Day 16, Leg 16

Today was far less challenging than yesterday. There were some hills, but nothing major. I walked through another port town, got a cloth mask at a small pharmacy for W1,500 (maybe $1.25), was given ice coffee by the owner of a Chinese restaurant, got accosted by two kids who wanted to know where I was headed, and received an angry response when I told a guy who offered me soju that I don't drink.

I'm now in the wispy northern edge of Pohang. This is one of those confusing points where you see a sign clearly indicating the border of the city you're in ("Welcome to Pohang"), then a few kilometers later, you see a road sign saying the city is still 30 kilometers away. What that latter sign really means is that downtown is 30 kilometers away. Meanwhile, you're technically in the city limits. 

Some stats:

Distance: about 27 km (supposed to be 24)

Time: 434 minutes (about 3.7 kph)

Steps: 41,792

Calories Burned: 5,421

Calories Consumed: 3,916 (deficit = 1,505)

I did finally stumble upon an Ediya Coffee place. (I'm still training myself to pronounce it the way it's hangeulized: "EE-dee-ya"; in my head, it's always pronounced "ED-ee-ya.") It was nicely air conditioned, and given how hot the day was, it was a relief to get out of the sun for a bit. I sat in the café for two hours, uploading yesterday's pics and adding captions. This put me severely behind schedule, and it didn't help that, for some reason, all the pensions in the area I had selected as my stopping point were full up. I had to walk an extra three kilometers down to the next beach town to find the pension I'm at, a place called the White Whale (which carries a sense of foreboding, as if we'll be harpooning William Shatner*). I got here close to 6 p.m.

I passed all the usual sights today: farms, crabs, drying squid, ports, old ladies, dilapidation, the works. When I went into my first convenience store of the day, I decided to get something different, and that turned out to be vegan beef jerky. There was Original BBQ, and the store also had Spicy, and since it was a 2+1 deal (buy 2, get one free), I got two Originals and one Spicy. I walked a bit before finding a dew-covered table next to a Chinese restaurant, then sat down to my meal. The Spicy jerky turned out to be much better than the Original BBQ. The Spicy actually tasted like jerky, while the BBQ was too soft and tofu-ish. Next time, it'll be Spicy all the way.

Side note: "vegan" doesn't mean "healthy." 140 grams of faux jerky contained 14 grams of carbs, so that's 10% carbs by weight. I ate three small packs' worth, so that's 42 grams of carbs right there. Were I on my 50-gram regime, I'd almost be done for the day. 

As luck would have it, the Chinese-restaurant owner showed up while I was sitting without permission at his table. He was cool about it, though, and he first gave me a bottle of the medicinal drink Koreans often gift each other with (Bacchus F or something), and then he offered me a cup of ice coffee. I tried to refuse him, but he insisted, so I drank it. As I was getting ready to leave, I apologized to him for using his table without permission, and he asked me about my walk. His wife or girlfriend was also there, but she didn't say anything.

Later in the day, two young boys called out to me, asking where I was headed. "To Busan," I said. I showed them the route on my tee shirt, and they goggled at the distance. A lot of people react that way when they see the total distance, not considering that the route is done in small, digestible chunks. After I explained my project, the younger boy reached out and touched my arm, then he said quite solemnly, "You'd better go, then." It was an amusing moment.

I was glad to be using Naver to navigate today; I would've gotten totally lost without it. The signage for this route is generally okay, but more than with the Four Rivers, there have been moments where following the signs would have been misleading, and other moments when there were no signs to indicate where I needed to turn to keep following the route. And the route Naver chose for me today ultimately led me through farmland and some twisty, forested back roads. Even with Naver guiding me, I had to backtrack two or three times to reorient myself. 

When I got to my destination, though, I saw that the target pension was full up. The entire neighborhood was full of pensions, and they were all full. I only just realized that this is because today, Sunday, is Foundation Day for the nation. Since it falls on a Sunday, most people are off on Monday, so this is a long weekend, which is why everyone's at the beach. Tourist season is petering out, but it's still lively. 

Anyway, with all the pensions in the area booked up, I decided to eat lunch. A convenience store run by an old guy provided me with cans of tuna, some sodas, and some snacks. I would have preferred a hot meal, but I wasn't about to double back to the restaurants I'd passed. I took my food and sat at a bench, which is when a guy carrying bottles of soju for his mates passed me and offered me a bottle. I told him I didn't drink alcohol, and his attitude instantly changed: he angrily retracted his proffered arm and huffed away to a nearby shwimteo to meet his buddies. I didn't mean to piss him off, but then I thought back to the Chinese-restaurant owner and how insistently he'd offered me that coffee. Maybe I should have just accepted the soju and not drunk it.

With lunch finished, I headed off in search of another place to stay, hoping to find a motel. The 여기어때 app said there was a motel 5 km back where I'd come from, but fuck that. So I continued forward down the coast. A bit before I reached the next town, I happened upon White Whale Pension (W100,000), so here I am for the night. The lady running the place was very friendly and solicitous. She's asked me to text her tomorrow morning to let her know I'm leaving. "Even at 5:30 a.m.?" I asked, and she said that would be fine. 

Today was arguably worse than yesterday with regard to traffic. There were long stretches that were made longer because I would have to stop every ten seconds to let cars pass by me. This aspect of the east-coast walk truly sucks, and it doesn't make me eager to do this walk again. A shame, really, because there are parts of the walk that I've very much enjoyed, but this traffic is turning into a deal-breaker. And I still have to pass through the whole of Pohang.

