Day 7 - Back in Seoul Just when I thought iI was getting the hang of using the subway system, a reality check. The morning was hazy but turned into a bright and warm day. I got a late start, taking care of some business in the morning. My first destination is Hwaseong fortress. Supposed to take just over an hour by subway. The thing is, line 1 is tricky - it has several spurs (so basically several lines sharing a part of the common route). And there is no English indication as to where the particlar train you're on is going to go. There is one spur, to a KTX train station, that only runs every 45 minutes or so. Guess which train I ended up on (after having to get off another which went no further, and waiting 25 minutes for next train to show up). To top it off, to get on the return train you had to walk all the way across the station rather than just across the platform. And you get charged for entering and exiting. An odd setup and a surprise in an otherwise efficient system. On main lines around city center, it's predictable and trains run every 5 minutes or so. Which gave me the false sense of confidence. Taking almost three hours instead of just over one, I did get there eventually. All part of the experience, and much learned. This trip has been pivotal in many ways, including that I finally figured out the future of transportation. Yes, really. Took this final bit of direct experience to bring it all together. Something i've been working on for a while now. Time to start writing the patents.
Line 1 Southbound runs mostly above ground. The scenery changes from urban city center to more pragmatic modern residential areas. Cool to see from the subway train but not tempted to go walking about. You either live there, or you don't.
Once at the spur station, all I can do is wait for nearly an hour to undo the misdirected sub-journey.
So, after all that, I eventually arrive at the intended destination - the Hwaseong fortress...It's much bigger than I expected and very cool. So big in fact that from a different point on the wall Google routed me back on completely different buses and trains. The perimeter wall is around 3.5 miles long in all, although I only walked less than half of it, from West Gate to East Gate via the North. Sore foot discouraged me from completing the loop or exploring the interior. Plus the delay in getting here.
The fortress having been visited, and daylight fading, I have energy for one more thing. So I decide to go back to the DDP and see what it looks like at night. I expect it's pretty cool I am not disappointed. It's even more of a spaceship than by daylight.
The entire thing is surfaced in metal mesh. This resonates deeply with some of the other things I've been involved with lately. Cool.
That experience fully absorbed, it's back to the apartment to contemplate the view and all that I've seen so far. This is my final night here. I do have essentially a full day tomorrow, if I choose to use it. The plane departs at 9:25 pm. Getting pretty tired and looking forward to the Hawaii stopover on the way back.
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