Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon, South Korea.

On post is a tour group called Discover Seoul.  They offer many different tours, and on the schedule I saw a half day tour to 'Suwon Fortress' on the Saturday before Columbus Day.  I went into the office, and there were two men trying to sign up for an all day tour.  The tour rep said we had to have at least 3 people sign up, and these guys are only here for 6 months, so I offered to join forces and do the all day tour.  Lesson number 1:  Stop being so nice and letting other people change your plans.  The guys were very nice, but all day tours in Seoul are not for the recent arrival.

We had to be at the bus on Humphreys at 6:20 am for the ride to Yongsan Army Base in Seoul, about 2 hours northwest of Pyeongtaek-si, Anjeong-ri. 

 It was a beautiful day.

Traffic was very busy.  There are festivals almost every weekend during the month of October in Seoul.

We got there about 40 minutes before the tour bus was to pick us up, so we all had coffee and breakfast on post.  Doug and Noel (pronounced Nole) were both most recently from Hunter Army Airfield!  Retired military, they now worked with a company that repaired helicopters and instructed helicopter repair for the Army.  That seems odd to me, that the Army has to hire outside its ranks to work on helicopters.

The fortress is a huge park-like area with the surrounding wall enclosing a palace and parade grounds and meeting places for the royalty.  Unfortunately, during the occupation of Korea by Japan from 1910 to 1945, Japan made it a point to destroy every culturally significant place to the best of their ability, so little to none of the original structures exist.  Hwaseong Fortress was rebuilt in the 1970's.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because every brick, stone, piece of wood, etc. was cataloged, and the plans and how it was built and this cost all survived, so it was rebuilt exactly as it was built from 1794 to 1796.  King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty built Hwaseong Fortress to house and honor the remains of his father Prince Sado, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father King Yeongjo after failing to obey the command to commit suicide.  King Yeongjo was apparently very threatened by Prince Sado.

Gift Shop

                                           

Archery field

East Gate

Ceilings were elaborately painted

The Korean Cut Outs are life sized for the late 18th century.

Park Map

 Wall views from the train.

Warrior training.  Some of the facial expressions are quite intimidating.

 This was our first stop on our all day tour.  I enjoyed watching the warriors, but it was difficult to see because of the crowds.  It was a lovely day, so being outside was great, but it would have been nice to be able to sit down!