The thin wisps of cloud high in the sky gave a false glimmer of hope that the sun would not be a negative factor as we set out through the front gates at Osan on our way to explore Happy Suwon. We walked the 1/4 mile to the Songtan Station and purchased our train tickets--1800 won, one-way. The train ride was quick and fun. We even got evangelized by a Korean evangelist. I had no idea what he was saying at first, but he was very much into whatever he was saying. At one point he looked at me and said in English, "Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour." I smiled, nodded and gave him a thumbs up and he said, "God Bless you," then without skipping a beat got back to his original task of spreading the Good News to the rest of the car. After 2-3 minutes he wrapped up his presentation and moved on to the next car. We arrived at Suwon Station and deposited our tickets in the machine again and got 500 won back. Basically it was $1 to go from Songtan to Suwon--a great deal!
We set out with only two real destinations in mind, and only the vaguest notion of a timeline. As we slowly began to wind our way into the depths of Suwon, we stumbled upon a bit of a wall. The Great Wall of Suwon, as it were. Or is. Or was. Whatever.
We climbed up the trail alongside the wall. Steep doesn't begin to describe it. The view from the top of the hill was excellent. We could see downtown Suwon, a huge cathedral, and in the distance we could see one of our destinations for the day--the World Cup Soccer Stadium. As it turned out, the wall we had followed was part of our other destination, Hwaseong Fortress.
When we got to the top of the mountain, we found the most interesting attraction!
After ascending the fortress, we wandered along until we came to the World Cup Stadium. By this time we had begun geo-caching and were searching for several caches that were near the stadium. As we began to walk around the stadium, an elderly Korean gentleman waved us down and asked in English what we were doing there. He was not upset with us, rather he was very curious about what two Americans were doing wandering around Suwon [end note--we did not see any other Western-looking people at all throughout our Happy Suwon adventure]. He asked us if we wanted to go into the stadium, and said that if we wanted to go, he would take us. We accepted his offer and he led the way. I'm not sure what was said during his conversation with the girl working at the gate, but I am pretty sure it came down to something like, "I'm a 70 Korean male, you are a 20-something Korean female, shut your pie hole." At any rate, he led the way through the bowels of the stadium and we emerged right on the playing surface! It was awesome! Here we were, standing right where the Suwon Blue Wings sit during matches. I'm definitely bringing the boys back for a game.
After finding a few geocaches, we were getting a bit hungry so we wandered toward the business district and sat down for a delicious lunch of bibimbap. I love Korean food.
Following lunch we slowly began working our way back toward Suwon Station. We knew which direction to go, and decided we would completely avoid main streets while we made our way back.
For some reason, as we wandered the streets of Suwon, all day I had an inner feeling of harmony and happiness.
We made it to Suwon Station and did not have to wait. The train pulled in as we walked onto the platform. After a 30 minute ride, we found ourselves in Songtan once again and headed for home.
No comments:
Post a Comment