Today I decided to go to Suwon, site of an 18th century fortress, to the south of Seoul. Despite the considerable distance (I think about 35 km?), it is in fact reachable by subway.
Things got immediately confusing because subway line 1, as it happens, has eight different platforms, and none of them listed the destination that Naver Maps said to look for, and there was no staff at the station I was in to ask for directions. After some back and forth, I found a train that went through Suwon, but the app said to take an express train, and I found no way to discern which trains were express or not, or when a fast one might be coming. So I got on the first train that came, and of course that one turned out to be one of the long ones. It took an hour to get to Suwon! And then once in Suwon, I still had to take a (short) bus ride to get to Paldamun Gate, the entry point to Hwaseong Fortress.
I checked in at the information kiosk, where I learned that, contrary to what my guidebook says, there’s no ticket needed to walk along the fortress walls. So up I went a very long, very steep set of stairs! I’ve been training for like two months to be in tip-top shape for this trip, and… I was out of breath almost instantly! This is embarrassing!
So here’s the thing about Hwaseong: it’s not a fortress in the Western sense of the concept. I was thinking a castle or a big defensive building, but in fact it’s closer to a forested park guarded by a big, long wall snaking all around the extensive park. This makes the experience more of a hike than a visit, and while there are some interesting buildings here and there, the downside is that you quite literally can’t see the forest for the trees, as there are only a few dispositions that make for striking views.
One thing that surprised me was that I think I was the very only tourist, foreign or otherwise, everywhere I went all morning. The people I crossed during my walk all looked like locals on a morning hike rather than domestic visitors. It was only in the next visit that I ran into a group of Western tourists.
I’d made my way about halfway through when I decided I was bored and took a detour to visit the “temporary palace”, which made me think it was built only for a season or something but in fact it refers to the fact that the king used it as his residence when he was visiting. This palace does require a ticket. At 1,500 won (€1.05) no one can accuse them of being expensive, but in truth the visit isn’t all that either: the grounds are large but eerily empty, and the buildings themselves seem tidy and well restored but all done in such a regular, uniform style that it feels like you see the same courtyard five times.
I walked out and straight into “Chicken Street” -that’s the official name- to eat some fried chicken, which seems to be the specialty. The only restaurant named in the Lonely Planet guide was closed, and all the others looked identical to me, so I chose one at random. Here too, the waitress handed me a menu with only two choices (fried chicken, or fried chicken with sauce) and stood there until I decided. I said with sauce, and they brought me the biggest plate of chicken I’ve ever seen!
That would have been too much for two of me, let alone one, plus all the pieces had bones and all I had was two forks so this wasn’t a great experience altogether! The chicken itself was good, at least, but I quickly gave up on it and almost ran back to Seoul. I have to say, all in all, Suwon did not feel worth the time it takes to get there!
After that I went to the closest item on my to-do list, which was the National Museum of Korea. It is housed in a very minimalistic but deceivingly large building right next to a traditional Korean pond, with a picture-perfect pavilion and everything. The combination is spectacular!
Once inside, I was delighted to find that the entrance to the museum is free! Naturally I started with the shop, because museum shops are so often a delight -and this one was no different! Lots of beautiful, uniquely Korean souvenirs, much more tasteful than the fare you might find in the touristy neighborhoods. I went “Ooooh maybe this?!” lots of times but didn’t actually buy anything (I got myself an enamel pin in the shape of a palace on Monday, they had the same line here).
I can’t emphasize enough just how ENORMOUS the museum is. It spans three floors, each one of them big enough to be a museum in and of itself, and each football-field-sized floor is divided in two distinct halves, each one with a different exhibition. The collection is mostly archeological in nature, exhibiting objects, tools, clothes, ornaments, etc., with only a handful of paintings or sculptures, so it’s closer to the British Museum than to the Louvre, if we’re comparing styles.
The ground floor focuses on periods of Korean history, most notably the Silla and Joseon dynasties, with lots of historical artifacts, including items that I can’t believe have been conserved for hundreds of years, like glassware or intricate jewelry.
The second floor is distributed by theme, like calligraphy or metalwork. There is even an entire Korean house inside one of the rooms! It reminded of the museum in Richmond that has an entire Indian structure, you can find it elsewhere on this blog.
They also have -I forget on which floor, even though it was literally just a few hours ago- a specially conditioned room to showcase two national treasures: twin statues of bodhisattvas, kept in a dimly lit, quiet room designed to facilitate meditation and self-reflection.
The third floor, lastly, has small but well curated exhibits from other countries, including Ancient Greece, China, and India. Their most prized item here is an ancient bronze helmet, also exhibited with the pomp that it deserves.
I was already tired when I went in, then grew exhausted as I traversed the seemingly endless exhibits in the giant museum. There was a point when I though I’d reach the end of a wing only to find out I was just at the halfway point. By the end, I gave the craft-centered exhibits a tour so cursory that I practically ran through them, and then by the third floor I skipped the early-history wing altogether.
You see, I wasn’t done with the day. Like I’ve done in Tokyo with the Park Hyatt, or in Bangkok at the Lebua (both also blogged here), I wanted to find a vantage point to see the sun set over Seoul. The two main observation decks seem to be the Lotte World Tower and the N Seoul Tower; I chose the latter, as it seemed closer.
It takes a bit of a trek, still, because the tower sits at the top of Namsan Mountain, so you have to take the metro to Myeongdong (ironic that I said it’s a one-time visit and I went back not 24 hours later), then climb a bunch of stairs to get to a cable car, which will get you to the N Seoul Plaza, the base of the tower (you can also go by bus, or hike if you’re up for it).
I tried in good faith to buy a ticket to go up to the observation deck, but found the process frustrating: you have to scan a QR code, then buy the ticket online, which gives you a QR code of your own, and then you have to queue to redeem that code for an actual ticket, and then you have to queue! Again! To get into the tower itself! There is of course a “fast pass” at a highway-robbery €30 or something like that. So I said hell no!
The thing with the N Seoul Tower -the girls at the cooking class yesterday had already tipped me off- is that it’s on top of a mountain, so the views from the base are already pretty great! Evil companies have tried to block as much of them as possible with cafés so you’ll go inside and consume to see them, but there are enough gaps that you can get a 360° view with a bit of effort.
So I did a round, found the best spots, took lots of pictures of the sunset, then sat down to wait for it to grow dark. I looked up the sunset hour beforehand, of course, but as usual I arrived early! This place is of course a full tourist trap, with lots and lots of tourists coming and going -which makes me think, where do they go afterwards?! Every time I take the subway, I am the only non-Asian person even in the most packed cars or central lines. Are the tourists all taking taxis? Are they avoiding me?! The ones I met at the class yesterday all left to take the subway… Here I only interacted with a nice American couple who asked me to take their picture and then volunteered to take mine in return. I’m grateful but embarrassed that the one the guy took of me is way better than the one I took of them… I swear I tried my best!
Eventually the night descended over Seoul, and all the buildings lit up seemingly at the same time. If the city already looked large before, it felt larger in the dark, perhaps more mysterious. I guess it doesn’t quite look as vast as Tokyo because it has hills and mountains to break up the view of the infinite concrete jungle, but trust me, Seoul is huge.
Adding the trip back to my apartment, that was it for today! The morning was not what I expected, but that’s how these things go, and at least I managed to salvage the afternoon with some culture and aerial views without being gouged.
Tomorrow is my last full day in Seoul, and I have plans for dinner south of the river, so I’ll probably check out Gangnam in the afternoon. But what do I do with my morning?
This Is A Lake 