Day 10, Leg 10

Samcheok is proving to be a big city, too. I'm leaving it tomorrow and crossing into Uljin.

Some stats:

Distance: supposed to be 20 km, but about 23

Time: from 5:40 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. to the cert center (17 km away), then supposedly another 3 km (40 min) to the motel, but instead closer to another 60 min (3 km, slowly), with two breaks, lots of hills, and a buffet lunch interrupting... pedometer currently puts me at 367 minutes for the day

Steps: 36,120

Calories Burned: 4,629

Calories Consumed: 3914 (deficit = 715)

You can blame the buffet for today's low calorie deficit. I was just so happy to stumble upon an open buffet at lunchtime (the timing was right, for once) that I gorged myself on two heaping platefuls of food. The food itself was typical, cheap, Korean-style buffet food, heavy on veggies, with some random stuff like chapchae and batter-fried stuffed peppers thrown in. 

But let's begin at the beginning. I left at 5:40 a.m., which isn't too late. Missed the sunrise because I was away from the coast when it happened, and trees were in the way. Come to think of it, most of today's route was coastal, but tree-lined on both sides, so there was less of a view of the ocean for much of the walk.

And the hills! The hills were relentless today. No single one was too difficult to handle, but they all came one after another in rapid succession, so today was tiring and felt longer than only 23K. On MyFitnessPal, I calculated my exercise calories using the special "encumbered" setting (that I created months ago) as a way to account for today's difficult hills. I think I made up for the extra calories expended, though, when I plowed through that buffet.

The cert center was 17 km into the walk, at the top of one of those difficult rises. I was then supposed to walk another 3 km to a motel called Cannes (까느/gganeu in Korean). I got to the motel, only to find that it looked extremely dilapidated. And yet, its doors were open, so I ignored the barking poodle next door, hopped a chain, and wandered inside. 

A man sat alone in a wide dining area, eating lunch and facing away from the entrance. He apparently didn't hear me come in, so I announced myself with a "hello" and asked whether the place was open. He said no, then said I could find a motel back the way I had come. I told him I didn't want to go backward, so he said I could go forward down the coast a few more kilometers and find plenty of lodging there, which I had already deduced I'd be doing. 

I thanked the man (for nothing) and left, once again passing the barking poodle. The road down to Cannes was another steep hill; I'd had to descend it gingerly on the way to the motel, so now, I had to puff my way back up it on the way to Sun Motel, which I'd located via the strangely useful 여기어때/yeogi-eoddae app (which I still can't use to make reservations, but which nevertheless works as a way to find nearby lodging). In Korean, Sun Motel goes by two names: 썬모텔 and 태양모텔. 썬 (sseon) and 태양 (taeyang) both mean "sun." 썬 is simply hangeulized English, while 태양 is one Korean word for "sun."

Before it slips my mind again, I should mention one recurrent trope of this trip that I never photograph. By now, there are certain recurrent things that you expect to see from me every day: a selfie, a shadow-selfie, a dead frog, a spider closeup, dilapidated/abandoned/decrepit buildings or vehicles, scenes with striking colors, views of the sea, and so on. But the one recurrent thing I haven't had the heart to photograph is the stooped-over old ladies who are out in the early morning, pushing their mysterious carts. I get an almost "Walking Dead" vibe from these women, and I swear that, one day, I'll look behind me and see ten cart-pushing old ladies, then I'll look behind me again and see twenty of them, then forty, then eighty, and so on: a veritable ajumoni apocalypse.

The old ladies are a reminder that, no matter how early you wake up in Korea, someone has woken up well before you did. I remember living in the Chungmuro district while teaching at Dongguk University. I'd sometimes hike up Namsan at 3 a.m., and there be some old people already on the path ahead of me. Someone is always awake in this country, no matter the time of day.

Anyway, the Sun Motel is the first motel where everything felt normal: I checked in without any rigamarole (W50,000), and the hoped-for amenities were in place: complimentary cans of juice in the fridge, and two "sticks" of Maxim coffee with lots of cream and sugar (which is the only way I can tolerate coffee). I eat these dry, like candy, simply opening the sticks and pouring the contents straight into my mouth. Gross, but that's how I roll.

I've plotted tomorrow's course, which will be the last sunny day before yet another goddamn rain. Tomorrow is the shortest day of this whole trip, as I have to go only 10 km to my next hotel. (Tomorrow doesn't feature any cert centers; it's just a motel-to-motel walk.) The walk was originally 13 km, but I walked 3 extra kilometers today. I've decided, therefore, to make tomorrow a fasting day: no nutrients shall pass my lips. That'll compensate for today's postprandial bloated feeling.

