Day 8, Course 10

21.5 km, 28,133 steps, 301 minutes, 4.3 kph. Those are my stats for today. I was out the door by 5:30 a.m. and sort of sad to be quitting the Lemain Hotel (although I did leave a scolding letter about the toilet issue, basically saying I expected better for W120,000 a night). 

I am currently in the Dream Jeju Hotel at the end of Course 10, which is not the humble yeogwan I had originally selected for myself. I was originally going to go to Namgang Yeogwan (South River Inn... sounds kinda nice in English), but once I was in town, I spotted this hotel right close to the Course 10 endpoint and decided on the spot to make a switch. Dream Jeju isn't bad for W60,000; I'm in a room with two beds, hence the higher price. The room comes with a kitchenette and even a washing machine, but the washing machine doesn't work (unplugged?), and I haven't bothered to try switching on the stove. I rarely cook for myself when I go on these long walks, unless it's to heat to some water for ramyeon or something. My room has an ocean view that I didn't pay extra for. The lady at the front desk was unfazed by my early arrival: I got into town a bit before noon and puttered around a while before looking for a place to stay. By the time I walked into the lobby of Dream Jeju, it was still only 1 o'clock. Check-in at most hotels is usually late in the afternoon or evening, but the lady who received me didn't bat an eye.

The lady must have been deaf, though, or she was one of those Koreans whose brains shut down when a foreigner starts speaking Korean: I had to say everything twice to her, and loudly, because she kept going "Huh?" every time I spoke. It's a problem that happens sometimes, and the proof that it's all in the listener's head is that, sometimes, a cabbie or someone won't realize I'm not Korean, and they'll just talk to me normally, taking my responses in stride. In such cases, some folks will suddenly look at me and do a double-take, at which point their brains might break down. Koreans who aren't familiar with foreigners often don't know how to interact with them. I guess the same might be true in the States for Koreans who find themselves in Bumfuck, USA, dealing with a yokel who keeps asking if they're Chinese. My problem is that the yokel mentality is found in the big cities in Korea, where, ideally, things ought to be more cosmopolitan. 

That's how the day ended, but how did it begin? Well, it began with unexpected rain that wasn't in the forecast when I checked it yesterday evening. Something must have happened overnight. The rain was very light, though, and it was over in under an hour, but the rain plus the darkness at 5:30 persuaded me not to try the first part of the Olle-gil, which began up a local mountain. With Fuck that having now become my mantra for this trip, I plotted myself an alternate route that followed the bike path. This wasn't a bad choice at all because the bike path also went along the coast, just like the Olle. The local mountain Sanbang-san stood protectively over me for the first part of my walk, but even later on, the mountain's bulk was visible from afar. Since I'm prone to thinking mythologically, I imagined a sanshin, a potent mountain spirit, as a being that can channel the entire ancient force of a mountain, but because mountains occupy a certain area, a sanshin's dominance might be total, but it's only local. This led to a few random story ideas that I failed to jot down and have since forgotten. 

The walk had some hills, but it was also flat for much of its length, and the weather remained cool, cloudy, and pleasant for the entirety of my trek. I hope it stays this way, but the current forecast is for more rain on Saturday. Temps are supposed to remain under 70°F (21°C) through October 12, but that can change. This has already been, I think, the rainiest walk I've done, and we're not done with the rain yet.

There was one part of the walk where I had to decide whether I was going to skip the Olle and follow the bike path, or follow the Olle into what I could only hope would be a worthwhile trail. In the end, I decided to follow the Olle-gil, and I'm glad I did because that trail, which led around Songak-san, turned out to be quite beautiful. The name "Songak-san" made me think of crazy hanja like 送惡山, Sending Evil Mountain. To be sure, those aren't the Chinese characters for the mountain's name. 

After Songak-san, the rest of the trail was mostly either downhill or flat. By starting as early as I did, I finished pretty early. These Olle courses tend to end in towns, and the town I'm in now has a lovely little bakery called Moseul-po Je Bbang So (모슬포 제빵소). This may be the best bakery I've ever been to in Korea—no exaggeration. And it's all because of one kind of bread they were selling: they called it a "pizza," but it was somewhere between a pizza and a foccaccia, and it strongly reminded me of similar breads that I'd eaten as a student living in Switzerland. You'll see what I'm talking about in the pictures below. Meanwhile—mainly for my own records than because I expect you readers ever to make it to this place—here's the bakery's address:

제주 서귀포시 대정읍 최남단해안로 33 모슬포제빵소

I had planned to eat sashimi for lunch after having a little snack from that bakery, but I ended up getting several different kinds of bread from there, so that became my very carby lunch. No regrets, though: I loved every bit of bread I ate there, and if I'm ever back this way again, I'll definitely be going to this bakery. Just wow. Sometimes, you never know what you're going to discover.

