Suwon Fortress at Night

This weekend we were playing on going to the beach again; however, due to in climate weather we decided to take a lazy weekend, which we were both alright with. On a quick side note, I got paid on Friday - sweet! On the way home, I kept saying to myself, "It's the weekend! It's Pay Day! I got paid! It's the weekend! It's Pay Day! I got paid." And on and on for a few minutes. I know have as much in my account in Korea as I do back home...

Anyway, on Friday night I came over to Katrina's place. I told her if the money was in the bank I would take her out to lunch or dinner. We went to one of her favorite Indian Restaurants - The Taj. The food was a little expensive and I think the last time I paid that much for one meal was in college. Nevertheless, it felt good to be able to spend money and not worry about dropping $50 on food. Also, it felt nice to be able to take Katrina out for a nice meal, something I haven't been able to do in a while due to my lack of employment.

After lunch, we went to Home Plus and got some supplies for the beef and bean burritos we are going to make for dinner tonight. We got back from Home Plus and watched the X-files. I only watched for about 10 minutes before falling asleep. I really wanted to take a nap this weekend and I did. We got up from our nap and I planned on us going to the Fortress at night, something I have wanted to do since I got here and saw it lit up at night. So, we caught the 98 and got dropped off in the 'Fine Arts' district. There really weren't many fine arts so I don't know where it got the name. We did some exploring and found a market, some clothing shops, and a few marts. Oh yeah, and a dollar store or so it was advertised. Why are dollar stores no longer dollar stores? Now, as long as it ends in .00 it can go in a dollar store - $2.00, $3.00, etc.

(Entrance to the market)

(Seafood, Seafood, and more Seafood at the market! Crabs, Conchs, varieties of fish, squid, large shrimp, and on and on)

(The three little pigs...)

After touring around the market we bought a big beer, some Sun Chips (sweet and spicy flavor), and headed up the Fortress. Spent some time walking up then hung out at the top for a while and drank our beer and ate our Sun Chips. We took some pictures and then headed down the other side.

(Steps we climbed on the way up and view back down)

(Katrina at the very top in front of a guard tower/gate entrance)

(Gate/Guard Tower at the top of the hill from a different angle)

(View along the wall)

(Structure at the top of the mountain)

(Katrina in front of the structure)

(Me in front of the building)

Took some more pictures, bought some more beer, and drank it. Katrina tried to get a Twix knock off but it was disgusting. We did get free chips, I think because of the beer we bought. The chips were similar to Bugles. I used to put Bugles on each finger so it looked like I had long nails and then I would eat them off one by one. We took a few more pictures and then caught the bus home. I tried watching the X-files again but failed to make it 15 minutes this time.

(View from the bottom. If you look, in the distance, you can see the structure at the top of the mountain. It's that tiny bit of light.)

(View of the wall on the way down)

(Entrance and a gate back on the ground level)

(Lookout Tower)

(The main gate at night)

Today, we are just relaxing, I am updating my blog, and we are going to check out some places to visit in Japan. Katrina and I are headed there in two and a half weeks. We are going to stay with the Aochi Family, my Japanese kin. As of now, Hiroko has kept it a secret so I am going to show up and surprise Oto San and Oka San. Needless to say, I am pretty freaking excited!!! Oh yeah, we are going to make some burritos today too. We found nacho chips at the 7-Eleven close to Katrina's place, the perfect amount for nachos. That is just a side note and has nothing to do with the burritos.

If you get a chance, try reading some Kurt Vonnegut. He has some interesting points and personally, I enjoy his writing. I just finished "The Breakfast of Champions." Good book.

Hope everyone is doing great, I know I am.