Day 4 - 26/3 Suwon Day Trip

Day 4.... we didn't awake early after our late night at Hongdae.  Decided on Suwon for the day.  Took the subway to Suwon station then a bus to Padalmun Gate (no longer scared of taking buses now!).  

Padalmun Gate behind us

First we headed to the 'chicken street' for fried chicken.  Reached this crossroads with a few shops in sight and googled for which one to go.  Selected Maehyang which turned out to be a short walk away... by the time we arrived, definitely didn't feel like walking back.  A chicken was listed as one item on the menu and the waitress said one order would be enough - so glad we weren't made to order THREE chickens!  

The chicken arrived simply salted and freshly fried.  I'd hoped for more complex cooking but oh well, it was pleasant enough to eat.  It wasn't that large and we easily finished.  We saw two solo diners having a chicken each.  At 20,000KRW/MYR55 feeding three of us, it was one of our cheaper meals - food in Korea is generally expensive.

Chicken, dipping sauce and sides

Stomachs satisfied, on with sight-seeing.  The weather was lovely.  

Magnolia blossoms! 

Underside is also painted

Janganmun gate with BIG steps

We armed ourselves with drinks and snacks, then climbed up the big steps to walk on the walls.  This was nice!  Unhurried pace, walk as we like, stop as we like.  Some parts were level, some parts ascending (I was thinking we should have walked in the other direction then it would be DESCENDING instead?)  

Up the steps we go

There were observation towers, gates, command centres and even a secret gate along the way.  Eventually we reached this mid-point which seemed a good place to conclude our walk.

Can see the city below

There was a series of stairs to descend from the fortress to the city.

Then here we go down, down

It was a long walk of 45mins, but taking a bus wouldn't have helped much seeing we were ON the fortress in the middle of nowhere.

Rest a while on these yellow benches with yellow people

Finally reached Starfield mall where our target was the instagrammable library.  A first for me to see a library as a tourist attraction!  The books were in Korean and of course we weren't there for reading.

Yeah very beautiful

We were there too!

Job done, all planned destinations covered.  Looked around the mall for dinner options but didn't see any restaurants so we settled on the food court.

 

Take a photo first...

The good thing was after all our walking for the day, we ended up near a metro station.  Simple matter to zoom back to our hotel.  Now this, was a very good day. :)