Hwaseong Fortress

A few weeks ago we took a short drive to Suwon to visit the Hwaseong Fortress.  It is basically a bunch of fighting positions along a ridgeline, connected by a wall that surrounds the city.

From the place where we parked, you walk up a stairway that leads to the ridge.  From here it seems to be the tallest set of stairs in the world.

Until you get to this point and realize that what you can see from the bottom isn't even halfway.

All of the stairs were covered in ice and snow.  We plan on going back here but it will be well after the snow and ice have melted.  Whenever we got to a point that we thought was the top of the stairs the view would open up and they would just keep going.

Isaac and I went to the top and took this pic of Jacqui, Delainey and Conrad coming around the last curve.

Here is a lookout that was at the top of the stairs.

Here it is from the side view.  There were several stations like this along the ridgeline.

This was our Sherpa, Dave, who helped us find our way to the top of the mountain. 

Isaac found this bronze memorial to remember when the Korean Pilgrims cut the paper boys legs off and ran around with sticks.  This is also the first known use of the wave.  This was several years before it made its first showing in Mexico.

Here is the rest of it.

This bell was at one of the stations.  They used to toll it to signal to the other stations.  It can be heard for several miles.

It had this log hanging from a chain to toll it.  Jacqui and the kids gave it some good whacks.

The fighting positions were all covered in art. 

Another fighting position.  They shot crossbows from the rock castle thing and from the second story of the building on the right.  There are holes that go through the green part that they could shoot through.

Another angle.

On the way down, Jacqui decided to get a drink.  We were all very thirsty and the water shooting out of the side of the mountain looked very refreshing.  They had some small pots to drink from hanging on chains.  Were were all thirsty but only Jacqui was brave enough to drink out of this thing after thousands of Koreans had been drinking out of it for years and it probably never had been washed.  The short term result is that for the next hour Jacqui felt hydrated and the rest of us were all thirsty.  The long term result was that Jacqui brough home a virus that had her vomiting through the night followed by a day on the toilet.

We plan on going back someday but now that we know what to expect we will be better prepared.  We need to carry lots of water and some food for a full day.  Once you get to the top there really is nothing to eat and the trail is probably 20 miles long.  We probably walked one mile once we got to the top and we were already ready to eat and drink.  Next time we plan to walk at least half of it.