Anyway, I took over 500 pics today, so you've got plenty to gawk at. I'll be lucky if I can upload all the images and caption everything in a timely manner tonight. Luckily, this pension comes with decent WiFi. 

PHOTO ESSAY

The dog from last night. Early this morning, he was howling like a wolf. 

squid boats in the distance

a closed-in shwimteo

better watch out: Satan Claus is coming to town

predawn sky brightens

crab tributes are part of this journey

C cruise... get it?

lightening

lightening intensifies

sunrise—about as good as it gets

the sun timidly peeks out above the clouds that blocked the sunrise

This effect wasn't intentional. Just a function of my phone cam's lens, is all.

the sun puts on a tardy show

Lots of motels here have this problem with word order. Above, we see the motel calls itself both the Su Motel and the Motel Su. Choose one!

yipper

I've never seen a tree "concreted" like this.

At a guess, the places with money can afford the giant crab sculptures.

It may not quite be time to harvest all the rice, but it's definitely time to harvest and dry the chilis.

first shadow pic of the day

a park

downtown

so Coffee Hole is a chain

nothing but fish markets and restaurants

These guys seemed so graceful, but their curse is that they're also tasty.

not long for this world

the sculptures (or whatever you call them) are everywhere

fish packed under ice

more crabz

when you can't afford the giant 3D crab

It's a lot like a monster movie.

dominating the building

Sometimes, it's just the claw you see.

oh, yeah,  I think this is the town of Ganggu

on the right track

my soy-protein faux jerky

granny struttin' her stuff

never seen this kind of flower before

How would this go over in uptight America?

when the legs are curled in, the crab looks dead

Samsa-ri

Appropriately enough, this Spider-Man was cobwebbed.

Something like, "Construction-related avalanches are stressing us out, and we can't take it!"

anti-avalanche wall?

am still not sold on minbaks

once again: "condo-style minbak"

interesting, if tacky, architecture

second shadow pic of the day

The name Pyeonggang caught my eye because of those hilarious "Pyeonggang Haneuiweon" commercials. They're funny even if you don't understand them. Go to YouTube and paste in the following: 평강한의원. Enjoy the insanity.

On the freeway, and though it's not visible in this pic, there's plenty of traffic.

got this via digital zoom

one area where Naver saved my ass

decaying bridge is expected to collapse, so no vehicles or farm equipment (had to look up a lot of words to understand this sign)

The bird looked so aloof sitting on its wire that I had to take a picture of it. 

Don't know whether I've shown one of these before, but they're everywhere along the coast. This is a sign showing local evacuation routes for flooding due to tsunamis.

Halloween spirit

Korean fire hydrant

amid all the fish-related crap, a sign for peaches

freeway, narrow shoulder, no barrier separating me from traffic

giant crab brings death to humanity

Never seen this hangeul spelling of "pension" before. It's as if it were spelled "pansion," although many young Koreans today say the 에 and 애 vowels sound pretty much the same. 

What the hell happened to this gutter?

I'm guessing this is a jokgu field

How could I not snap a shot of this?

Tacky renditions of turret/parapet architecture abound.

I enjoy the relative safety while it lasts.

glove does a Nixon

a resto for cab drivers

another rest stop I didn't visit

cactus?!

old woman and cart, memorialized

I took a break at this 7-Eleven. The Biscoff company, to whose products I'm extremely attached, now has their own analogue of an Oreo, and it's awesome. Ate a pack today.

seaweed, drying

another rest stop, but with statues

le taureau

I've told people that Koreans don't wear coolie hats, and here's this guy, proving me wrong.

Death to the mollusks!

a stump so mean it needs a tether

dad-and-boy tableau

titties tastefully covered

If I were to ride a bird, I'd choose one that's less loud and obnoxious.

something deformed about that dog

cool octopus

still not quite ready to be harvested

shameless violation of copyright
"Smoper"??

in the mood for Chinese

you want traffic? here's some goddamn traffic

Pohang, 29 km away? Really?

saw this memorial from afar and had to investigate

The memorial celebrates a crucial landing during the Korean War. This sign asks you to honor the dead by not camping or eating.

Naver takes me through back streets.

just a random lump of concrete... but for what purpose?

What's going on here?

And there's our Pohang sign. 29 kilometers? I think not.

no protection from oncoming traffic

something like, "Speeding takes away life"

pension after pension

the most awesome beach shot thus far

so many cars along these back roads

vacationers out in force

with the bloody writing, it's the Parking Lot of Death

"bike route, east coast"

Naver leads me into the woods.

... and back into the woods

something rednecky about this

fellow traveler

I had to watch Naver closely to get to this point.

art on display

I'm not photographing the cars, but they're coming one after another.

The wind was blowing the brim of my hat downward.

gnaw, gnaw

"a mother's prayer"

where I sat and ate lunch

another view from my seat

moving on from this neighborhood to the next in search of lodging

This region proved not to have anything available, either.

Kittehs! I didn't photograph White Whale Pension, but I arrived at it not long after taking the above picture while at a different pension. 

And that's what I have for you today. I'm thinking of waking up late tomorrow, or maybe I'll wake up on time and take a long nap while en route.

__________

*If you've seen Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, then you know Khan, who quotes Melville, considers Kirk to be his white whale.