Day 4, Courses 5 & 6

I got to my motel pretty late today after a walk that turned out to be 34K: I switched up routes and got turned around a few times (my fault for walking past certain turning points). All of that cost me time and distance. 

Forgot this yesterday: Happy October!

Today was an adventure. It started out pretty nightmarishly, then a bit past halfway through, things got interesting. I initially failed to implement my plan of action, i.e., to bug out if the Olle-gil got tough. At the point I was at on the trail, there was no immediate exit, so I had to brunt my way through in the hope that an egress would eventually appear. One did.

So what happened is that the walk started off fine. I was out the door at 5:35 a.m., and for nearly an hour, the walk was more or less pleasant. Right around sunrise, though, I found myself having to cross over a rocky section filled with boulders and smaller stones. This trip has taught me the extent to which my stroke handicapped me by removing my sense of balance. Years ago, I used to be able to navigate boulders and rocky terrain with confidence, but now, I've turned into a feeble, fearful old man. So around sunrise, I found myself on a part of the path where turning around would have been a huge time-waster. I was also on a patch of land that made it nearly impossible to see the sunrise: the celestial phenomenon was blocked by a small promontory (to the extent that promontories are ever small).

I elected to struggle onward despite lacking the strength, balance, and coordination to do so. My one consolation was that no one appeared on the path to witness my predicament. Had a person come, he would have seen me clambering around on all fours, levering myself awkwardly over rocks, using my trekking pole to steady myself, hesitating before taking big steps, and all the rest. The effort of navigating those rocks left me drenched with sweat and breathing hard. What a way to start my morning.

My intuition was that I'd soon find a road. Sure enough, after leaving the rocks behind and walking along a rough path, I saw there was indeed a road with a car parked on it. I left the Olle trail immediately and made a beeline for the bike path, which roughly paralleled the course I'd been on. 

The rest of the walk included some long, challenging hills, but those hills were a relief compared to what I'd gone through at dawn. I'd been seriously worried about pitching over and cracking my stupid skull open like Piggy in Lord of the Flies. But while I was on those rocks, I calmed myself and thought of my situation as an intellectual problem to solve: place your foot here, place your trekking pole there, lever yourself up this way, etc. This seemed to work.

The walk also took me into a tourist-heavy spot, then eventually into whatever qualifies as "downtown" Seogwipo. Along the way, though, I encountered a variety of terrain ranging from suburban to rural. Lots of farm roads, dilapidated houses, persimmon trees, and tangerine/orange orchards. Quite a few farm buildings with water troughs.  One Buddhist temple that didn't look very Buddhist. The bulk of today was Course 5, with Course 6 being almost an afterthought. Course 6 had a loop that I didn't do. 

I've read and heard from some Olle veterans that the trails here are "well marked." My ass. There are times when the markers appear with unnecessary frequency, like every ten meters ad nauseam. At other times, though, I find myself at an intersection and having to rely on Naver Map to figure out where to go next.

So you now know about my nightmarish morning, but a bit after I'd started Course 6, something interesting happened: I got interviewed by a team of three college guys doing a documentary about trail walkers that might end up showing on a major network. I didn't want to talk at first, but the guys worked me hard, and their friendly energy finally got me talking, despite a runny nose that's probably going to appear on camera if they end up using any interview footage. If they do use any footage, it'll only be a few seconds. They, too, were walking the whole Olle-gil, but at a slow pace since they were waylaying people for interviews. I gave the guys my email address, and they're supposed to contact me one they've finalized their documentary. I'm actually kind of hoping I don't end up in the final cut: I'm not particularly photogenic. 

Stats: 34K walked; 43,677 steps, 470 minutes,  and my speed was just under 4.3 kph. I blame how the morning started for that. 

One other thing: when I reached the end of Course 6, I saw there was a hostel for Olle hikers right there. On impulse, I decided to stay at the hostel instead of at Daemyeong Motel, which had been the original plan. The hostel proved to be a mistake. The last time I stayed at a hostel might have been in early 1990—a Jugendherberge in Munich. I'm much older, now, and hostels lack certain conveniences while also burdening you with a list of rules of conduct. Although I’d paid for my room at the hostel, I ended up canceling and getting a refund, then moving over to the nearby Daemyeong Motel. The lady at the motel claimed that she didn't have WiFi, but this turned out not to be true: my room actually has pretty strong WiFi. I don't think the lady was lying; she was just old and didn't really know what WiFi was.

