Day 22, in Sangju

Today is Day 22 of this walk project, but Day 1 of the Andong Dam walk. From the way I calculated the route when I first planned this walk months ago, Day 1, I knew, would be short—basically just a walk to get me out of Sangju City and close to the Nakdong River. Well, mission accomplished. I walked the 10-ish kilometers from Sangju Bus Terminal to my current motel, the Gang Cheon Dae (W40,000 a night), and here I am in my room for the night. 

The ajumma at the motel's front office took her time coming out to greet me; I guess she wasn't expecting visitors close to 10 in the evening. She took so long, in fact, that I thought she must've been a decrepit old grandmother, but she turned out to be a middle-aged woman. I paid her in cash; I wasn't given a key, which suits me fine since I'll be leaving early in the morning and can now simply walk out without dropping anything at the front desk. 

It took a while to get out of the city. Once I was out in the countryside, there were stretches with no electric lighting, but there was still enough faint, ambient illumination in the sky to allow me to see clearly where I was going. The roads had shoulders, explicit bike paths, and sidewalks, so I wasn't in any danger from traffic. I expect tomorrow's walk to be much the same. 

The night was cool but not cold—just the way I like it. I imagine it'll be cool when I step out before sunrise at around 5:30 in the morning. I was worried, when I reached the motel, that it would prove to be closed or abandoned, but no—it's a functional place, even if it's pretty dead. (There are cars in the modest parking lot, so there have to be other guests here.)

I miss not seeing the low stone walls of Jeju, the clusters of persimmon trees, and the tangerine orchards. But even though it was nighttime, I did see that the harvest was happening on the mainland. Jeju, being warmer, isn't quite ready for the harvest yet, but the mainland definitely is. You'll see some of that in tonight's pictures.

Stats: 14.1 km, 17,900 steps, 185 minutes, 4.6 kph. The extra distance probably came from a bit of walking done earlier in the day. 

Tomorrow's walk is supposed to be 25K. I'm a bit away from the Nakdong River right now, so the early part of tomorrow's walk will be about getting back to the river, then following it all the way to Andong City. As entertaining as tonight's nighttime walk was, I took forward to taking in the view during the day from here on in.

in the bus and ready to roll

walking out of downtown Sangju, after 7 p.m.

local park

This seemed almost like a Catholic church.

It's called the Mariance, so maybe it is Catholic.

leaves—evidence of fall not seen in Jeju

I was intrigued by a bus depot labeled "Pumpkin."

shrine in the dark

out-of-focus spider

evidence of the harvest (again, not seen in Jeju)

The tiny point of light near the top is Jupiter, a night-sky planet.

Below is a good example of how my camera can pick up ambient light that the human eye can't see, but it can't see anything if there's no obvious light source around. What can you pick out in the photo below? I was able to see more than my camera could.

caught this blurry little lizard with a flash photo

Byeongseon Bridge, crossing the Gyeong-cheon

dam in the distance

I think this is the Sangju Dam.

At this point, these gloves actively seek me out to make sure their story is told.

chiaroscuro

go slowly in front of the village

finally at the motel entrance

Gangcheondae motel & restaurant

a final steep walk uphill