Thursday, 07 May 2009
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Join Me on a Tour of Jinju Castle
Jinju City is a small city in South Korea most famous for the beautifully restored river fortress. The site of two major battles with Japan, the fortress is now a tourist attraction for people all across Korea. When in use, much of the city was located inside of the 1.7 km circumference of the fortress. In the biggest battle, some 70,000 Korea soldiers and townspeople fought and lived in the fortress.
Of course, the castle has several impressive gates and pavillions like these:
Despite its age, visitors can go into the pavilion and get beautiful views of the river.
But I'm sure you get pictures like that with just any random search of Jinju. And the pavilions and gates here look just like the ones at the castles in Seoul. But what you won't learn from your average Korean history search is how much the soldiers liked to play on the teeter-totter.
Okay . . . not really. I'm sure that was added later.
Also, I found a noticible flaw in the castle defenses. Namely, I don't think the moat is quite big enough to get the job done.
In reality, the trench just surrounds the main pavilion and would make the fortress about six times cooler than it is now if they'd put water in there and add goldfish. Do you think they had goldifish in here 600 years ago? I don't either.
Even though Korea has plenty of historical sites, the parking lot in front of this one always has tour buses parked out front. This site seems to be the center of some special, Korean pride.
What historical monuments is your country most proud of?
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About the Author
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- From: efarns@xanga
- Name: Edward
- Location: South Korea
- About Me: My blog is about me. I am a 30-something guy from a small town in Ohio, currently living and teaching in Korea. I think you will find a practical, matter of fact perspective on the differences between the two unique cultures I am caught between.
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Comments (8)
cool I would love to visit! I have always wanted to visit Korea
does the pavillion have a bell... like the one facing the pacific and vst bridge in san pedro? nonetheless, very han... gook that is...
@woosuhyaji@xanga - There is a bell in the fort, but not in this pavilion.
@black_lie@xanga - You should someday. It's an interesting country and easy to travel around.
i have to someday... did you enjoy the food?
Nice.
@woosuhyaji@xanga - Most everything I've tried is pretty good. Korean barbecue is fantastic.
great post! haha, you almost had me with the soldiers and the teeter totter thing. LOL
@anne - who knows? Maybe it's even true!