I intend to learn some Japanese during the 6 weeks I travel here, though I should state at the outright my goals are very modest. I would be happy achieving an A1 level.
The last time I came to Japan, I spent the hour or so while I was waiting in the airport in Bangkok for my flight to Osaka to bookmark and download some Japanese phrases and commit “nihongo wa wakarimassen” (“I don’t understand Japanese”) to memory. I was fine with just the handful of courtesy phrases and found it easy enough to navigate using my knowledge of hanzi to interpret kanji on signage.
At some point however, and I remember it was in Nagoya, I decided I needed to learn Hiragana and Katakana. So I looked around online, found this wonderful website. I spent one night cramming Hiragana, one night cramming Katakan, and the rest of my trip practicing. I didn’t really pick up much else of the language other than figuring out some English loan words (like hotel, beer, and tomato).
Fast forward to the winter and I’ve finished the Spanish language tree on Duolingo and was looking for something else to work on. Duolingo just launched Japanese (beta) and I thought it would be good to refresh the letters (of which I’d forgotten almost half). I worked on Japanese exclusively while in Nepal, completing the tree in a month. I kept trying to keep the skills strong until they switched over to crown system, so I redid some of the earlier lessons until I decided to focus fully on Spanish again.
My Current Plan
I don’t want to bother with podcasts or a textbook this time around because I don’t want to fall too far down the rabbit hole of spending all my time studying instead of traveling. I have (had) 2 modest goals. Finish the Duolingo lessons, maxing out all the levels. Go through Level 1 Japanese on Lingodeer (averaging 3-4 lessons a day at first to get a good start).
Regarding Lingodeer, I completed the first couple of lesson on my last day in Korea, but as soon as I landed in Japan, I realized they completely changed their business model to put all the content behind a paywall. Ironically, I had considered purchasing a membership, but I’m now so annoyed that the issue is a non-starter for me. The company’s excuse is that they need money to build new content, but that doesn’t make sense. They are charging people who want to learn Japanese (or Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, or German) to build lessons in another language that they don’t necessarily want to study.
I did already pay for Lingodeer+, which has vocabulary and grammar drills for Japanese, so I can make do with that. Based on my work with it in Korean, it appears to cover all the same knowledge points of the main lessons (because, honestly, why rewrite their database when they can just repackage it), so with a little patience I can reverse engineer all the knowledge. The issue, however, is knowing when to stop. With 100+ lessons introducing 20-30 words each, this might be exactly the rabbit hole I want to avoid. Or I just learn Japanese. I guess there are worse things in life.
The fact of the matter is that it does not seem even remotely necessary to learn Japanese to travel around. English seems even more widely spoken than the last time I was here, and I suppose with the Olympics coming up in 16 months, there must be an ongoing push for internationalization. Still, I really want to get enough Japanese in me so that I could exercise some cross-linguistic comparisons among the three languages that have had so much exchange and mutual influence over the past 2000 years.
Welcome to Japan! Though I didn’t quite reach the level of proficiency in Korean I had hoped for, I am finding that I actually learned quite a lot in comparison to how little Japanese I have so far.
After a last meal (of Korean food) on the border of Chinatown and Texas Street in Busan and a cold brew at Starbucks, I sauntered over to the International Ferry Terminal, which looked like an airport. I was a bit early. The ticket window opened at 4pm, and I purchased a ticket to Fukuoka with now problem other than the fact that boarding would not be until 7:30. I killed time by accessing free WiFi, charging my electronics, and attempting to game out a purchase in 7-11 to use up all the change in my pocket.
By 6, the departure hall was pretty packed with at least 3 distinct tour groups. The tour leaders sorted through stacks of passports and tickets, while the guests, all in their 60s, chattered away noisily. Fortunately, half the crowds left on an earlier ship heading to a port on the tip of Honshu. My biggest concern was with how crowded my second class cabin would be. A few people is fine, but it would be very uncomfortable if filled to capacity.
Luxury accommodations
The New Camellia Line appears to be Japanese-operated, or at least Japanese-built. The mini shop was priced in Yen, and I had a little sticker shop seeing a 40% premium over Korean prices. Otherwise, it was much the same as the other two ferries I have taken so far this trip. I enjoyed a simple dinner of cup of noodles and a cookie and did my best to relax before getting to bed at an early hour. Lights on at 5:30, where one could see the ship already berthed. Nonetheless, we couldn’t disembark until 7:30, which gave me enough time to make coffee and read through some download materials on Japan.
