from Jeju International Airport to my yeogwan

Though it was expensive since I was riding across half the island, I took a taxi from Jeju International Airport to where I had elected to stay: Mido Motel, which is in Seogwipo City on the east coast. As we drove along, Jeju's many famous sights unfurled before me. I saw quite a few of the things Jeju is famous for: horses, low stone walls made of volcanic rocks (including an impressive burial mound surrounded by such a wall), stands selling Jeju oranges and tangerines, restaurants offering the local 흑돼지/heuk-dwaeji or black pig, and more palm trees. As we drove, I managed to take only one decent picture of a chunky-looking mountain or promontory that probably has a name and a history. 

The cabbie seemed sleepy. He kept straying over the road's center line, which was bumpy for just that reason: to wake up sleepy drivers. Still, he was awake enough to avoid oncoming traffic and get me to my destination alive, so here I am.

Arriving at certain motels and yeogwans in the daytime can sometimes be a dicey proposition because the owner/manager is often either out or asleep. I saw an older guy puttering around at Mido Motel's entrance and asked him about lodging; he told me he wasn't the manager, and that I needed to call a certain cell number written on a sign. I did so; the manager said I should wait for him to show up, and I could pay him then. As I waited, I took in the motel's vibe: cheap and seedy. I can really pick 'em. Over the phone, the guy said a room would cost me W30,000, even though the lobby sign said W20,000. This felt like a foreigner's tax, but the room I ended up with, despite having no real facilities to speak of (no sheets on the bed, no soap or shampoo or toilet paper in the bathroom—good thing I brought my own for just such emergencies), nevertheless had two beds in it, so I'm not going to complain about the extra W10,000. I still think, though, that W30,000 is a bit steep for what's on offer here. 

Another way to know a place is cheap is that you're told to just go pick a room, and you're not immediately given a key. This sort of thing happens all the time along the Four Rivers path, and it happened today, too. I had to ask repeatedly for a key, and I finally got one. While he seemed a bit brusque, the manager was, nonetheless, nice enough to invite me to a rooftop barbecue, but I declined. I told him I was tired, but the real reason would have been harder to explain with a straight face: I know my bowels well enough to know that, when I'm in distance-walking mode, I can't eat too late, or I'll end up getting the shits while I'm on the trail. Hiker's worst nightmare. I am, in fact, a bit worried about whether I'll be able to take the usual liberties on the Jeju Olle trail—stuff like taking a random piss without worrying about people rounding the bend, or cutting lusty farts without anyone being within earshot. Or, yes, taking an emergency dump, if needed, without being caught out by fellow hikers. That's the problem, you see: I suspect that all the segments of the Olle trail are going to be rife with hikers, walkers, tourists—you name it. And I'm not looking forward to that. 

But tonight, I'm just going to settle in and deal with the mosquito in my room. I might have to do what I've done before and buy some quick-dry hairspray, which causes mosquito wings to seize up: the little bastards drop to the floor, and you just squish 'em.

Meanwhile, here's my final batch of pics for the day. Tomorrow, I'm up at 4:30 a.m. to do nearly 40K. Day 1 promises to be an ass- kicker in terms of distance. Day 2 will be shorter, but it's rated "difficult"—the first of six difficult-level segments. No rest for the weary, and I've given myself no "break" days this time, trusting to my improved health to carry me through this trek.

the one shot out the taxi's window: chunky mountain

Mido Motel front

a look off to the side; see the seedy neighborhood for yourself

a wider angle on my motel

I'm in Room 301. Come get me, suckaz!

Using the "0.5 zoom" function, I can get a wide shot of my lodgings.

crazy-cheap price at the convenience store up the street (in Seoul, I pay W900)

that chunky mountain again

As a self-disciplinary measure, I removed the YouTube icon from my phone's main menu to keep me from addictively watching YouTube at night. So far, the measure seems to be working, and I look forward to nearly a month without YouTube. It's unhealthy to be too plugged in. I've got things I can read in the meantime. For example, I'm working on the latest Will Jordan novel, Dark Harvest, and I'm still making my way through my friend Neil's hilarious book, This Gangster Is One of Your Own. These stories will be my travel companions over the course of these walks, both Jeju and Andong. 

Righto—more tomorrow. From now on, I'll be writing only one entry per day as I've done the last few walks. Today was a bit of a muddle simply because the Jeju experience is so new to me. I really don't remember much about the island from my 1986 trip. I vaguely recall 외돌개/Oedolgae and the Seven Fairies Bridge—not much else. So I'll be learning as I go. Maybe relearning as well, as with thinker Paul Ricoeur's notion of the second naiveté.

ADDENDUM: Mido Motel is definitely a yeogwan, not a motel. 

ADDENDUM 2: I took a walk outside to the shore, which is very close (I'm on a tiny peninsula), and couldn't help myself: I started shutterbugging. Very last pic dump, now—promise. 

 black-pig restaurant in the neighborhood

You might see those lights and be reminded of the squid boats from last year's walk, but that's some sort of man-made structure, like a causeway.

nifty—a dolmen-like table

It was sprinkling out, and this shwimteo isn't designed to protect people from the rain. 

