Today is Children’s Day in South Korea, so I had the day off from work. I wanted to go on an adventure and traipse around a bit. I wanted to go by myself, too, because I usually have adventures with other people and then don’t do much independently. I like having fun with people, but I want to be my own person, too.
So I set out—but first I ran an errand. I don’t like to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, so I can’t be sure if this errand was successful yet or not, but I think I have secured myself a Samsung Galaxy S II—a smartphone—with an unlimited data/Internet plan. I’m really looking forward to this, because I think I won’t be such a slacker with this blog if I can take pictures and upload them from anywhere.
I had plenty of amazing opportunities for beautiful photos today but I didn’t have my camera because I didn’t want to carry it. I’ve noticed that I am more interested in blogging when I have a nice picture to put up, but I rarely have nice pictures because I never want to lug my camera anywhere. I also don’t usually want to spend my limited amount of free time at home blogging when it’s the only chance I’ll have to check my e-mail and whatnot. So I think getting a smartphone will solve a lot of problems. I can swing it here, financially, and I’ve never had a phone like this before, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always been good with computers but bad with cell phones, and my friend tells me I’d probably be fine with a smartphone because they’re like miniature computers.
Anyway, the man I spoke with in the shop told me to come back tomorrow because they didn’t have any in today, and that tomorrow I could seal the deal. So I’ll have to wait and see if it works out.
After that, I started walking. I wanted to find the sea. I have a road map (in Korean) so I had some sense of what direction I should head. But I didn’t want to stay on one straight road. I wanted to walk and meander around the city some. So I did.
Eventually I started seeing promising signs: the harbor was straight ahead, and the seawall was to the left, along with a tunnel. I decided to go left, because I figured other people have been to the harbor and might be inclined to go with me, but this was my adventure, so I had to take advantage of going anywhere I wanted without anybody else’s input! So I thought I’d find the seawall and the tunnel.
I found the tunnel—it looked long and huge—and I wanted to go through it. But I also wanted to explore the interesting-looking mountain village to the right of the tunnel. So instead of going through the mountain, I explored the village to the right of it. Slowly I went up and up, through fascinating cement alleyways and tiny houses, and I caught a glimpse of some very interesting-looking stairs. I wanted to go back and wander through the tunnel, but I really wanted to find out exactly where those stairs would lead.
So I walked up. And up and up and up. And at the top I heard music, and people were relaxing, and there was a beautiful garden, and there were small cafe-like restaurants and hikers walking past. And on one side of the path there was a beautiful view of water and a red and white striped smokestack. And on the other side there was a breathtaking view of the village I’d walked through and the whole city down below. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take that view in much, because there was some sort of ceremony going on (I think so, anyway), so I couldn’t get up very close.
But then I decided to keep walking, to keep finding better views. And before I knew it, I had hiked around the mountain. I came back down again, back through another mountain village, and saw the tunnel there behind me. So I had climbed over the mountain instead of digging under it.
I didn’t want to go back yet, though. I had seen the sea and I knew it was this way. So I kept walking—and there I saw the water. There was the main town part, and then a short barrier, and then dirt and fishing equipment and the water. There was a gap in the barrier and no signs in any language, so I wandered through and looked at all the boats and massive nets and people fixing things and shelling clams.
There were piles and piles of empty shells in places and the smell reminded me of Senegal. Several dogs barked at me, and several people eyed me suspsiciously, and a handful of people scraping seafood out of massively huge shells tried to talk to me a little (they were very friendly), but I don’t know much Korean, so we gave up eventually and I kept walking through. At last I reached the end of the little fishing section and had to go back to the road. I could see that there was construction happening on huge ships behind walls and through cracked doors with giant padlocks, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to wander into all those places, so I didn’t. I kept going.
I decided I was satisfied that I had seen what I had come to see, so I figured it was time to head on back. Instead of going back the way I came, however, I decided to keep walking on a different road that seemed to curve in the general direction of the tunnel. Instead, I ended up at a rock-climbing facility (and saw someone reach the top and rappel down) with other woodsy obstacles (it looked like a youth camp course, perhaps), and only two ways out besides the way I came. Both were paths going up a mountain. One had stairs and one did not. I figured it was the same mountain I’d already crossed so I went up the stairless one, but at the top there were more options.