Given how long I walked and how tired I am, I'm going to leave you with only a partial pic dump. I'll upload the rest once I'm back from both walks. Here, then, are the first 100 to 200 pics, with the rest of the images for today showing up around the end of October or the beginning of November. 

I now Leukotape both of my feet. No blisters thus far (knock on wood). The little dot seems to indicate that my toe is leaking. 

around 5:35 a.m.

a hunched-over shadow in the night

the sun reveals where it'll come up

the beginning of the path I should never have taken

There was some lighting. 

lumpy surface of the bridge

lightening sky

I really should have abandoned the trail right here.

See the dude in the distance?

dude up close

private property

This is where it all started going to hell.

hilly stretch

outcropping blocking sunrise

steep climb

And thus begins my suffering.

These cairn-like stacks are called tap in Korean. Hikers love setting these up and adding to them. The Korean word also refers to actual pagodas.

I got a skull-like vibe from this.

tap-tap-tap

After a lot of struggle, I made it to a point where I could see the sunrise.

trash

I had to walk over this nonsense.

I had to figure out where the path was.

Finally found it.

I love the falling man. 

uphill

difficult rocks

but I'm on the right path

I'm such a pussy that I thought, "Thank God—there's a car!" If there's a car, there's gotta be a road.

I didn't care that the road was hilly. 

I just wanted a proper surface to walk on.

unripe tangerines

There's always a separate lane for bikers and walkers.

Any fruit that isn't fruity should be demoted.

where jjajang-myeon comes from

Good morning.

It was too early for the fruit stores to be open.

These funky artificial flowers are meant to be stuck inside stone walls. To me, they're just realistic or plausible enough to produce an "uncanny valley" effect. 

Is this what I think it is?

I was going to go this way, but the way was blocked. This turned out to be a good thing.

tromping back up the hill I just descended

large, rich properties abound

my tech

more schmutz

Remark: there's plenty of litter in Korea; I see it all over the place here in Jeju. But I don't want my travelogue to be neurotically focused on just trash. I'm on vacation and trying to enjoy myself; this isn't some environmentalist crusade. So just imagine that, for every photo of trash that I put on the blog, there are hundreds more instances of litter/pollution that I don't put on record. Besides, as an American, I don't have much of a moral leg to stand on.

another priapic rock

a short-but-steep set of stairs that messed a bit with my balance

I like how the USA looks like a pig. And poor Texas, eh?

The order came in to Bronson the hired killer: take out the chickens. All of them.

love child of seahorse and General Grievous

The sign says "Black Pig Story." Koreans often put "story" at the end of the name for shops or restaurants. I guess it's supposed to evoke something—maybe the comforting sense of being roped into a narrative.

White Castle Pension... and now, I want a burger.

Can someone tell me what these strips are?

disembodied hands—big trope in Korean sculpture

I type 누위 into Google Translate and get "whore." So is this saying "whore at the beach"? I somehow doubt it.

Whore at the Beach Pension

at a guess, Jeju dialect

"At the end of a walk along a Jeju beach, I hope you are there."
—signed, Your Dog, who is hungry

what happens when you fart too hard

How the fish head managed to find its way so far inland before expiring, no one could say.

just learned these are a type of aster

chunky orb-weaver

Even motorcycles need rest.

proud burd

my verschmutzt backpack

big Course-5 marker

everything on this menu looks good

I went to Bulgwang-sa (Buddha Light Temple), but this turned out to be a mistake, and I had to turn around. Anyway, enjoy the detour. My pain is your entertainment.

hose fragment thinks it can hide

yet another Jeju temple that doesn't quite look like a normal temple

From what I've seen, Buddhist temples on Jeju-do don't often look like their mainland counterparts. This might make for an interesting research topic. 

animal assholes strike again

parked cars

eclectic menu: jjambbong, jjajang, noodles, tangsuyuk, shrimp

I found an Ent

It was trying to stop a vegetal tyrannosaur from ravaging a house.

when you're too poor to do the traditional three-bar gate

my brain immediately registered this as "House of Bananas"