Fron this angle, two buildings look like one.

Lovers' Leap? Seems a bit low.

those pesky palm trees

So I discovered the mountain is called Seong-san (Holy Mountain?), and there's a "sunrise peak" called Seong-san Ilchul-bong (ilchul = sunrise; bong = peak).

broken bench for weary asses

menu: broth ddeokbokgi, broth chicken's feet, fried shrimp, cheese sticks, thin dried anju (beer sides), budae-jjigae, odaeng stew, beer, coffee, and other drinks

rocks and coral, artistically assembled

Don't touch the larva!

the sign for my yeogwan, Mido Motel

Right—definitely done, now. I've got a 4.5K walk just to teach the trailhead in the morning, hence the 4 a.m. start. The trail itself is actually two trails: Courses 1 and 2 stitched together. Off to bed now. Pray for me. 

from airport to airport

I got to Gimpo Airport a couple hours early. For the most part, it was a smooth experience, except I found out that, if I wanted to check my backpack in as luggage, I had to remove my portable battery—the one you use when charging your cell phone while you're traveling. At first, I didn't get what the check-in lady was talking about when she asked me whether I had any batteries in my backpack. I reflexively said "no," but suspecting I'd misunderstood something, I looked up the term she'd used: 보조배터리/bojobaeteori, i.e., a portable battery for cell phones  A Google Image search definitively proved that she had indeed been asking about my portable battery. The lady told me I was checked in, but the process wasn't quite finished until my bag had been checked. Sure enough, my battery was found by security, and I was sent to a side room to deal with the matter. The security agent in the side room was friendly enough; she told me that such batteries were considered restricted items because they could sometimes burst if left with the check-in baggage. I took the battery out of my backpack, stuck it in my pocket, and since I already had my boarding pass, that was that. I proceeded to my gate, got myself a sparse lunch, and spent two hours waiting for my flight to board. I texted JW to let him know I was on my way to Jeju. I still don't know his travel dates, but I assume he'll tell me at some point. 

Here are some pics of the transit from Gimpo Airport to Jeju. I didn't realize Gimpo is still considered an international airport. I think the last time I was there was in 1989, just as my last visit to Jeju was as a high schooler in 1986.

a look out the window before we taxi

passing over the last bit of the mainland

passing some of the coastal islands before flying over the blue water

possibly Chuja-do, which looks like a uterus and fallopian tubes

first glimpse of Jeju

a reminder that Jeju is very built-up, not some primitive paradise

Land features resolve as we descend. 

down we go

landed and taxiing

Welcome to the mean streets of Jeju, muthafucka'!

I'm always learning new—often basic—vocabulary.

When I got to the baggage claim after a restroom break, my backpack was the only bag on the carousel.

The stone "grandfather" is one of many symbols of Jeju.

Not pictured: Jeju hits you in the face with palm trees. As soon as I stepped outside into cloudy, cool weather, the palm trees were right there, waiting to ambush all of us tourists.

knowing where you are

I had an amusing moment while on Line 9 this morning. One of the stations we passed was Gayang. I know that area; it's at the western edge of Seoul. Gayang Bridge is at the river, and Gayang Station is a kilometer or so inland from the bridge. A few kilometers after the bridge, the Four Rivers bike path turns left and west toward Incheon, following the unnaturally straight Ara Canal. That path takes you under the flight path of planes landing at Gimpo Airport, so it was easy to deduce that I wasn't far from Gimpo Airport Station. 

Being horrible at geography, I tend to learn it best by actually going to the places I'm learning about. (That's how I rounded out my knowledge of western Europe.) I've walked this Gayang/Gimpo axis any number of times since 2017; it was nice to know exactly where I was. 

preflight

Asiana Airlines check-in area

It was a long line, but it went fairly fast. 

My flight is at Gate 16.

This is probably not my plane: I got to Gimpo pretty early.

jetway for Gate 16

your Humble Narrator

10:03 a.m. subway

This was a rare opportunity to take a shot I've been wanting to take for a long time: all the doors between subway cars are open, and you can watch the train curve back and forth as it progresses along the track. Cool. My apologies for not blanking out all the faces, but I don't have the software for that. I hope I don't get sued for revealing someone's face. 

This is the 10:03 a.m. Line 3 train. I'll transfer to Line 9 in a moment, then arrive at Gimpo Airport by 11 a.m.

my shirts arrived!

I was ready to sulk and pout about not having my custom-made tees for this hiking trip, but they arrived today! This is good: I'm set for what to wear. Here are some photos:

Yes, I wear 4XL.

a closeup of the tee's front

the tee's back

a closeup of the back

Don't be scared of the short hair. It'll be under a bandanna for a month.

And after a month, the hair'll be more or less normal length.
This photo was taken in front of a mirror. Ignore the specks of dust.

See this post for a description of the tee design.

I'm elated that my shirts made it to me on time.

supplies

For the one day on the trail when finding a restaurant is inconvenient.