I could go to the youth camp (no), or hike over one of two mountains. I didn’t know which one to take, so I chose the one that involved walking across the historical levee of the city’s first resevoir, built in the early 1900’s. It was beautiful. But there was another lengthy walk ahead of me again, and I was tired and hungry. Fortunately I had eaten an apple on the road before I came and bought myself some water in the city. But on I trekked…and at last I reached a strange playground at the top. There was a map posted, and I realized I was nowhere near the mountain I had crossed originally. I was much farther west and even somewhat south compared to where I’d first climbed up the mountain by the village. The only way to get out was to keep on walking, though, so I kept on traipsing down and down.
Near the bottom of the hill I saw some strangely-shaped statues and recognized them as the kind I’ve seen in pictures of temples. There was a Buddhist temple there, and in the distance by the mountain I could see a Buddha statue. The temple was very beautifully decorated, and I wandered into the gate around the courtyard for a few steps because I was curious about what it looked like, but I felt too creepy going further so I left and wandered out.
At last I wandered into a small town and bought food on a stick at a small shop. I didn’t know what the food would be, but it turned out to be a hot dog that had been fried (sort of like a waffle?) around it. I got ketchup on it and departed. It was good, but I’d had two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast at 10 or 11 in the morning, and it was 3 or 4 p.m. by now.
I kept wandering, thinking I should go back, but the air was cold and breezy suddenly, and I recognized it as the wind that comes from being near the water. So I followed the wind for a while and ended up at an industrial park. That was interesting, too, but it was getting to be 5 o’clock and I was tired and still hungry. I studied my map for a while but wasn’t sure where I was now. At last I went inside a chicken place and rested for a while.
I had a great time there and ate a lot of chicken and the people there were very kind. I think maybe it was run by an older man, his wife, and his daughter, but I can’t be sure. The daughter (if that’s who she was) showed me where I was on the map and showed me how to get to the neighborhood I’m from (it was pretty simple, really, after seeing where I was, haha). The older woman was very kind to me and gave me a free mug when she wrapped my leftovers to go. She kept talking to me in Korean and mothering me and acting all impressed by my feeble Korean skills. I think she wants me to come back a lot but I live an hour’s walk away, even by the direct route, heh. Anyway, when I got home, I took some pictures of the bag, because it was so super cute. So here, there’s finally some eye candy to break up this long post:
And without the handle in the way:
Here’s the side:
And check out the close-up of the SuperCuteness Characters:
If I’m reading the Hangeul right, their names are (from left to right): Mexi, Kana (rhymes with Ghana), Cheeky, and Chico. Hahaha, so cute!
Then I set out with my cute bag and new mug and leftover slightly-spicy-but-delicious chicken. I passed an open hardware store, so I stopped in. My former coworker left me his bike, but it’s way too high for me to ride. I think I need a wrench to adjust it. I had been at a loss as to where to buy a wrench, but hey! I was wandering around the industrial zone! Unfortunately, the wrench I ended up buying was too small. Maybe I should try size 17 next time. The folks inside were pleasant, though, and asked me where I was from.
I kept getting alternating feelings as I walked around. Sometimes I felt out of place or like people weren’t necessarily thinking favorably of me, but at other times I felt exceptionally welcomed or treated kindly. The chicken place and hardware stores are places I would like to visit again if I go back someday.
Then I walked back. The view was beautiful. To the right were farms and grasses and other fascinating views. The sidewalk was blue and slightly squishy and had bicycle lanes on it. At some point I walked past a marine store that had all kinds of interesting sea creatures in tanks outside the shop. One thing looked like a huge earthworm trying to wriggle itself free of the other animals. Its mouth was strange, like a hole full of strange and needly teeth. It reminded me of the desert monster in that Star Wars movie, sort of. And I saw other things that may have been sea cucumbers! It’s always fascinating here.
But like I said, when I got home, I found out that the wrench I got was too small. So I’ll have to figure something out…
Sorry that this post was so long! I hope it was still worth the read!
