Holiday Journal

• Start
•  
• Gwanggyo Reservoir
•  
• Hwaseong
•  
• Hwaseong Haenggung
•  
• Janganmun
•  
• Suwon Chicken Alley
•  
• Haegungdong
•  
• Paldalmun
•  
• Finish

UNESCO World Heritage 'Suwon Hwaseong Fortress' 수원화성

You can't say you traveled Suwon if you didn't visit here. Suwon Hwaseong(水原華城) Fortress is 6km in circumference and the original form almost perfectly remains. The Suwoncheon(River) connecting to Hwahongmun(Hwahong Gate) is still flowing, and the road connecting Paldalmun(South Gate), Janganmun(North Gate), Hwaseong Haenggung(Hwaseong Temporary Palace) and Changryongmun(Changryong Gate) is still used as main road.

Let's take walk in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress that's keeping its frameworks for 200 years. If you take a look around the whole castle, it takes two and a half hours and if you take Hwaseong train in the middle, it's only gonna take about one and a half hours.

We'll start at Hwahongmun. Hwahongmun is very popular among photographers. This is a sluice gate built over Suwoncheon that flows across the middle of Hwaseong which prevents flooding of Suwoncheon in rainy seasons and protect from enemies. When the river is in a great volume of water in summer it heavily flows and it makes the beautiful rainbows in the sky. So the Hong(虹) in Hwahongmun means rainbow Hong虹.

It's very clear for water flowing in the middle of the big city of 1.1 million population. It has a lot of fish as well. FYI, Suwon-si is quite a big city, bigger than Ulsan Metropolitan City. But it's not a metropolitan city because there are already Seoul and Incheon Metropolitan Cities in Gyeonggi-do.

The river didn't have much water just like Gwanggyo Reservoir because it didn't rain much this summer. If it rains like ordinary years, it would heavily flow and I miss it.

But thanks to fountain, rainbows are always there in the sky.

This is a photo taken a few days before. I just wanted to show you how the night looks like there. That pavilion is Banghwasuryujeong. I didn't take my tripod and I had to put my camera on a structure next to me so the composition is not perfect but just so you know how it looks like at night.

This is Banghwasuryujeong(訪花隨柳亭) behind the Hwahongmun in the photo above. This is a building for military purpose such as 'surveillance and control of neighborhood' and as a pavilion, which is a very creative building that you can't see anywhere else.



Banghwasuryujeong is much more beautiful if you look at it among lotus outside the castle. In spring, it makes a great view with all those royal azalea bloomed around the area.

This is designated as Treasure No. 1709 for it's a valuable data that shows you the architectural techniques in the 18th century.

Suwon Hwaseong ramparts look so beautiful from outside. I've been here in four seasons and flowers in spring, blue grass in summer, dried leaves in autumn, and snow in winter all make it a beautiful place.

It is mind-blowing if you look at Banghwasuryujeong at a little higher place when it is harmonized with a pond called Yongyeon where the lotuses are blossomed. I must say it's the best scenery of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. If it snows high as your knee, you might burst into tears to see the view!

I'll take a walk along the rampart. There's no uphill or downhill so it's not going to be so difficult.

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress is really designed scientifically. Ramparts are curved to remove dead zones and if there was due to geographical reasons, they made Chi(雉) that is projecting outwards to protect the dead zones. Just like in the picture, the upper part of castle was made with angles that has sights of every direction and they could see up and down even the through guns. It's really delicate.

Looking back the rampart is really beautiful, isn't it? That projecting structure is a building called Poru(砲樓) where they attacked enemies approaching the castle shooting guns(cannon).

While I was appreciating the beautiful scenery, I arrived Dongjangdae. You could try archery here andthis is the last stop of Hwaseong Train that takes you to Seojangdae.

I was curious about archery so I tried it. I got 10 shots and it costs 2,000 won. It's allowed for older than elementary schooler, that is older than 7 years old.

According to the instruction of the operating personnel, we were all ready, and fired! These are for just training so it's not so hard to pull the string. But fingers were a little hurt when I pulled them. If you drop by here, you should try it. It will be a good memory for your kids and even for adults.

We kept walking until we got to Seojangdae. If your legs or other parts are uncomfortable, you should take Hwaseong Train and fly, it will be fun.

Hwaseong Train services cost as above. Paldal Mountain is under the Seojangdae Mountain, and Yeongmudae is same thing as Dongjangdae.