The above meals (쇠고기 고추장 비빔밥 = soegogi gochujang bibimbap, i.e., mixed rice with beef and red-chili paste) are the Korean version of, say, Mountain House freeze-dried trail meals: just add hot water, wait ten or so minutes, then dig in. As you can see on the packaging, each meal is about 348 calories, which is barely anything. Four meals will therefore be almost 1,400 calories—easily enough to get me through the day.

On the day I eat these meals, I'll be walking at least 31 kilometers because I'll be doing two segments of the overall course. Assuming a pace of about 4 kph (I'll start at around 4.8 kph, but I'll slow down over the course of the day), that's about 7.75 hours of walking, maybe more if we include rest breaks. According to my MyFitnessPal app, 465 minutes (7.75 hours) of moderate walking burns 2,808 calories on top of my basal metabolic rate, which is 2,103 calories. 2,808 + 2,103 = 4,911 calories burned for the day. Subtract the above meal from that (1,392 calories), and you get a calorie deficit of 3,519. Classically speaking, 3,500 calories is a single pound of fat, so I'll have lost a pound by the end of the day—and that's even after eating my meal. The math also assumes I consume nothing else the whole day except water. No candy bars, no sodas.

I can't expect a 3,500-some-calorie deficit every single day of the walk, but if I can keep my caloric deficit over 2,000 every day while eating healthily, my blood sugar will plummet, and I'll shed a few pounds by the time I'm done with Jeju. More specifically: assuming an average deficit of 2,000 calories per day, I can expect a total deficit of 34,000 calories for the whole trip, which is almost 10 pounds of fat lost.

I've argued elsewhere, though, that the calories in, calories out model has its flaws. While the math looks neat and clean, the reality will be very different because all sorts of factors will come into play: my tendency to misbehave food-wise, the roughness of the terrain, the quality of my sleep every night, the actual distances I walk each day, the time of day when I eat, the amount I eat per meal, my hourly hormonal condition, etc.—these things and more will influence actual weight loss. As long as I come back from Jeju a few inches thinner at the waist, I'll be happy.

And now that I have the above supplies, which weigh nearly nothing since the contents are freeze-dried, I'll have something to eat on the one day (Day 10, as it happens) when a restaurant or convenience store will be too far away to walk to.

I'm not sure how ready I feel

While I'm looking forward to the upcoming hike along Jeju Island's coast, I'm also a bit trepidatious. I've been working on staircase training again, but I somehow feel this isn't going to be enough. Six of the seventeen days I'll be hiking will be on segments rated "difficult" by trail authorities. Olle trail 18-1, which is on a completely separate island (Chuja-do), has five mountain summits along its length. If that's what "difficult" means on Jeju-do, well, I have a feeling my ass is going to get kicked. I'll just have to take it slow.

And right now, according to the latest weather forecast, the weather is going to be hot, and there'll be showers over the weekend, likely in the afternoon on Sunday. I don't look forward to hiking in the heat (or in the rain), but that's what you get when you choose to hike on Jeju-do at the beginning of fall. Summer departs the island only grudgingly. Jeju's climate is described as "temperate and humid"; it often seems close to being subtropical (the island's palm trees reinforce this notion, but then again, Jeju has cold, snowy winters). No matter how you slice it, the Jeju hike is going to be a challenge.

Maybe I should have planned to go in November. Well, it's too late to back out now. I'm really looking forward to the Andong Dam hike. Heh.

the weather in Jeju and Andong

I've been keeping tabs on the weather in Jeju, and the forecast keeps changing. Right now, it appears there'll be no rain at all, but just a few days ago, I saw that the first four or five days of my walk were supposed to be rainy. Here's hoping the weather stays good for the entire Jeju trip, and here's hoping the weather on the mainland is good for my Andong Dam walk. 

The Andong forecast is currently showing good weather for my walk, with four straight days of rain starting on Tuesday the 25th—my first day back at work. That's cutting things a bit close for me, and if the rain starts earlier than the 25th, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it. 

I might or might not be meeting up with an ex-coworker and his family on the final day of the Andong Dam walk, which is actually the 23rd (I'll finish on the 23rd, stay in Andong City overnight, and walk across town to the bus station on the 24th; I'll be back in Seoul the same day). I'm really hoping that the Andong Dam walk is beautiful the whole way through. If it isn't, well... I guess I'll just have to walk part or all of the path again sometime.

...and I'm set for food

I've checked the situation at every place I'll be stopping, and yes: there'll be places to eat all along the way. In most cases, there will be a combination of restaurants and convenience stores, so I won't have to starve. There's one spot, though, where a restaurant is some 3.5 km away. I'm still trying to decide whether a 7-kilometer round-trip walk to the place will be worth my while after walking all day; I might pre-pack some food the day before instead of doing that long walk. Another option would be to eat somewhere along the path if any restaurants should pop up. That's often a matter of timing, I've discovered: if I pass by a restaurant when it's only 10 in the morning, I'm not going to stop and wait until 11:30 for the resto to open. So if it's around noon, and I pass by a restaurant, I'll duck in, have lunch, and be on my way.