Galbi Soup
7000
Ferry Ticket
99400
Snacks
1950
Total:
108350 (655.5 RMB) (USD 97.66)
Japanese Immigration and Customs gave me a bit of hard time, questioning my itinerary and drug testing my luggage. On the other side, I decided to visit a currency exchange because I knew I will need more money at some point and I figured it would be better to do it while it was convenient. I strongly regret that decision as the rate was really crummy and I talked myself into it.
While waiting for a bus to Hakata train station, I noticed an empty space in my backpack and had the sudden sinking realization that I had left my toiletry bag on the ship. When I went to the bathroom in the morning, all the old men were washing their hair in the sinks and splashing water everywhere. Because my bag got soaked, I didn’t pack it away immediately, instead putting it in an empty shoe cubby to dry. I went back inside and asked the woman at the information desk. She made a call and told me to go to the ship office on the third floor. They made a call and after about a 20 minute way, it was delivered to my hands.
I did a quick half-loop through the mall attached to the Hakata (Fukuoka) train station to see about finding a SIM card. Spotting a tourist information desk, I uncharacteristically decided it would be easier to just ask rather than spend a lot of time wandering around. They quickly pointed me in the right direction, but noted that the store didn’t open for an hour. So, I went to the bus terminal and purchased a ticket to Nagasaki.
An hour later, after the bus swung by another location to pick up more passengers, it was finally pulling on to the highway. I looked out the window to see the New Camellia sitting in the harbor right there. Life sometimes goes in circles, and sometimes spirals.
The bus to Nagasaki took about 2.5 hours and passed through typical Japanese country side, hamlets surrounded by fields in front of a backdrop of densely forested hills. My guesthouse wasn’t far from Nagasaki station so I went by foot. I dropped my stuff and immediately went back out to find food. I had some homemade ramen at a little corner shop. It wasn’t a huge portion, but it hit the spot. I headed back to the hostel, where I was offered tea and chatted with the people in the common room. Its a good place. The staff (3 Japanese girls) as well as the guests are all quite friendly. I checked in, changed out of my jeans into linen pants because it was so hot outside (barely 2-3 degrees more than Busan, but feels like early Summer as opposed to early Spring) and took a sightseeing walk.
There is Dejima island (though not really an island), where the Japanese restricted Dutch traders to for 200 years and now we have to pay to enter. It is pricey and maybe not really worth it, but it is kind of cool to walk down what feels like the main street of an old west town, and like most historical places in Japan there are guys walking around dressed up and armed. Half of the buildings were historical reconstructions and the other half housed exhibits covering history of Japanese-Western relations and historical trade routes.
Heading south from there, I walked along the harbor (though technically the entire twisty coastline of Nagasaki is an endless stretch of harbor, docks, and wharves. Tourist cruise vessels and a three mast schooner were docked near the main stretch of cafes and bars that open out to the water. Tons of locals were enjoying the afternoon sunlight with a refreshing glass of beer. I was thirsty, but kept walking around the seaside park where teams of workers were setting up tents and a stage.
Without even realizing it, I had walked to the southern end of Nagasaki where there was a collection of historical buildings, such as an HSBC bank and a cathedral. I headed up a cobblestone tourist stretch observing the snacks and kitsch on display before deciding to shell more big bucks to visit Glover Gardens, but by a Scottish merchant back in the day. The gardens are on a hill offering a good view of the bay and house a number of historical buildings.
I head back to the hostel going over “Dutch Slope” (which didn’t really have much to see despite being so famous) and skirting around Chinatown. I had a rest for a bit, chatting with a young guy from Hong Kong in Japan on working holiday before heading up the street to get some curry from Coco.
Back in the hostel, I studied a bit of Japanese and chatted with the international assortment. It could have been a late night, but it was already a long day.
Two notes: 1) I’m wondering if I should start a separate daily average per country I visit. 2) My “personal” exchange rate for JPY to RMB is 6.4 (e.g. 6.4 RMB = 100 Yen). Google says it is currently more like 5.99 and it would be so much easier to just mentally multiple by 6, but when I exchanged money in January the rate was north of 6.2 and the terrible rate I got from a Japanese bank pulled the average up even more).
