Day 5, Course 7

Stats for today: 36,561 steps, 336 minutes, 24.2 km, at a speed of about 4.3 kph. Weather was hot—even in the morning, when things were both hot and humid. Jeju is far enough south that fall comes late here, and summer lingers. For what it's worth, though, the forecast is for rain tomorrow, and it's going to be much cooler. The trail's difficulty level is supposed to be high, so I might be veering off the main trail yet again. Today, I think I was on Course 7 maybe 50% of the time. Tomorrow, though, the problem is that the bike trail is a completely different, far-off route, so I won't be able simply to dodge off the path. I might need to engage in some creative navigation. We'll see how that goes. 

One thing I forgot to mention, yesterday, was that the downtown area I found myself in had no walk/don't-walk signs: people had to judge for themselves when to cross. This didn't prove to be dangerous or anything; I just chalk it up to the relaxed nature of life on Jeju Island.

Today's walk took me from downtown to downtown, but the in-between part was fairly quiet—more small farms, orchards, and side streets. I hopped on and off the Olle-gil as the spirit moved me, doing what I could to avoid situations like the ones I've already described previously. Nothing perilous today—no dark mountain trails or paths leading across large rocks. (No naked men, either.) Quite a few hills, though, but I was actually thankful for those.

The big sight today came early: Oedolgae (외돌개) is a huge, phallic rock that juts priapically out of the ocean just off the shore. Legend has it that this rock was dressed up as a gigantic general or admiral to scare off enemy forces (Chinese, I think). I took the sight in, sad that my buddy JW wasn't there to enjoy the moment as well. He says he might be coming to hike on the 9th and 10th, which will be Courses 14 and 15 on my schedule. 

I stayed with the Olle trail for a while after Oedolgae, then left the path when I saw the trail suddenly turn primitive again. Nope—no more of that for me. But in following the bike path, I ended up back on the Olle several times. As mentioned earlier, the trail had its hills, some of which you'll see below. 

I didn't realize I was going to be walking 24K today: I had assumed 16-17K only, but my switching paths probably lengthened the trail a bit; I also overshot a turn and had to backtrack, and at the very end, it was several extra kilometers to reach my current motel (Cheonje Motel, W30,000 with a cash payment; the place has bad WiFi, forcing me to use my own WiFi hotspot) after the Course 7 finishing point. Thinking I wouldn't be walking too long, and still tired from yesterday's 34K trek, I deliberately left late today, around 6:30 a.m. There was no point in trying to witness a sunrise: I was too far inland. That said, I hit Oedolgae early enough for there not to be too many people in that area. It was me and, for the most part, a bunch of old people. 

The day was hot, and there was no rain. It got distinctly hotter around 8:30 a.m., and by the afternoon, things were cooking. The heat made for tiring conditions, but I pushed my way through it.

So today was a bit of a scientific experiment: I didn't build any rest days into this walk schedule the way I normally do: I wanted to test whether all of last year's weight loss had translated into greater endurance. For now, at least, the answer seems to be yes. For me, given the still-sorry shape I'm in, I've set myself a brutal pace, but I think I can maintain it to the end. It's hard to tell after only a few days, but I may have started to re-lose the weight I'd gained back since last December. 

Of note: I had the chance to see a horse up close. It's been decades since I last saw (and smelled) an honest-to-God horse, so the experience was kind of neat. I also decided to have lunch at a local Korean place not too far from where I'm now staying. The staffers were all friendly; they asked about my tee shirt and tried to offer me coffee. Outside the restaurant was an equally friendly dog; I got a couple shots of him, too. 

In all, today was way too hot, but the trek was otherwise enjoyable. I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow and the next day, both of which involve trails labeled "difficult" with no easy escape routes. I'm sure I'll survive somehow, even if I have to backtrack and find a completely different route for myself.

On to the photo essay!

leaving my motel and passing a dive shop with a smirking hareubang (stone "grandfather")

I come all the way from Seoul, only to find another 예술의 전당.

veering left here

Phonetically, the sign says, "Suck the Dream."