Oh, yeah: I passed by a firing range. It might have been military. Couldn't see any of it, but I tried to record the audio. Unfortunately, every time I stood ready to record, the range was silent, and the silence would drag on. In frustration, I would start walking a few steps, and at that point, people would start firing. By the time I brought my camera to bear, though, the firing would stop. This happened several times, almost as if God were telling me not to record this for some reason. Eventually, I gave up, and all I have is a distant, tantalizing picture of the range.

And one other general remark before I move on to the photo essay: Jeju has a lot of electric vehicles. Some people say electric vehicles make no noise, but that's not quite right: up close, you can definitely hear something like a wine or a whir, and when the vehicles are on the road and traveling at speed, their tires make the same noise made by regular cars, so you can hear them from a distance. I wonder how the e-car experiment is going in Korea. I've ridden in some electric taxis in Seoul; it's nifty at first, but you get used to it.

But you're here for the pics, not my words, so let's get on with the show:

about the closest I got to a sunrise shot

ships in the distance

walking next to Sanbang-san

the mountain's hulking presence

moving down into the town ahead

closed

grandfather went to Hawaii

"Cave Chicken" sounds primitive; in hangeul, they're showing the French pronunciation ("kahv") for some reason

Rabbit Trumpet?

old lady

tourism office

She has a 50s-gal look about her. 

Sanbang-san in the distance

Weird Konglish never ceases to amaze.

I think this is Hyeongjae-seom (seom means "island"), or Brothers Island. I see a kaiju relaxing. More on this in a bit.

Where's the vocative comma after "Hey"?

Brothers Coastal Lane

granny on scooter, getting away

Sagye-ri Coastal Sports Park

Coastal Sports Park

You still don't see the resting kaiju?

the village of Daejeong-eup

Sanbang-san even farther in the distance

Sanisu-dong

straight-nosed hareubang

Here at last is proof that Hyeongjae-seom is a resting kaiju. You can't un-see this.

police

충성/Choong-seong is the Korean military term for allegiance. As something that soldiers can shout, it's similar to the US Marine Corps motto of Semper fidelis, or Semper fi, as it's known informally.

"We've been on TV!"

Do mermaids have knees?

hungry

want this... but how do you spell "your"?

That's Songak-san up ahead.

on the alert

not going that way

Dunkin' is everywhere.

After much deliberation, I chose to follow the circum-Songak-san route. This turned out to be a good choice. Plenty of pretty pictures.

old man takes picture of young girl

wave your hands in the air like you don't care

They really want you to know the name of this mountain.

masque

lichen doing their lichen thing

up we go

a so-called cave trench

Sanbang-san again in the distance

kaiju up close, tongue no longer visible

Horse-riding Experience, W10,000

cairn

animal assholes

This woman blew right past me. She wasn't the only one to do so.

Everybody poops.

myo on a hill

here we go

So what's this nearby island?

stone steps I'll never take

Traditional Cultural Heritage Exploration

9 out of 15.6 km done

The island is called Gapa-do.

myo, nearly hidden

I'd been wondering whether this island had a complement of Joro spiders.

heading down the final hill

the French call this barrier a garde-fou

It slows you down.

about 6K left

I learned the term "dark tourism."

"Bertha! Git the lube! We're here!"

wind turbines on Gapa-do

X marks the gate

the Pacific's footbridge

These look like giant marshmallows.

And now, I'm hungry.

I kept wondering what that mountaintop was about.

the one lame shot of that firing range

dump your waste "vinyl" (plastic) here

I became fixated on this ship. Not sure why.

couldn't afford the scooter?

All the pines remind me of the previous year's walk along the mainland's east coast.

The title of the horse sculptures is "Family."

I was on and off the Olle a lot today.

From afar, I thought this was an octopus. 

What's with the fangs?

Let's plog!

still wondering what this is (an observatory?)

so much for subtlety

"Our boss is crazy"

the best bakery in Korea

I join the gym, and I can look like her.

I got some chocolates from the bakery. They were great.

The lady gave me this broken macaron for free. 

broken but very tasty

This pizza-bread-thing brought back memories of Europe. So good, and herbed perfectly. 

hose goes sploosh

slated for execution

"Look! Harry's bein' eaten!"

I realized, here, that I had overshot my goal.

This turned out to be part of Course 11. 

Here's the end of Course 10.

This woman before me took forever. 

I'm alive!

more random prisoners

my hotel—Dream Jeju

my room

kitchenette, like a pension

some wear and tear, unlike Lemain

peeling wallpaper (easy to repair)

turkey wattles still in place

This bread was shaped like a croissant, but it was nothing like that. The crust was crispy without being flaky, and the inside was coated very immodestly with butter. Awesome. 

see?

olive-cheese bread

pornographic dawg

hand for scale

view out my window

construction site

no pissing

I'm probably not going to follow the Olle for most of the path tomorrow. There's a main road I can walk along instead, so I'll likely do that. Stay tuned for more shenanigans tomorrow!