Last Saturday Steph graciously let me borrow her partner, Ric, for the day. Ric and I had originally planned to bike up to Uiwang to check out a railroad museum, but because I hadn’t been feeling so hot, we decided to take the train there instead (a bit more fitting transportation-wise perhaps), which would also give us time to hit Suwon’s Hwaseong Fortress on the way back to Cheonan.
The weather was nice– sunny and clear– perfect for investigating old trains and metro cars parked and weathering on small plots outside of the museum building.
modeling with trains
The grounds of Uiwang’s Railroad Museum
After Ric satisfied himself with trains and engines and valves and whatnot, we headed over to Suwon to grab street food. For the hell of it, we bought some candy from the back of a stranger’s truck (wasn’t there a special on Fox News or Dateline warning the public of the dangers of strangers with candy?).
Man peddling candy out of his truck bed… every parent’s nightmare….
Street dumplings for lunch
Even from the street, we could tell the hike up to the Fortress was not going to be an easy one.
We were in for a steep climb…
Even though I am in moderately good shape (I mean, hello, B.A.S.K.! hahah), I found myself out of breath on the climb up. I’ll just blame it on my cold… At any rate, the views of Suwon were nice.
Suwon
And before we knew it, we had made it to the top. Time for some victory struts. We walked around for a bit and snapped some photos before heading back down to catch the train.
Made it!
Happiness at the peak of Hwaseong Fortress
Different angle of the pavilion
A designated spot to take photos. Great!
Wikipedia informs me that Hwaseong Fortress was built in the 18th century by King Jeongjo to honor his father who was murdered by his father in a fairly horrific way: death by rice casket. The fortess was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997.
Pingback: Hwaseong Fortress | Plastic Whales·