Well, it’s finally time to move on from Korea to Japan. The past two weeks have been, let’s say, interesting, as I tried to finish up all the work and study I wanted to do before switching over to Japan, but it isn’t going to happen. Somewhere along the way, my mindset switched from traveling to living, and I realized that I had become accustomed to living in Korea. As I have started to do a little research into Japan, I am struck with the same sense of panic I had while I was waiting for my ferry from Weihai to Incheon. I never quite reached an easy conversational level in Korean (at least, unless everyone decided to start talking like a textbook), but I have learned a lot of words and grammar, sight reading has been partially automatized, and most importantly, I’ve internalized a lot of the intangibles of life here.
I went to a movie the other day and there was a commercial where the guy was talking extremely fast. But his accent was very standard and he articulated so clearly, I think I got maybe 95%. Then the safety announcement came on in the “airport announcer” voice and all I could make out was blah-blah-blah sumnida. Go figure.
I can’t believe how immediately out of shape I am post-marathon. I took a few days off from training and just lost everything. The marathon in Japan I was eying is full and there are no other targets there to aim for. To rub salt in the wound, I found out yesterday morning that there was a 10km in Busan (where I’ve been staying). An hour before the race starts is a bit late to sign up, not that I would have really wanted to pay 40,000 W for the entry fee. I think I’m just going to have to focus on walking a lot in Japan.
I hate flying. I don’t mind being cramped on a plane, but I hate the whole rigamarole of getting to the airport, checking in, going through security, and dealing with budget airlines. I dumped a bunch of stuff and figured I’d press my luck with luggage that was within 1 kilo of the very low weight allowance. I checked in at a self-service kiosk, which didn’t even give me the option of specifying checked luggage. That freaked me out until I found the counter for Jeju Airlines. They gave me the third degree about my visa status (I don’t have the slip which I’m not sure I lost or was never given).
In any case, I got to Busan and spent the rest of the week in R&R.
Day 64:
Flight
231 RMB
Thai Food
26700
Starbucks
4300
Total:
418.55 RMB (USD 62.33)
Day 65:
Croissants & Coffee
13600
Movie Ticket (Us)
7000
Lunch
17500
Hot Springs
9000
Groceries
14670
Total:
61,770 (RMB 373.7) (USD 55.65)
Day 66:
Groceries
25200
Coffee
10000
Total:
35200 (213 RMB) (USD 31.7)
Day 67:
Mr. Pizza Lunch Buffet
10900
Quiz Entry
2000
Beer
14000
Popcorn
1200
Total:
28,100 (170 RMB) (USD 25.3)
Day 68:
Groceries
29240
Total:
(176.9 RMB) (USD 26.34)
Day 69:
Starbucks Card
20000
Total:
(121 RMB) (USD 18)
It sucks that Starbucks in Korea are going “cashless” so you get forced to by a rechargeable rewards card (which is only good in Korea).
I woke up naturally about 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, and I used that time to drink a bit of coffee and hit my daily Duolingo quota, which incidentally finished the Korean course, every lesson completely maxed out. So, I suppose there is a question of how to keep my 450 day Duolingo streak going now that I am “done” with Korean.
It was cold outside and windy. I was glad I decided to throw on a sweater at the last minute. I got off the public bus at the World Cup Stadium eMart and did not see the scheduled shuttle bus to the venue. As I was about to do a loop around to see if it was waiting off the main road, I saw it come barreling down the highway. We didn’t wait around long before taking off. It was nearly an hour to the Hallim Sports venue and as I got off the bus it seemed even colder than before, if that was possible. The swarms of student volunteers were in a panic as no one seemed to have predicted such unseasonably cold weather. I sheltered in a gymnasium for a moment before deciding to bite the bullet and grab my kit from the information table.
As I still had more than an hour to the beginning of the race I headed over to a convenience store to rustle up some breakfast. It was a smaller store so there were slim pickings, but I made due with a sugar boost and a hot coffee. I returned to the stadium to use the restroom, put on the free T-shirt as an extra layer, and throw my ticket in to the lucky draw. The sun was fully out, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the gusts of arctic wind. I was truly impressed by the number of runners committed to shorts and t-shirts as their running gear. A military marching band played the national anthem, and speeches were made with a full camera crew in operation (as a broadcasting station sponsored race, I wouldn’t expect less), and eventually the race began.
