2S2 Suwon Update

Greetings to all 2S2ers!

Announcement:

2S2 Suwon will kick off this Saturday. We're going to do some cultural activities near the summer palace of King Jeong Jo (정조), walk Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress wall, and then go to a restaurant for either Suwon galbi or tofu soup for vegetarians.

Lookout Tower, originally uploaded by Schplook.

Details:

1. Meet at Suwon Station at 2:00 p.m. Go to the 2nd floor near the bottom of the escalator to the third floor. It's opposite the train ticket machines. There's also a model there that shows how the wall looked when it was first built.

2. Take a bus to Paldal Mun (팔달문)/Nam Mun (남문) at about 2:15 - 2:20. We'll walk out of the station, cross the road and take a bus from the road that runs perpendicular to the subway/train lines -- not the ones on the road directly outside that runs parallel.

3. Walk from Paldal Mun to the area inside the wall near the palace by about 2:40 - 3:00.
We'll head north up the main road, and turn left into the large, open event area.

4. Do various activities.
Here are the options:
4a. Making "Royal Cookies and Sweets."
4b. Making traditional pottery.
4c. Dressing in traditional Korean costumes, or Hanbok (한복).
4d. I think it will still be possible to do the "Dragon Train" tour, but we'll have to check times and availability of seats on the day.
We'll have to buy 1-3 special coins (2,000 won each) for each activity. These events will end at between 4:00 and 4:30 - so we need to get there quickly and decide early what to do.

5. Walk the wall. After doing the various activities, we'll meet up (if we get separated) and walk the fortress wall, starting at Paldal san (팔달산).

6. We will go out for dinner. As mentioned above, we have two options - Suwon Galbi (barbecued, marinated meat), or Dubu (tofu) soup for vegetarians. It's unlikely we'll find both dishes being served in one restaurant, so we'll discuss it with everybody in attendance before making a decision.

7. Those who have time are welcome to stay on and have a few drinks. There are plenty of bars near Paldal Mun. Or we could head to Suwon station - there are a lot of inexpensive drinking places there too.

Note:

We will be outside for most of the afternoon and the weather may be quite cool. Remember to check the weather forecast (see the links) and wear suitable clothing and shoes.

Links:

The Suwon city website has some information on Hwaseong Fortress.

Suwon weather information can be found here and here.

To get updates, ask questions, or RSVP, go to Suwon 2S2's Facebook group, which can be found here -- and the event page is here.