What does 쇠소깍/soesoggak translate to?

ichthys/ιχθύς

end of Course 5, beginning of Course 6

Recap, plus extra: while I was walking along this part of the path, I was accosted by a team of three college guys who said they were making a documentary about people who hike these Olle trails. One of the guys said he'd already done the 800-kilometer French Way of the Camino de Santiago, and right now, the team was doing its own walk even as the guys interviewed people they met along the way. As I said above, I was initially reluctant to talk, but the dudes won me over. We ended up talking for several minutes in a mixture of Korean and English, then I guess the guys felt they'd gotten everything they needed because, just like that, the interview was over. I had a bit of a runny nose during the interview; I wonder whether my one moist nostril will end up invalidating the whole exchange. The guys took down my email address and promised to contact me once the documentary was ready for broadcast. I'm not expecting to be shown for more than ten seconds, if at all. In fact, I'm kind of hoping I don't make the cut at all. Sweaty and blubbery as I was, I wasn't exactly looking my best.

I've been on Korean TV once or twice before—once at Sookmyeong Women's University, when I was waylaid by a camera crew looking for foreigners' opinions of Korean food; and once at a Buddhism conference in Anyang, when I was asked for my thoughts on the life of Buddhist nuns based on what I'd learned at the conference. I think pretty much every expat ends up on Korean TV at some point during his time in Korea, so what happened to me was nothing special.

the guys (middle one did most of the talking)

Can I look any cheesier? Dude on the extreme left, holding the rig, did the Camino.

Jeju specializes in goofy rides for tourists.

approximately where I was when I met the guys

kitsch and tchotchkes

a whole row of perky stone boobs

poor stone grandfather

leaving the noise and bustle of downtown

An exploded snake should be Korea's second flag given how prevalent these things are.

Yes, the cactus in the rock is real.

laden with gear

Big Hands, I know you're the one

small anchor on rock

its much larger cousins

Obama's mob connections are an open secret in Korea.

Patton Oswalt vibe

Just for a second, I thought it said "Scu-BAKING."

Koreans do bonsais, too. Here, they're 분재/bunjae.

Sign says "no street/passage," but that's where the Olle goes.

Is this really some sort of bag for delivering milk? If so, how quaint.

gnarly

That offshore island I've been photographing is 섶섬, or Brushwood Island. (Naver says 섶 means kindling or brushwood.) When I get a billion dollars, I'll build a house there.

It spells out "Honeymoon Village" in hangeulized English. Would you want to take your honey to a place like this, where the painted Eye of Sauron stares beadily out at you?

See the spider?

Here she is.

tumor-like bottom of a palm tree

I think the Chinese says Seo Bok Gong Weon, which literally translates as Slow Happiness Park, but "Seobok" might actually mean a Qin Dynasty man, per the explanation given on the panel below.

description of Jeongbang Falls

clearer angle

I like these goofy horses.

The term donghaeng/동행, in Buddhism, is often translated into English as "together-action," a reference to the strength one derives from doing the same activity together with other people—say, meditating together or doing martial arts together. In the above picture, though, I think the non-Buddhist meaning of donghaeng refers more to the companionship that comes of doing something together. But the proverb under the title is saying that donghaeng isn't about walking the same road: it's walking different roads at the same time (the Korean text literally says "different paths together"). This sounds a lot like the Western proverb about love—it's not about looking into each other's eyes but rather about staring out at the same horizon. The wisest sayings about love and friendship usually acknowledge the need for difference and separation as a way to keep the loving dynamic healthy and vital. "Let there be spaces in your togetherness," wrote Khalil Gibran in The Prophet. Love isn't clingy or needy. True love comes from a position of strength and independence. It's a paradox, but there we are.

Disembodied hands are, again, a recurrent trope on this walk.

the stag that carries all of our sins

"Too slow! Move faster!" shouts the cow.

closing in on my lodging

impressive bow and arrow

one last long walk uphill

where I thought I was going to be staying

end of the line

end of Course 6

beginning of Course 7

remove shoes before entering

I got the room at the hostel—that's Room 11 above—then realized that staying here would have meant following too many rules. So I bugged out after getting a refund. Went to a more standard and familiar motel—the one I'd intended to go to in the first place.