the end of the 1700's. by the. Fortifications I Europe had changed dramatically due to the proliferation of Gunpowder and this fortress reflects many such considerations.

the Royal Palace area is nowhere near as grand as the palaces in Seoul as it never served as a permanent Royal Home, but I have the i pression that King Joseon showed quite a liking for this location.

Outside the palace area ther was a great little festival underway. I couldn't read the signage, but the activities and vibe came through that this was some form of Family Festival. I think it was due to the fact that ther were lots of family groups participating in the. Artois activities that gave it a way.

Amelie quickly spied another fan painting station and Kelly chose a wonderful Blossom Branch as the subject. Between the master calligrapher, Liz and Amelie taking turns to paint parts of the scene, the resulting work looks quite spectacular. the caligrapher took great delight that we asked for Amelie's korean name be written in Hangul and Liz write it for him whe he could not quite understand her Aussie Korean accent. After completion, they had the nerve to ask us to pay 1000won. Yep about a buck for this impressive souvenir. I guess Ghanaian was for inclusive activities, not profit. How well they succeeded.

We very nearly made a break for hom, but I spotted a screen painting activity. They had a series of stencils to,choose from, but the one of Amelie, the Audrey Tatou head shot csoght our eye. Amelie joyously chose to make an Amelie T-Shirt and Liz case to make an Amelie carry bag. Having completed the screen printing and drying the paint we thought that we all. No way! We were then shunted towards the artist herself that created the stencils and other items on display. she proceeded to,add free hand embellishment s to both works,turning watch into an individual one off creation. So,how much for an original piece of fashion art, yep you guessed it 5000won or a fiver. the smiles on A elites and Lizs face proved the festival had achieved its goal....Family Fun.

All the fun meant we were late heading for home and the train which proved to be the most crowded suburban train ride ever experienced. the fact that it seemed to empty only to completely reload every station added to my stressed fascination. It seemed one had to time each breath with arrival at a new station platform. As the crowd alighted came a brief moment for a couple breaths before the commuter constriction crushed the ribs unbearably once more.

We knew we were late to try to catch dinner, but I couldn't find any meeting details from any of the fellow "Han Ho" travellers in Seoul. We tried a coup,e of,numbers we had all to no,avail. Leaving it to Sod's law, we gave up,hope of making dinner and were well on our way home when Charlie called us just moments from our door. turning tail, it took a few calls and the despatch of a search party before were reunited with .ost friends for a most enjoyable dinner despite being quite late. Thankfully the restaraunt were very obliging too. Plans were hatched for a future trip to Everland, Koreas version of Disneyland, so keep any eye out for news to come.

 

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