It was good. I probably made a fool of myself at times singing along to the chorus of various songs. The coastline course was amazing, the air was super clean, the sea sparkled in the sunlight as waves crashed upon black volcanic rock in a burst of spray. The route was mainly closed off to traffic with teams of volunteers controlling traffic at every intersection. I think I reached the runner’s high within the first 2km and despite some minor pain in some tendons never hit the wall.
Upon completing the race, I noticed that my running tracker on my phone quit a few minutes early, meaning I wouldn’t get “credit” for a half marathon, unless I wanted to run a couple extra laps around the track. Oh well. After rehydrating a bit and mulling around enjoying the glow of a successful run, I was back on the shuttle bus to return to the World Cup Stadium. I popped into the eMart to grab a salad, and while waiting in long lines for the Sunday family grocery shopping, the people in front of me let me slip through first.
I popped on the Airport bus (per navigation directions) to return to town, surprising the driver, but after assuring him I knew where I was going, I was on my way back. I went directly to another restaurant recommended by the hotel staff to nourish myself on some sort of seaweed stew, a local specialty of Jeju Island. The walls of the restaurant were decorated with handwritten notes from guests from around the world, so I guess I wasn’t exactly discovering a hidden treasure.
Back in the hotel, I threw some jeans on over my exercise shorts and prepared to head to the other side of the island, but got caught in a conversation with a Danish woman who had spent a few weeks on Jeju just walking all the trails. She was planning to travel until the summer of 2020. Another person in a handful of days in the middle of a long trip. I don’t think I am being ambitious enough. I recommended that she try the ferry to China.
It was a long, but easy ride to the airport adjacent guesthouse where I would spend my last night. It was a private apartment converted to a guesthouse with at least of the six floors involved. The proprietor had earned a bachelor’s at Peking University in the 90s so we chatted in Chinese, and her father, who was around helping out took a liking to me after she told him I had done the half marathon. Despite being in his 70s, he still regularly runs marathons, though missed the signup cutoff for this one. I finally got a chance to shower, and spread my stuff out in the male dorm that I would have all to myself that night.
I headed out into the gentle afternoon to grab a coffee and sit still for a while. I was glad that I chose to stay an extra night and not try to bring all my stuff to the venue and then directly go to the ferry, but it was still stressful running around all day. Though only a couple of blocks away from the main “downtown” strip of Jeju City, the “Yongmun” neighborhood was like its own small town out in the boonies, so I ended up walking almost all the way back to the main strip to find a coffee shop. I got caught up in some phone calls that kept me in the coffee shop until nearly 7 when I was both hungry and desperately needed to pee. The shop didn’t have its own restroom and I trudged back to the neighborhood in the now blistering cold.
There were a cluster of chicken shops at the intersection near the guesthouse and I had my heart set on some celebratory chicken and beer. I placed an order for chicken, then went over to a supermarket to pick up a big bottle of beer, and at nearly eight I was back in the guesthouse sitting down to eat a real feast. Not only did I have a salad, but a whole fried chicken served with fried potatoes. I did my best, but couldn’t eat it all. I watched a couple episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” while eating, and passed out by 10.
The alcohol woke me back up at 2 am, and I had trouble getting back to sleep.
I was up with my alarm predawn and stumbled out into the lounge to gulp down a few cups of coffee and do my Duolingo set before going out for the day. I knew I might not have the energy to study later, so I had to get it done while the caffeine worked its way into my bloodstream. Having learned my lesson at Dobongsan, I made sure to wear long sleeves and pack a down jacket just in case.
It was light outside by the time I headed to the bus stop, and I didn’t have to wait long before the 281 came rumbling along. It was a good 45 minutes of twisting, stomach-turning roads before I could topple off the bus at the Seopanak trailhead.
I made exceptionally good time up the mountain, stopping periodically for a swig of liquid and mouthful of calories, but ever mindful of the cutoff to ascend to the peak and the lunch awaiting me. The scenery was nice enough, though the leafless trees gave a rather desolate feeling. Signs pointed out every 100 meters in elevation gain, and I passed the tree line around 1,700 meters in elevation. Coming out of the ocean like that, it is an impressive mountain. It makes me want to go back Malaysia to properly summit Kinabalu.
The crater lake at the top was low of water but impressive nonetheless, and I spent more than half an hour plopped down on a rock munching away on a salad and snacks. A golden weasel (?) occasionally stuck its head out from under the rock to look at me or dart out to grab to nuts that a previous hiker had dropped. I spent some time chatting with a Korean-Canadian who was towards the end of a 2 year roundabout. Two years is a long time, but I guess when you get working holiday visas and can stop for a couple months to build up a nest egg, it makes sense.
