(Guard in historical uniform at left, view of the Haenggung, or Palace, at right, from above)
Hi all,
As some of you may recall from an earlier post, Ashley, Sarah, and I had tried to get out to see Hwaseong back in September but couldn't because of rain. Ashley and Sarah had never been, the former due to her being a recent arrival like myself, while Sarah hasn't had time to come out to see the fortress and walls since she's a busy as all get out.
(The Front Gates to Hwaseong Palace)
Well, I'm pleased to say that we made it, at long last! We got up early, went out at 11AM to downtown Suwon, and to Hwaseong Haenggung (Hain-Gung). We took a tour around the palace grounds for a good hour and a bit. The Palace, built at the same time as the fortress back in the late 1700s, was a "temporary" palace, meaning that it was used by King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, as he was travelling through the Suwon region.
One suspects, from the grandeur of the buildings and the size of the place, that it was, as the signs suggested, intended as a more permanent retirement palace for the King. We puttered about the main entrance and the gardens in the back, before catching sight of a massive golden Buddha statue, which we decided to head towards. However, we decided to wait until we could snap off some pictures with the guards, dressed in appropriate clothing for the time, as seen above and here, below.
(The Audience Chamber of the King, Left; Guards preparing for a martial arts demonstration at the main gates, Right)
We made our way around to the Buddhist statue and temple, and snapped off a few pictures. As the temple is currently active, for obvious reasons, no pictures were allowed inside. I ventured in to pause, meditate, and pray for a moment. Again, like in Bulguksa, I was struck by the peaceful nature of the temple, and how, despite differences in doctrine, the human condition has a common denominator in our pursuit of and attempts to comprehend the spiritual.
(Buddhist statue, about 5m tall)
At any rate, we then marched up the mountain to the Western end of the wall. As you might recall, we had already hit the East end previously. Well, that is, Jen, myself, Oliver, and Daniel had done so. This time however, I was determined to get to the top of the Paldal mountain, and, after one heck of a climb, we made it up.
(In the words of so many children: "Are we there yet?" Nope. Not yet)
The view from the top of the wall was well worth the climb. We were met at the top by a rather boisterous crowd of American tourists, several of whom were drinking as they walked. Aside from the obvious difficulty involved in trying to combine heavy hiking and exercise with beer, I was also struck by the fact that this was slightly obnoxious and disrespectful to the surroundings we were walking around upon.
Still. The view, and the company of Ashley and Sarah, made the trip quite worthwhile. We decided to rest up a bit at the top of the mountain. I admit I did a fair bit of trotting around to snap some more pictures, including this, below:
(Command Post, Western Wall, View of Suwon from above, at right)
We ventured further West and started climbing back down, before heading in to Paldalmun, the Southern Gate district, and shopping for a bit in the crowded urban market there.
Quite worthwhile, overall. As always, the architecture and surroundings here are quite something. Whereas in Europe, a castle might be built on a plain, or built into the side of a mountain, here, with all the mountains around the city, the Korean King just up and built the wall around the entire town, mountain and all. It's an impressive feat of engineering, and it was a rather good hike to take it all in.
More news as it comes!
Chris
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