Hwaseong Fortress

I went to Suwon today and saw the Hwaseong fortress. It was fantastic, the city of Suwon is partially inside the old walls. Cities like Suwon are always so fascinating because of the juxtaposition of old and new. The fortress was built almost 4 hundred years ago, and now is houses bus stops and cell phone shops. The city of Split in Croatia is designed this way, and so is Xi'an China. The walls take a couple of hours to hike, but there is other stuff to see as well, you just have to look for it. There is an old, but fastidiously restored, palace. I also saw a huge statue of the Buddha in this temple in the hills belows the walls. I caught a glimpse of the huge church there aslo. It is Presbyterian, and seems to be of the Dutch school of architecture, but it is all Korean in size and scope. Things in this country are just huge. I went to the roof of my building tonight and it is like a park (grass, trees and people making out). The whole nine yards. The weird thing is that my building is not even one of the big ones. Getting around this country is also very easy. People have literally no English, but are friendly and do what they can to help anyway. My Korean is progressing a little each day, probably because there is no choice but to learn a smattering, you would get pretty hungry otherwise. Reading Han'geul (Korean alphabet) is also becoming second nature, easier than English even. Well that's it for now, hope yer all doin well.