I headed down the north trail (Gwaneumsa), which is both far more scenic (in terms of enjoying the mountain rather than the view from the mountain) and a harder trek. Vast stretches of the path were muddy from melted snow. Though slightly shorter, it felt longer because I was getting tired and anxious to get back. I eventually made it out of the forest to the parking lot. I had to transfer buses, but there was no difficulty returning to the town where my hotel is.
I vegged out a bit in the lounge, showered, noticed how I got a little burned despite touching up sun block multiple times, and vegetated a bit more before deciding to explore the market for some food options. Approaching early evening, the market was crowded, and the “street food” stalls were packed with queues. I want a sit down meal, so spent quite a bit of time looking in and around the market, eventually finding a smallish, oldish place with a decent amount of people eating inside. I had some sort of abalone soup with plenty of other seafood in it, though it basically tasted like a bean paste soup.
I was still a bit hungry later, and grabbed an ice cream from a 7-11. I was beat, and decided to watch something on my laptop. At one point, some new guys to the dormitory asked me if I wanted to drink with them, but I had to decline the offer.
On my last day before the marathon, I didn’t have any particular plans other than the wish to do a short 5km run to stay limber. That didn’t happen. I was pretty hungry when I woke up, so I decided to go out for some breakfast, arriving at a Dunkin Donuts just as they opened. I spent a couple hours there working on my computer.
I headed back to the hostel and borrowed a bike, but didn’t make it very far before realizing what a horrible idea it was. The roads are way too hilly and being out of biking shape, attempting to put 10 or 20 km on a bike would absolutely wreck me. I made it over one hill and followed a cutoff to a scenic attraction to make the best of the situation. It was beautiful, and I realized why a car would be necessary to really make the best of Jeju. There are scenic spots every couple miles along the coastline, and while one can walk lots of trails going through the scenic areas, you could cover a lot more ground in a day with a car.
I biked back to the hotel, ditched the bike, changed into sandals to be more comfortable and caught a bus to Jungmun Resort area where I knew there was a beach. I packed swimming trunks just in case. Firstly, Jungmun means “Chinese (writing)”, so I had to check out the area. Secondly, the resort area is really resort-ish. To get to the beach, I followed a “valley of flowers” and came out looking over the ocean. Past noon and hungry again, I stopped at the convenience store and had a simple meal at a table outside.
Afterwards, I followed the boardwalk, which was a bit more hiking than I intended, leading along the top of the cliff above the beach, before cutting down some stairs to reach the beach, which was only populated by a large group of student surfers. I walked the length of the beach and not particularly eager to move on, found a spot to lay out a blanket and take a nap. The wind started to pick up, and though the warmth of the sun was enough to compensate for its chill, the way it would sometimes pick up the sand convinced me my nap was enough. Regarding swimming, the beach was only open for swimming in July and August, and sticking my feet in the water convinced me it was for the best. However, as I was leaving I did notice some kids frolicking in the water.
Rather than head straight back, I decided to follow a trail for a bit. The trail led through and around some luxury resorts, a yachting harbor, and patches of green punctuated by thousands of flowers in full bloom. The wind continued to grow in strength, and by the time I decided to cut back to the main road to catch a bus, I was thoroughly chilled.
I tried the market again for food, heading directly to one restaurant that had caught my eye previously. Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen the “2 ppl and up” fine print, so it was out of the question. I went back to the hotel and asked the front desk if they had any recommendations. Upon their advice, I had some bbq pork veggies thing that was not only amazing, but the restaurant “tolerates” single portions. I wouldn’t have minded paying for a double portion of meat, but the veggies were basically bottomless. I felt like a total foreigner that meal both with the auntie taking over the cooking for me and me dropping food everywhere in my eagerness to eat.
I did my best to pack everything up so I wouldn’t have to worry about it in the morning. It was my last night in the hotel, and I would be at the marathon until checkout. The original plan was to take everything with me from the hotel (south side of island) to the venue (west side of island), run, take everything to the Jeju City (north side of island). Try to catch a ferry to the mainland, arrive late at night, find somewhere to sleep, then catch a bus the next morning. However, upon second thought and noticing how there was no time scheduled for eating or showering, I looked at flights, and decided to spend a night in a guesthouse near the airport and catch a flight in the morning. The irony is that a flight ticket is about the same as a ferry ticket.
