Suwon Fortress

Before my deputation in Korea, I was more or less living a sedentary lifestyle. Sure I did participate in a few (almost nil) fun runs which wete limited to 3k but other than that, I was pretty much a lame klutz. Of course, my apartment, Poong Lim I-won in Seohyeon, being so close to the Tancheon river jogging path and while mending a broken heart, jogging turned into a most favorite and healthy diversion especially at night.

Then I met these really cool people who became my family there and we ended up sharing one adventure after another. Some of these adventures were on the physical side. It was a struggle for me at first and this Suwon hike/climb was one of those initial struggles. Why? 

For starters, we came from an all-nighter at the jimjilbang (which was quite an experience by the way). I was definitely sleep-deprived. We then 'danced' on the blazing 3pm Korean summer in the middle of a soccer field.

And then, since it was still a Saturday and we were trying to kill time, three of us decided to explore the fortress since it was supposedly nearby the train station we were at already (Suwon). Cristy, who is from Suwon, pointed out that we can just walk to the Fortress instead of taking a cab. She can remember parts of it but not all. However, she had an aversion to these huge tourist maps so to make the long story short we probably had to walk a good solid 2-3km (or maybe even more because of the wrong turns here and there) to get to our starting point, which was a steep set of stone stairs! I was definitely thinking to myself at that time 'What did I put myself into?' My two companions were exercise freaks who were doing the insanity workout while I had little physical training. 

I don't know how but somehow I was able to pull through sacrificing the speed of the group in the process as I really could no longer keep up. Reaching the top and seeing the vicinity at the fortress was rewarding though.

The pictures are lousy but they're the best I could manage with my phone and my condition at that time. We walked a few more and ended up at some gate.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go around as much due to my pace so my two companions finally decided to refuel. Finally!

In the end, I was really proud of myself and I still am. I'm really glad I did it.

It was that memorable I guess but I just didn't have the time to write since the hike last July 2012 until now upon seeing this twitter post which was very nostalgic:

 

Biking in Suwon! That would be great! If you're out there, you should give this a try.

P.S. I miss Korea so much, the adventures and the people I shared these experiences with.