Suwon

안녕하세요 --> ahn nyeong ha seh yo --> Hi!

On Monday of this week, the school term ended, which meant that a two day term break followed. So the work week looks like this:

• Monday: Class
• Tuesday: No class
• Wednesday: No class
• Thursday: Class
• Friday: Class, day ends at 11am

A bit random, especially considering that there's a four day weekend around the corner, but hey...a break is a break.

One of the teachers recommended that we go to Suwon on Tuesday. Considering that the weather had been pretty rainy earlier in the week, and also considering that Suwon was over an hour away by train, I felt less than enthused about going.

But boy, am I glad I went. Yes, it did take a while to get there, but I was able to eat a waffle with strawberry butter, so that made the wait worthwhile. Yes, they make and sell those as street food here.

Once we arrived at the station our destination was only a 4500 won (~$4.50) cab ride away. We started off at a palace called Hwaseong Haenggung. Though it cost a bit to get in an there wasn't a whole lot that was different from other palaces I've seen in Seoul, there were still some great scenes.

When we arrived at the palace, we noticed a large, golden Buddha statue. We decided that would be our next destination.

More lanterns for Buddha's Birthday!

This statue is about 20 feet tall. That's a big Buddha.

Then, we climbed stairs.

And then we climbed some more.

Next...oh my gosh.

THIS VIEW.

We had made it to the top of Hwaseong Fortress. The fortress is a UNESCO World Heritage site. You can walk along the fortress wall, which goes in a circle for 5 km or just over 3 miles. The sky and temperature were incredible (I thank the rain over the previous days for this), and the scenery was...oh man. I think this is my favorite place I've been to in Korea thus far.

WARNING: More pictures.

Dragon train, anyone?

And THEN...my phone died, so I didn't get to take any more pictures. But a few of us finished the entire loop just in time to see the sunset! [Cue triumphant music.]

After that, we saw ANOTHER Buddhist temple and went to a noraebang (Korean karaoke) for a bit...THAT was awesome, because two members of the group were supposedly anti-karaoke. Well, as of Tuesday, those two are new men.

It was a long train ride back, but for Suwon, it was well worth it.

Next time, we'll have to take the illustrious restroom tour.