So, I went to bed early to be ready for the race, which no longer seemed like the biggest concern among the swirl of other travel worries.
Jeju Island is pretty nice, and despite my apprehensions about it being expensive, it is much the same as everywhere else in Korea, but with a more tropical laid back vibe.
For my third night in a row, I slept close to 10 hours, and was shocked to see my weight shooting up on the scale. I puttered about in the morning on Wednesday until about 11am, when I decided to go out for a long-ish walk. I looked on the map to see which direction I should head, and noticed a dashed line not far from my hotel and cutting through a nearby park, so I decided to follow that. It was one of what must be dozens of walking routes on the island, and it took me on quite the scavenger hunt.
The trail was pretty well marked by both colorful arrows and color-coded ribbons tied to trees. It did take me a while to realize that these roadside markings were for the trail and not some other symbols, and I did have a bit of confusion when there were multiple overlapping trails, but it wasn’t long before I didn’t even pull out the phone to check the map. The first leg was through a park, full of blooming trees. On the other side of the park, waiting at a crosswalk I noticed a restaurant that was too inviting to pass up. Specializing in steamed kimchi and kimchi stew, I ended up feasting for lunch when I was originally planning to fast. The restaurant was full of kitsch and old household goods, and my individual serving of kimchi stew was served on a burner because they brought by a packet of ramen to cook.
After lunch, I realized I was immediately in the countryside, as the trail headed down among orchards full of tangerine trees (or whatever the famous local citrus fruit is best called). All the farms had stone walls of igneous rock, and this first cluster of farms were in a deep depression that I later learned is the widest crater in Korea. On the other side of the crater, I passed a second temple, which could have doubled as a flower shop from the number of planters perfectly arranged. The trail cut across the highway and in and out of neighborhoods of lovely individual houses with neatly manicured gardens before heading up a long hill and ultimately a hike over a forested mountain. I was regretting not stopping at the last convenience store for water, but on the other side of the mountain, after a brief detour at what would have been a magnificent waterfall if it wasn’t the dry season, I was back in civilization and stopped to get an ice coffee and bottle of water.
There wasn’t much left to the trail before it deposited me at the Jeju World Cup Stadium. I popped into the eMart supermarket there to buy a bunch of salads and splurged on a big jar of mixed nuts, before hopping a bus back to the hostel where I hung out for the rest of the evening.
The lounge area is pretty popular among the guests at night, who bring by takeout sashimi and so much alcohol. They are all Korean and I keep to myself.
I slept well again, but finally got my weight in check. Around 10, I knew I needed to get some exercise so laced up the running shoes and decided to follow a trail in the opposite direction. For some reason, I was under the impression that the coastline trail would be more suitable for running, but most of it was through natural scenery. After cutting through the heart of town and heading down hill, I found myself at a parking lot full of tour buses and people who were paying 2000 a pop to see some waterfall. I didn’t have any money on me so I continued on my merry way. The coastline is amazing, full of black volcanic rocks serving as the canvas for the natural art of erosion. Sections of the trail were along roadway where I could actually jog, but I mostly picked my way slowly over tree roots, ducking under branches, scrambling up and down stairs, etc. At about the sixth kilometer I reached a fishing harbor, and decided to make that the halfway point. I followed the road all the way back, which wasn’t much better, still excessively hilly.
I showered and a bowl of noodles for lunch, apparently “meat noodles” are a local specialty. After an espresso and a brief nap, I spent the afternoon in a coffee shop, and the evening back in the hostel lounge. On my way back I swung by a mart to pick up supplies for hiking the next day. I did some research on hiking the main mountain and knew I needed to properly prepare. There are cutoff times to ascend the mountain, so I would have to get an early start. I set an alarm and went to bed early.
It was a lazy morning, packing up just before checkout time, getting brunch at the Flying Pan, and heading directly to the bus terminal in Gangnam to go to Gwanju. I tried to study on the luxury bus, but kept dozing off.
Arriving in Gwanju, I immediately tried to find a seat to get on the internet to find the specific address of my airbnb, but apparently the bus terminal is a popular place on a Sunday afternoon. It’s weird that this Airbnb is only two blocks from where I stayed the last time I was in Gwanju. I’ve barely done anything the town, but there is a familiarity to it. Remembering how bad the sidewalks were, I wanted to catch a bus over to the Airbnb, and after waiting 15 minutes, the bus just blew by the bus stop. So, I walked the 2km. It’s a nice apartment and an even nicer neighborhood with a good selection of supermarkets and restaurants.