Next to archery experience center, there were two white tents where you can rent bicycles. As far as I know, there are three places that you can rent bicycles, one next to Dongjangdae Tour Information Center, Janganmun Ticket Office and Hwaseong Haenggung Square. Anyone who has an ID card can borrow bicycles and it costs 1,000 won for a day by 6 in the evening.

Walking a while past the Dongjangdae, you'll see Changryongmun(蒼龍門), east gate of Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. Sadly, it was collapsed in the Korean War and reconstructed in 1975.

Everything in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress has a person's name on it. Who made it and how did they make it was recorded on everything. So inside the castle gate, the names of people who made this Changryongmun were written on it. Other gates and ramparts were not an exception. Their spirit to record history is much better than our generation.

Looking Changryongmun from outside, it blocked the front to cover castle gate and had an opened Ongseong structure on each side. Enemies would have to get into that narrow space to attack the castle gate hidden inside and the castle was built to attack the enemies in such narrow space. If the enemies approach Ongseong, they would've been under attack from everywhere. Our ancestors were really smart.

This is the projecting structure that you can see to the left from outside the Changryongmun, and that structure is called Chi(Chiseong, 雉城) built to attack enemies climbing over the rampart. Wait a minute, could you look at the bricks of Chi? Unlike other parts, the Chi was made of really small bricks. It's because small bricks make the walls tighter and dense not to collapse under attacks from everywhere.

The picture above is I took outside the rampart on my way to Seojangdae in this spring and I'm going to compare. Normal ramparts consist of big and small stones. What do you think was used to break big stones into small ones?

They broke the rocks like this. You make a hole on a big rock with a chisel, put wooden piece inside and pour water. Then the wooden piece expands and the rock breaks into pieces. Amazing idea, isn't it?

After all those works, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was under construction from Jan. 7, 1794 till Sep. 10, 1796. This 5.3km length castle was built in 2 years and 6 months which was the shortest period of time in the world's history. How do you think they did it this quickily?

At that time, they all expected it would take 10 years but the reason why they could build this castle that fast was because they paid the 100% of wages to the workers. The government officials suggested that they should hire Buddhist monks and the people to make this castle but the King Jeongjo was opposed to the idea and commanded the supervisors to pay the reasonable wages to all the workers.

Not only did he offer winter clothes and hats for workers in winter, he also paid the workers who only worked for a quarter of a day for what they had done. He even provided medical cares for wounded people which was impossible to think at that time. Not to mention the workers were happy with wages, they also started to work in pride because they felt treated well. That's why the Jeongjo is called the Great King Jeongjo of Joseon Dynasty after he died.

If you walk along the uphill a little after you pass Paldalmun, you'll see a small SeonamAmmun(Southwest Ammun). SeonamAmmun is a Ammun in the southwest, and Ammun is a small gate on the rampart to deliver resources into the castle without the enemies knowing it, and when it's under attack, they could collapse it to block the gate to avoid enemies getting in.

Unlike other Ammun, you'll see a long path inside SeonamAmmun and there's Hwayangru(華陽樓) at the end. Hwa(華) indicates Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and Yang(陽) means south where the sun shines. That is, Hwayangru refers to a pavilion in the south of the castle.

What do you think the flags on both sides mean? You'll see different colored flags in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and each color indicates the unit that the soldiers blocking the area belongs to. Which means, it shows which troop is protecting each area.

Why did they make Hwayangroo projecting from rampart? If you look at the photo above, the area from Seonamammun and Hwayangroo is located high. In the battle in Joseon Dynasty, the higher place you occupy, more chance you win.

So if you're above the enemies, you were more likely to win the battle, and Jeong Yak-yong who designed Suwon Hwaseong Fortress thought how could he protect the projecting structure from the rampart on this hilly section from the enemies. That's how he came up with the building the rampart to Hwayangru along the ridge popping up from the wall. So every enemy outside the castle would be under the ramparts. How smart were they?

We got out of Hwayangru and walk a little further to Seojangdae. It's not so steep uphill so keep up with it a little longer!

We're at Seojandae now. Jangdae is where you command your troops and there are two Jangdae, Dongjangdae(Jangdae in the east) and Seojangdae(Jangdae in the west),in Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. That place for shooting arrows was at Dongjangdae. Seojangdae is a key spot to defend the Suwon Hwaseong where you can get a visual sight within 100li(app. 500km) radius including inside the castle. The framed picture of Hwaseong Jangdae on the second story was written by the King Jeongjo.

