Suwon isn't just about mouthwatering Suwon Galbi. The capital of Gyeonggi Province also features one of East Asia's most magnificent walled cities, an 18th century relic designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and conveniently accessible from Seoul in roughly 30 minutes by KTX.
The peninsula's answer to China's Pingyao or Spain's Avila, the elegant ramparts of Suwon Hwaseong bear witness to feudal Korea's only attempt at a grand metropolis systematically planned from scratch, employing the latest advancements in oriental castle design against prolonged gunpowder sieges and assisted by European engineering drawings of construction machinery -- all avant-garde ideas to the self-isolating Joseon Dynasty in the late 1700s and resulting in the glorious spectacle greeting today's visitors.
This is arguably the most rewarding day-trip from Seoul both for the tastebuds and the eyes, and possibly the thighs too if you're inclined to walk the entire 5.7 km of majestic ramparts encircling the historic centre of Suwon. Of if you're lazy like us, an anti-clockwise route starting from Yeonmudae would condense the best of this ginormous monument into a shorter 4 km urban hike, doable in less than two hours but deserving an entire afternoon for its countless selfie-able spots.
Following our lunch of Suwon Galbi at venerable Kabojung, a quick taxi (~5000 Won) took us to the castle's northeastern tower of Yeonmudae, a command post facing the direction of Seoul and overlooking the training grounds for defending troops. Further east are the reconstructed Changnyongmun Gate and broken sections of the eastern walls destroyed by artillery fire during the Korean War. Our partial circumnavigation of the walls would start here towards the western sections.
Just below Yeonmudae is the old practice range for the art of traditional Korean archery known as gungsul. If you have watched the utter dominance by Korean archers in the Summer Olympics, here is your chance to draw an authentic gukgung bow and gain an appreciation for how hard it is just to hit the oversized target. A quiver of 10 arrows cost a cheap 2000 Won (CAD$2) at the time of writing.
The impressive fortifications seen today all originated from the vision of one King Jeongjo, famous in Korean history as the model of Confucian filial piety for his decades of effort to restore the honour of his disgraced father. Having witnessed at a young age the excruciatingly slow execution of his mentally ill father, Jeongjo relocated his father's tomb to the nation's most auspicious burial spot and planned a new capital in the vicinity, materializing into the fortified city of Suwon.
Known for his taste for fine arts, King Jeongjo ordered to have the fortifications achieve a degree of grandeur that would defeat the enemy with beauty. Today one can still behold the charming circular pond from the king's favourite moon-viewing spot known by the poetic name of Banghwasuryujeong, literally the Pavilion for Seeking Flowers and Following Willows.
Wishing to sidestep the deep-rooted networks of economic and social interests controlled by his Yangban bureaucrats in Seoul, King Jeongjo instituted a contentious scheme of moving his capital to Suwon by offering his subjects a 10 year exemption on taxes. Those taking up the king's offer would be impressed by the pictured gate of Janganmun, the largest of the new capital built facing the newcomers from Seoul.
Beyond the main gates are a number of inconspicuous ammun or secret gates to facilitate clandestine shipments of ammunition or food, ingeniously camouflaged and largely unnoticeable until the approaching party reaches the bottom of the wall.
The genius behind everything was the man known as the Leonardo da Vinci of Joseon Korea, a renaissance man as famously adept at mechanical engineering as he was in poetry and political science. Chief architect Jeong Yak-Yong incorporated the best of domestic and Chinese fortress designs and adopted Jesuit missionary Johann Schreck's 17th century diagrams of lifting cranes and pulley systems into Korean castle construction.
The result was the greatest castle in pre-modern Korea, a harmonious marriage of European and Asian influences with the pictured semi-circular miniature forts to protect the main gates, crenellations designed for firearms, garrison farms for a prolonged siege and sluicegates defended by cannons. Boosted by Jeong Yak-Yong's novel machines, construction time was dramatically shortened from the original estimate of ten years to less than three.
When parts of these walls had to be reconstructed following severe damage from modern artillery in the Korean War, Jeong Yak-Yong's 18th century engineering drawings proved invaluable in providing technical specifications of castle design and construction methods, in multiview projections that would make 21st century Korean engineers proud.
The previous day we visited the other UNESCO World Heritage castle in the vicinity of Seoul, the prototypical Korean mountaintop citadel of Namhansanseong designed -- and proven ineffective in the Manchurian invasion -- as an emergency wartime capital. Suwon Hwaseong here introduced the new concept of a defensively superior permanent capital with fortifications that would rank amongst the best of East Asia.
It took nearly 2.5 hours before we finally arrived at the highest point of our urban hike, marked by the Seojangdae command post with its name plaque featuring the calligraphy of King Jeongjo himself.
The sweeping panorama atop Palsalsan hill reveals the newfound greatness of 21st century Suwon, the Silicon Valley of Korea headlined by Samsung Electronics with its ginormous headquarters occupying 300 football fields of office space.
At the foot of Paldalsan King Jeongjo ordered the construction of his new palace, the original structures mostly lost between decades of Japanese colonialism and devastation from the Korean War to follow. Surviving to this date is the giant bronze bell placed by Jeongjo at this hilltop to commemorate his father, and continues to be struck by well-wishers for the health of one's parents and close family.
Late in the afternoon we completed the final stretch towards the southern gate of Paldalmun, now standing alone from the rest of the walls at a busy roundabout at the heart of Suwon's Old Downtown. King Jeongjo's plans of an eternal new capital never materialized, thwarted by his own sudden death which also put an end to Joseon Dynasty's late resurgence. Multi-talented Jeong Yak-Yong was deemed too risky for the new regime and exiled to the far south, where he blossomed into the greatest Korean author of his time as well as a notable teamaster.
The return trip was easy with multiple bus routes from Paldalmun funneling towards Suwon Station, optimally connected at rush hour with highspeed as well as commuter trains back to Seoul. I still have a tough time deciding what my favourite memory of Suwon was -- World Heritage fortress vs. BBQ beef ribs. One thing is certain: one can hardly find an easier and more gratifying day-trip from Seoul by public transit than Suwon's one-two punch.
IF YOU GO
Suwon can be easily reached by Seoul Metro's Line 1 (1 hour), or alternatively by Mugunghwa express trains from Seoul Station (30 minutes). To start the hike from Yeonmudae, take Bus 2-2, 7-2 or 60 outside Exit 7 of Suwon Station and get off at Changnyongmun/Yeonmudae (창룡문.연무대). Alternatively a taxi should cost around 10000 Won. At the end of the hike a long list of buses including 2-2, 11, 13, 35, 46, 50-2, 50-5, 400, 400-4 etc. will all take you back to Suwon Station.
