Suwoning Around: Autumn adventures

Almost overnight it seems Korea has moved from summer into autumn, and it's suddenly got so cold! After so many months of hot humid sticky weather, it's nice to need a duvet on my bed and flannel pjs (thanks mum! x), and heading out at night now requires a jacket at minimum.
So long jandals, my wee tootsies are feeling too frostbiten for you now.
And in the last few days even the daytime temperatures are creaping downwards, requiring scarves, and jackets - so I'm sure it won't be long before hats and gloves are needed too.
It's pretty bizarre for me to think it's October as this is all happening, feels much more like April (which I guess is the Southern Hemi equivalent).
On Sunday I got an amazingly warm boiled wool coat, which after wearing in the bitter wind is definitely going to see me through the winter.
We've also had three amazing thunder and lightning storms in the last week, which I love, one last night woke me up and kept illuminating my entire apartment. Another I got to watch from a bus coming home from Seoul last Tuesday night, it was pretty spectacular, unlike at home where we have maybe two or three lightning strikes and then it's over, here it just went on and on. I saw for the first time with my own eyes actual lightning bolts over Seoul, and because of the light pollution the entire sky was flashing purple.
But the country is looking so beautiful, the leaves are changing so fast and with the clear days, I am really loving exploring!
I'm fast approaching the six-month mark here and starting to feel a little guilty at how few places in Suwon and Seoul I have actually checked out - many weekends away, but not so many looking around my own doorstep. So before I start hibernating in the winter, I have resolved to see as much as I can.
On Saturday I went to Gyeongbokgung, a royal palace in Seoul, with my Kiwi friends Skye and Jed. It was a bit of a mission to get to with a very slow bus and a few subway stops, but eventually we emerged at the gates of Seoul's largest palace. It was nice to stroll around, although very hard to get an impression of how life would have been, with so many groups of Koreans, including a lot of school groups, touring the grounds and high rises sprouted up around the periphery.
The further back we went (this palace just went on for miles!), the more beautiful, with lots of autumnal trees, ponds full of very fat scary looking fish, pagodas and pavillions. All the palaces seem to have very interesting histories and this one was no different. It was initially completed in 1395 before being destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasion in 1592. After lying derelict for 273 years, it was rebuilt before parts of it again being destroyed by fire. In 1915 the Japanese used an exhibition as an excuse to raze the buildings again, however from 1968 onward reconstruction began again.

The front gates of the Palace

Amazing sky and an intricate eave

Not such nice backdrop

I would love a window looking out on this

Ornamental eave, and birdnetting to stop them building nests

Huge pagoda atop the Korean Folk Museum

Beautiful pond and backdrop with autumn colours

Ditto

Beautiful trees

The King's pavillion

After having a good look around, we found a really funky wee cafe nearby which served the most delicious carrot cake, cheesecake and homemade lemonade, all totally delicious!

Next we went to Myeondong, an area in Seoul known for its shopping, where Skye picked up a really amazing SLR camera. Then it was off to Itaewon for my favourite Greek food and home.

On Sunday Sara and I FINALLY made it the whole way around the Hwaseong Fortress, Suwon's shining jewel and a world heritage site. It was another beautiful sunny but crisp day, perfect for the walk, which took us around the periphery of Suwon-city as it once was. It took about an hour and was a really lovely walk.

The fortress was built in the 18th Century. Initially it was to prepare Suwon to become the capital when it moved out of Seoul, however this never ended up happening. The fortress was badly damaged during the Korean war, and has since been restored.