Lesson 19

Sometimes you should just pick a direction and walk in it.

For those of you who didn't know: Suwon has a big stone wall that surrounds the city - it is the only completely walled city in South Korea. Kristen, Kelsey, and I went to the western wall of Hwaseong Fortress today. The purpose of our journey was to walk along the wall and check out as much as we could in an afternoon (we weren't going to walk all the way around - it's a bit of a trek). The only catch: we weren't sure how to get to the wall from where we were.

Paldalmun Gate ("a gate open to all directions")

Dragon detail on the ceiling of the doorway.

We hopped off the bus at Paldalmun Gate. It is the southern gate to the Hwaseong Fortress and was built in 1794, and still maintains its original appearance (i.e. big frickin' stone blocks). After taking a bunch of photos and getting into tourist mode, we picked the "towards the general area of the wall" direction and wandered down a few side streets. We saw beautiful lotus flower paintings/carvings in the road and part of me thought that perhaps there's a little Buddhist temple somewhere nearby. Suddenly Kristen stops in the middle of the road and just goes, "Whoa... check it out!" and points up the hill: a huge golden Buddha statue.

Lotus flower on the street.

Buddha in the distance.

Excited by our discovery, we follow the road further up the hill to see if we can reach the golden Buddha. We pass through a tall gate onto the temple grounds. Not sure if we're allowed in, we lower our voices and walk through quietly, taking photos of nearly everything. We stand in front of the Buddha for about five minutes just gazing at it. Then a little old Korean man appears out of nowhere and smiles at us, motioning to the door under the Buddha and telling us we can go inside but we must take off our shoes. We thank him and walk down the stairs to check it out.

Gate to the temple.

Our secret golden Buddha.

Temple under the secret golden Buddha.

It was so nice to finally see a Buddhist temple after being so used to the neon crosses on nearly every block in Suwon. It was tucked away in the trees and houses on the hill, and was quiet and very peaceful. I wish there were more places like this near our apartment.

We eventually leave the temple and continue on our quest to find the path to the wall. We turn on every street possible, going in the general "up" direction. Our wandering eventually paid off: after climbing a steep, never-ending staircase, we reached the Seojangdae (Western Command Post). You can see most of Suwon from this spot - not surprisingly it was used to monitor enemy movement outside the walls. There was a Seoammun (Western Secret Gate) nearby which was used to smuggle people, animals, and supplies in and out of the fortress. This specific secret gate is completely undetectable when viewed from a distance and nicely tucked away in a forest.

Seojangdae

Seoammun - outside looking in.

Seoammun - outside the fortress.

A little further along the wall is a massive bell (the bell of the Filial Piety) which you can ring three times for 3,000 won.

The first toll: To show gratitude and respect to your parents.

The second toll: To wish for your family's health and harmony.

The third toll: To wish for the realization of your dreams.

We wandered along the wall for another two hours or so, looking out at the view, reading about the fortress, and following a father and his adorable little laughing toddler, trying to take pictures of them.

Me at the Seonamgangnu - Southwestern Pavilion.

Walking along the wall.

We eventually headed back down the hill (this time down an even longer staircase that took us directly to the Paldalmun), then looked around for a bus. Pleased with our trip and thinking we knew what we were doing, we hopped on the first bus we saw... only to find that we once again took the wrong bus.

But we learn something new every time I guess. This time we learned that getting lost can either result in sitting on a bus for an hour going the wrong way or a golden Buddha. I'm glad I got lost once today.