So, I guess this is a Jeju thing—myo surrounded by a low stone wall

Stairs down always worry me because you have to go back up them.

Battle of the Englishes! "Falling Hazard" versus "Fall Hazard"

Behold...

Oedolgae (pronounce it "weh-dōl-geh")

This was almost startling.

low-hanging fruit?

baying for my blood

squat little feller

White Castle... making me think of burgers

cute, with fake flowers

lots of businesses named Seom, which means "island"

"Hello, Boiling Crab"—morbid enough for you?

The writing is very curvy and cursive-y, but at a guess, I'd say it says Yong Mun Sa, i.e., "Dragon Gate Temple"... the problem being that most Buddhist temples don't advertise themselves with this color scheme.

dramatically flattened 

I hate this style of romanization because it targets how Koreans mispronounce words and letters. It's like that North Korean rag, Uri Minzok Kiri. Koreans mispronounce the English "z" as a "j," so "Minzok" is pronounced by Koreans as minjōk. There's no "v" in Korean, either, so "vada" is pronounced bada. Romanization is supposed to help foreigners pronounce native words. 

It's as if someone tried and failed to write "seashore."

horsie!

four-wheeler

"Avenge me!"

still on the correct trail (Course 7)

These seem to be natural sponges.

I poked this one with my trekking pole.

The red thing is netting.

I elected not to go this way, following the bike path instead.

I love these icons.

The dog was barking at something only he could see.

Why would you decorate your hotel with giant sperm?

Ever since I finally had sea urchin last year, I've craved it.

types of tangerine, I think

I'm caught yet again.

Konglish amuses me.

Out of the corner of my eye, these looked like weird, fancy toilets.

Is 악근 Chinese for "root of evil"?

I hadn't eaten any Jeju tangerines up to now. 

W10,000 bag

They didn't look ripe, but they were tasty and juicy. 

Chicken Popper Church (Gangjeong Gyohoe)

The term dak gangjeong means "chicken poppers": crunchy bits of boneless fried chicken. Obviously the gangjeong in the above sign comes from two totally different Chinese characters (probably "river-something"), but the moment I see gangjeong, I think "chicken." Sue me.

Oh, boy. Here we go.

signs about war/ military being bad

NO to RIMPAC

Killing the local creek means suicide for humans.

It's blocked out a bit, but it's something about life and peace and an obtainable future. I'm obviously walking through a peacenik zone.

Save the Gangjeong Creek!

A pastor with his flock in a makeshift roadside church.

Peace cannot be realized through war and weapons.

Stop ROK/US combined military training!

Maybe the negative space symbolizes the absence of military vessels.

flash dat ass

Peace Center

"This place is the Gangjeong Peace Center!"

Chicken does Obi-Wan impression (with no vocative comma).

This whole region is kind of hippie-dippy.

At last: Chicken Popper Church.

I found the biker gang.

for her protection

Jeju is the land of troughs.

I stopped and ate here.

The brisk, efficient lady read my mind and asked if I wanted the jeongshik. I said yes. 

the whole meal

the infamous black pig, boiled and served with dipping sauce

a friendly dawg, for once

lookit that grin

This guy was also walking Course 7.

the end of Course 7, and the beginning of Course 8

weird hose (A/C drainage?)

The tree blocks the initial "J."

one of a gazillion black-pig restos

temple

temple spider

Yak Cheon Temple (Medicine Fountain Temple)

It's huge.

With so many unique-looking temples on Jeju, it was surprising to see one that looked normal, i.e., it looked like the temples found on the mainland.

Lots of charcoal-grill restos.

Lots of establishments named "Brick" or "Bricks" on Jeju-do.

I saw this and thought, "This is where it all happens."

The top sign for a yacht tour is evoking French with the expression "Grand Bleu" referring to the big blue of the ocean.

I didn't go this way. Too tired at the end of the walk.

nifty sculpture

context

another example of annoying romanization

cosmos flowers always remind me of Mom

My late friend Kent sometimes joked about how, in Korea, they commit architecture.

the lobby of Cheonje Motel