Korea Day 7 - City Exodus

Changwon to Jinju.

I woke up to Phil talking with his wife Heather over the phone and heard their son playing in the background. I jumped up, brushed my teeth, turned down some cereal breakfast to get back on the road again =)

Today I wanted to be a little ambitious and cycle over to Guyre, where I had set up another WarmShowers host. And while hanging out with Joe and friends in Guyre turned out to be a big highlight of the trip, the bigger reason was that Guyre sits at the base of Mt. Jirisan, the tallest mountain peak in Korea.

Now, many of my fiends ask me why I am traving to Korea. It seems that my usual answer of "because, I've never been there before" doesn't settle them. I want to cycle the countryside, I want to meet new people and learn a new language, eat new food - all these occur to us while we're on vacation. 

So, I settled for cycling up and down Jirisan as my Korean goal, the one thing I really wanted to check off my list. And so, I intended to get to the mountain base but because of still having trouble navigating Korean roads, only made it a little past half way. 

The wind wasn't in my favor either. A typhoon was making its was between Japan and Korea, and the wind was intense. Yes, sadly, I was cycling into the gusts, which, meant slow cadence and frustration. 

Luckily, we meet cool people along the way. Just as I was going to leave after finishing my morning coffee, a young man came up and started talking fairly well English to me. 

Amazed, he said he had never seen a cycle tourist in Korea, or anywhere else for that matter. A little shocked at this, I came to the realization that almost no one tours Korea this way. I make this assumption since in the following days, and during my trip this far, I continue to be the very first guest for all my Korean hosts! 

Check out this guys gnarly leg tattoos! Love how that I don't have to hide my tattoos at all in Korea, very liberating.

I cycled, and cycled, across small towns and flower patches trying to make good time.

Typical Korean intersection.

So, I did make it out into some countryside today and these temple arches kept making appearances. Pretty cool to look at, the colors and patterns along the top look South American, almost Guatemalan.

At the top of a hill crest where I would begin a true coastal route for a while. Stoked! 

The water trails. Nice and flat, generally smooth, lots of happy curves =)

Took a small break to drink some cold water and just noticed how much black and green schemes I'm carrying. 

I don't know what these are apart from floating water houses. Maybe used for fishing? Pretty cool though.

Small ups and downs all day today, hopping between coastal roads. Lots to see from the tops despite not ever ascending too high. 

These mirrors are über necessary in Korea for peeking at perpendicular oncoming traffic. They also make for a nice photo opp.

Looking around during a climb, I daydreamed about just resting under the falling river water to my left. Looking closer, I noticed two Korean fishermen (or women) hard at work.

More or less consistent in my pace, i arrived in Jinju around 3 in the afternoon. That is, about half way where I saw these huge metal bikes. You can spot mine down below.

Now, I had to think: I could keep going and make good time. But I wasn't on a schedule. There were in fact many items that needed my attention and benefit from me resting off for now. So, I looked around for a hotel room to avoid the typhoon rain that was forecasted and set up.

Not bad, a standard room comes with all you'll ever need, including a desktop PC for some reason. 

But, no time to rest. My bike needed maintenance. She wouldn't kick into the lowest gear, so I had to make some adjustments. Took me a while to play around with it, eventually having to readjust the limit screws to get the job done. It's a mystery how those where out of whack. 

That, some tightening of the breaks and chain lube, and she was all fixed up. I also had three tunes to patch and some jurnal writing to catch up on, photo editing, and not to mention this blog. So, that's what I did while watching the movie 127 Hours.

The river and park just outside my room where I hurriedly fixed my bike under dark clouds.

Well now, this is certainly a better selection of beer than in Japan, I'll give Korea that. I picked two on my home after a quick dinner and made some taste comparisons.

Well, that's it for me folks. I'm off to bed again. Still feeling good, the Korean scenery is transforming more and more away from buildings, cars, and city noise into abandoned scenery. I hope the trend continues to onward the more West I go. 

Love,

-A