I was briefly tempted to buy a bunch of junk food, breakfast, or stuff to cook in, but I went for an “Imperial” set meal at the Chinese restaurant, including noodles, dumplings, pork, and a coke. I’m still full from that meal.
Jajjyangmyeon for one
I didn’t even have time to watch a movie or anything in the evening before I just passed out from exhaustion.
Brunch for 2
63000
Bus ticket (premium)
28100
Coca Cola
2000
Airbnb
59.93 (USD)
Chinese food
18,000
Total:
1075 RMB (USD 159.85)
Despite going to bed early, I still slept in. And following the standard morning routine, didn’t get around to lacing up my running shoes until 10am. After a long run, of which the last 15 minutes weren’t logged because an incoming text message stopped the tracker, I quickly showered and went downstairs to eat some baekban. I had a new contender for best meal in Korea. Not only was it relatively cheap, the servers were aggressive to give me more food, not only refilling the side dishes, but giving me an entire new plate of bulgogi. It was also the first restaurant I went to where you had to take your shoes off.
The lotus root was the best
I was so stuffed I had to take a nap after that, but I dragged myself out of bed to hit a neighborhood coffee shop before 2pm where I could save a dollar on the coffee (morning special). I’m amazed by how dog-friendly Korea is, I’m constantly finding people bringing dogs with them into restaurants and cafes. This cafe had a dog locked up in the employee room, but it escaped once. A nearly perfect sphere of fur ran up to me, yipping and demanding I pet it. I couldn’t stick around the coffee shop too long because I needed to find an ATM. It appears I was down to my last 50,000 Won note, and that might not be enough to even get me to Jeju Island.
The quest for cash was onerous but ultimately successful. I must have tried quite a few ATMs, but there were 3 main problems. One, UnionPay isn’t widely available in the insular Korean banking system. Two, my Chinese bank card is chip only (no magnetic strip). Three, I don’t know if China has made any new regulations barring foreigners from withdrawing cash outside of China. After a number of failures, I got some cash. The ATM happened to be in a supermarket, so I picked up some snacks and a salad because I wasn’t sure I could eat another full meal that day.
Back in the apartment, I ended up devouring all of the food that night (despite hoping to save some of it for the next day), and going to bed early again.
Baekban
6000
Coffee
2900
Groceries
6070
Total:
14970 (90.6 RMB) (USD 13.47)
I overslept again and needed to get out the door pretty early because there were a lot of unknown elements in the route to Jeju. I originally wanted to go via Mokpo, which is only an hour from Gwanju, but upon further review, I realized the ferries leave at 9am and 0030. Wando, two hours south of Gwanju, became my second choice with two ferries in the morning and one at 4pm. While I was half certain, I could just roll up to the ferry terminal, buy a ticket, and embark, I also remembered my troubles in Weihai where they cutoff ticket sales when they started embarkation, hours before the scheduled departure.
I walked the mile to Gwanju’s bus terminal, got a 10:00am ticket to Wando. Considering, how my weight had ticked up several days in a row, and I had been overeating a lot, I considered fasting the day. However, in the 20 minute wait before my bus, I decided to get a bagel from Dunkin Donuts.
I spent the whole two hours of the bus ride studying vocabulary. After two brief stops to change passengers along the way, we pulled into Wando’s bus terminal and I hoofed it the mile to the ferry terminal. It doesn’t matter where I go in Korea, but I always see a foreigner within about five minutes. While stopped outside a corner store, double checking the map, there was some white dude on a bicycle. Wando is a tiny little town, but okay.
When I finally got to the ferry terminal, the irony of the day arrived. I was an hour too early to buy a ticket, with sales only starting at 1:30. I drank some water and crashed on a seat with the free available WiFi. Then I remembered, I left my plug adapter in the Airbnb. I specifically reminded myself that morning to NOT forget it. I think I might be almost done with Korea. My SIM card done. My 8 dollar plug adapter lost.
I need to start getting used to seafood
After buying my ticket at 1:30 and confirming that boarding didn’t begin until 3:30, I had time to think about lunch. I headed across the street and had some bibimbap with seafood. I kept up the study, and with plenty of time to kill, also had an affogato from the chain cafe in the ferry station.