On Seojangdae, you'll see the whole Suwon-si area. If you turn your head, you'll get this view. And the castle walls that maintain the original form across the downtown was novel. If you are planning to go to Suwon, you might get a little sweaty but you should definitely climb up here. You'll feel the old people's wisdom and why this was selected as a world heritage by UNESCO.

Address : 190, Yeonmu-dong, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 수원시 장안구 연무동 190)

Telephone : 031-251-4435

Suwon Mandu 수원만두

Suwon Mandu with 40 Years of History Specializing in Fried Dumplings There have been a lot of overseas Chinese in Suwon since a long time ago so it won't be difficult to find real Chinese restaurants that don't have Jjajangmyeon and Jjamppong on the menu. Among them, I'm going to introduce you Suwon Mandu(dumplings) that has been surviving for 40 years with dumplings.

Suwon Mandu is 5 minutes away from Hwaseong Haenggung, the most famous tourist attraction, so it's a perfect place to have meals after sightseeing. Right across the street from Haenggung Square, go to the back alley to find it. This is famous yet it's in the middle of narrow alley so it might be difficult to find it at first. Walking along the empty alley, you might wonder 'is it really here?' but don't worry and go straight, you'll see a red lamp in the picture!

Suwon Mandu has been cooking Chinese cuisines since all the employees were overseas Chinese. Don't be frustrated that you can't see Jjajangmyeon or Jjamppong and have an open mind that you could eat exotic food in Korea. So we ordered the famous Gunmandu(fried dumplings), Dandantangmyeon for my wife and Japchaebap(rice with stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables) for me.

Firstly, Japchaebap was served. You could easily find Japchaebap in any Chinese restaurant so I wanted to see if it's different from any. First, the noodles look clear not soaked in black soy sauce nor did it have strong scent of pepper like usual, so I say it looked totally different.

Unlike Korean Japchae using soy sauce or Chinese Japchae fried in oil, Japchaebap at Suwon Mandu had so much vegetables which makes it neat, not strong sauce at all, and plain. Vegetables are crispy and noodles were chewy, so I say they tasted HEALTHY with every ingredient had its own taste when the dish was served.

This is broth served with Japchaebap. I thought it was deonjangguk but it's beef soup salted with soy sauce and Chinese spices. Spicy and salty soup goes with plain Japchaebap so well.

The secondly served dish was Dandantangmyeon that my wife ordered. You might know it as Tantanmyeon. It's hard to find in Korea except in Seoul but as she first tried it at Crystal Jade during the trip to Hong Kong, she always orders it whenever she goes to Chinese restaurant in Korea.

This is noodles with seafoods and vegetables in broth made with nuts including peanuts and sesames. It would be Korean warm bean-soup noodles.

You're going to have to taste the soup first. I could feel the strong taste of nuts. It might be oily so spicy pepper sauce, fresh seafoods, cabbages and bok choy were put in the soup which is refreshing. If you first taste it, it might disgust you to eat warm peanut soup, not cold one. In fact, the peanuts tasted so strong and sweet so I feel like I was eating peanut snacks and I didn't like it very much. But my wife said it's addictive and put her head down, kept eating it like a zombie.

Noodles were regular ones in Jjamppong. Properly chewy and soft.

Ta-ta!! Finally the special menu at Suwon Mandu!! The dumplings that have made it possible to keep going for 40 years!! Fried dumplings were served.

Suwon Mandu had fried dumplings, boiled dumplings and water dumplings depending on the way they cook them with same ingredients. The most popular one is fried dumpling though.

It has crushed meat and chives inside, and the taste is not so strong yet aromatic that it's not oily or cheesy at all even if it's cooked in oil. Oh, the skin was special as well. They made every dumpling skin with hands, so it's chewy. When you bite, you could feel gravy leaking from crispy and chewy skinwhich tasted very good and plain.

On our way out after a satisfying meal, what an old item, abacus! It's not for decoration but the owner was using it at the counter. The owner spoke fluent Chinese since it's a Chinese restaurant so even the abacus made me feel like I'm in an antic shop.

Suwon Mandu is not a regular Chinese restaurant in Korea but a real Chinese restaurant run by overseas Chinese where you could taste Chinese cuisines at a reasonable price. Especially, it's close to many tourist sites, Hwaseong Haenggung, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and Haenggungdong Mural Painting Village, where you could have meals after tour, so it's a must-eat restaurant that I strongly suggest!

Address : 5-2, Paldal-ro 1-ga, Paldal-gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 수원시 팔달구 팔달로 1가 5-2)
Contact : 031-255-5526
Operating Hours : 11:30~ 21:30, No holidays