Staying overnight in a port is a real treat. Generally it allows the traveler to stay out or even off the ship overnight. We stayed on the ship and our 7:30am meetup time definitely came early! Our group of 11 traveled by van in really heavy traffic for over an hour to the Hwaseong fortress and the folk village at Young in.
The fortress is a large walled structure that has been surrounded by the new modern city. A multi-lane highway even passes through the fortress grounds. A little tram takes visitors around the fortress, but we didn't have time to take it, so we climbed the fortress wall and walked around about 1/2 of it. A large group of school age children were receiving archery instruction as that was a principal defensive weapon when the castle was in use. There are even slots in the wall for the archers of old to launch their arrows as well as some tiny cannons and even containers of rocks that could be lobbed down on attackers.
The folk village is a very large theme type park with lots of museums and displays that present and preserve the Korean culture. There were lots of pre-school and school age kids visiting the park. The junior high age kids definitely wanted to speak English with these odd looking folks (us). At the far end of the park is a large Korean food court. I enjoyed a couple of skewers of seasoned pork for about $5.
Interestingly, there were a couple small dams inside the park. I only mention this as I participate in an event in the USA where I ride my motorcycle to dams and take a picture of it at the dam. It's sort of like a scavenger hunt.
Back on board the ship we watched the ship depart and then pass through the locks out into the open sea on our way back to Japan. After a Lido dinner we watched the movie, 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and a repeat performance of the cast show 'Dance'.
I was able to pick up our tour group's early disembarkation numbers for the upcoming immigration entry port of Hoshoshima. This will allow the entire group an easier and earlier time off the ship in order to catch our excursion.
Tomorrow is a sea day so some much needed rest is in order for at least two of my party (not me). Stay tuned and while the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.
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