I guess that means it's time to upload some pictures. Yesterday's WiFi was amazingly fast, it turned out; we'll see how fast today's is.

PHOTO ESSAY

backlit by an electric lamp

not the sun, but a far-off boat

interesting (and empty) pension

I was separated by a fence and couldn't get close to these sculptures.

Ditto.

one of many hills... after a while, I stopped counting

the sun is over there somewhere

uphill

a boat

a boat next to an interesting house

another serpent that didn't make it

more hillage

same hill? I forget

wild cosmos

sunrise aftermath

Santorini, eh?

I'm finding a lot more gloves, now.

Hakuna matata is a thing here.

The Chinese characters say yong hwa li, or "dragon-flower village." The Korean on top says "dragon-flower beach."

where I sat down for breakfast

house o' God

Jangho Church

So here's another example of category-straddling: the motel-pension. How does that work? No idea.

risking sun glare to photograph heavy equipment in motion

GPS me, baby; I drop clues to my whereabouts wherever I can.

Looks like "Clam Temple" to me, but the hanja is probably not "clam." 조개사 also sounds too much like 조계사 to my ears.

Clam Temple's ilju-mun, the one-column gate

dragons

How many dragons in this image?

dragon-turtle?

pretty sure this is Bodhidharma (달마대사/Dalma-daesa in Korean), First Patriarch of Zen Buddhism

I belatedly realized the dragons had tails.

hee!

Wolmi-do Rest Area

These steplike constructions are everywhere. What are they? What function do they perform?

another hill

At some point, you really do have to stop counting all the hills.

nifty

I'm always looking for that "postcard" shot.

The Chinese says hae shin dang, which I guess means "sea-god hall." A shrine?

ad for Jesus

up

up, up

up again... it never stops

nets, drying?

ascent

freeway

Who the hell is that?

curves lead to accidents

mystery 'crete

uphill once again

You may have to look closely to see the chilis.

entering Imweon... watch for pedestrians

never seen these numbered before

Imweon Church #1

Imweon Creek

800... or "goo"?

"I see blue elephants."
"You've been drinking again, haven't you."

Imweon Church #2.
This must be confusing for some people.

sad-looking creek

The creek looks better as you approach the sea.

At last, the cert center!

Taking the pic at this angle involves some trickery to keep you from seeing certain unsightly realities.

like this

and this

That's got to be a lonely place to work.

silos!

uphill once more

and up

up

hill

up once more

Here's the huge sign for Cannes, which I found reassuring. For surely, a place that can afford such advertising has to be awesome, right?

steep descent to Cannes begins

down, down

Cannes appears to be tucked away in a ramshackle little village. Sign of trouble?

at the water, turn left, says Naver

up an alley

Cannes. The reality falls far short of the fantasy. I guess the place is still listed online, but it's either moribund or already dead.

back to the water, then up that crazy downhill

after that steep ascent, more hill

it continues

on and on

and on

The ground leveled off, and there was this buffet, and it happened to be lunchtime! So I went in and stuffed my guts.

first plate: chap chae, fried fish, fried stuffed chili, rice, kimchi, spinach(?), lotus root with beef, mushrooms

I took this photo for the phrase "Green Nare." In medical English, a "nare" is a nostril. I knew the French word narine (nostril) before I learned the term "nare," so when I heard "nare" in context for the first time, I immediately knew what it meant.

I'd like to think this is "Imweon 1-li" ("Imweon First Village") but when I run the first Chinese character through Naver Dictionary, I get ok/옥. Hm.

the most organized patch of cosmos I've ever seen

and not just cosmos

If I'm reading this right, it says Mu Bul Sa, or No-Buddha Temple. Have you heard the famous proverb that if you meet the Buddha on the road, you should kill him? Basically, don't be attached to the Buddha as a person; he wanted you to focus on his teachings, to try them out for yourself and see what you can learn through experience. In the end, you don't need the Buddha to gain wisdom. Outwardly, at least, this seems like quite a contrast with "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me." I've studied this enough to think the contrast is superficial at most, but that's another post for a different blog.

I'm strangely cheered by all the art.

a humble little Catholic church

la Sainte Vierge

final stretch before Sun Motel

saw all these plants along the way

here at last: Sun Motel