After the long wait, we got on the ferry. I was the only person dragging luggage, but that makes sense if most of the passengers had cars, the Silver Cloud being a car ferry first and foremost. My 3rd class ticket entitled me to a windowless room with a shoe locker and a 46 person capacity. Fortunately, there were only a handful of people, but it was annoying to have to take my shoes on and off. I didn’t mind laying on the ground though. The 2nd class cabins were roughly the same size with smaller capacity and windows. I wonder what 1st was like. Bored, I bought a snack from the onboard convenience store and explored the ship. I spent two hours in the aft of the ship, enjoying the sun and doing a bit of studying until I got too cold, then headed back to the room to nap. The 2.5 hour journey felt much longer than that.
Trying to escape the pollution
We arrived at dusk, the terminal was deserted with no schedules on display for me to plan my escape from Jeju. With a Wifi connection, I was able to check directions to my hostel, another 2 hours away. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait more than 2 minutes before a bus came barreling along, and some 16 stops later I disembarked in roughly central Jeju City. I walked to the next bus stop to wait for the cross island bus that would take me to the southside of the island where I had foolishly booked my accommodation. That hour long bus ride seemed to be 80% twisting mountain roads, but at least I had a seat for myself and my luggage.
Back in civilization, I got off at my stop and followed the navigation to my hotel/hostel. It’s a hotel, but there is a hostel attached to the first floor. Just one dorm room with barely anyone staying there. There is a huge lounge with pool table and foosball, free real coffee, and free bike rental. I’m surprised there aren’t any backpackers, but I guess there is a lot of competition.
Tired, but still vaguely aware that I should eat, I went out to wonder the streets, which were all marked as “something something famous food street”, and a huge market, which was closed/closing. I settled for a sundae gukbap (blood sausage soup with rice), which was again much more food than I really wanted, but it was good.
I was pretty wrecked on Friday morning, and passed most of the morning in a haze. After packing up my stuff in advance of checkout, I wandered over to a fancy brunch place a friend had recommended to me. Afterwards, I just hung out on the couch for a few hours vegging out to Matt Groening’s latest animated show. I had two nights at a guesthouse in Itaewon booked for the weekend before I head out of Seoul for the last time (this trip). As checkin isn’t until 3, I was in no rush to move and it wasn’t a problem for me to hang around.
Actually, that reminds me of a funny story from the previous day. A guest had overstayed his booking, refusing to get out of bed or checkout, instead arguing that the hostel staff were wrong about what day he checked in and what day it was. He argued a long time, despite constantly saying “I don’t want to argue.” The hostel staff merely pointed at the computer records: you checked in on this day and paid for X number of days, you need to check out. His retort simply “you are wrong,” with no provision of documentary evidence other than repeated assertions. They really should have called the police, especially as he always wore a baseball cap and face mask, making it impossible to see his face. But, the owner came by and sorted out some solution where he agreed to pay another night without admitting he was wrong.
Anyways, the guesthouse in Itaewon was way better than the previous one I stayed in. After dropping my stuff off and paying a key (!) deposit (!), I had a Starbucks, which failed to do me any good, and a big bowl of pho, which helped a little. I was inclined to take a power nap in the room, but my roommate came in and chatted with me a bit. Unable to secure any plans for the night, I eventually decided to head over to a gastropub owned by a friend of a friend. Planning to study a little Korean over a beer, that didn’t quite happen as when I plopped down at the bar, a guy working on his laptop turned to me and was like “oh, it’s you.” We chatted for a bit, talking mostly about board games, for some reason, and I made a point to leave early to catch up on sleep.
Brunch
18500
SP Guesthouse (@ 2 nights)
166 RMB
Starbucks
4300
Tet-tet Pho
12000
2 craft beers @ California Kitchen
19000
Total:
491.5 RMB (USD 73.2)
With Saturday my last full day in Seoul, there was no way I wasn’t going to finally go hike some mountains. I didn’t get on the road until about 10am, and thought I had looked up a HomePlus supermarket right at the subway transfer point, but hadn’t looked close enough. It was an “express” version, which doesn’t sell the packaged salads (I have half a bottle of dressing, might as well eat healthy). Fortunately, there was one about 700 meters away, and the route took me through some very “traditional” markets selling used clothes and army surplus items. The next subway station over, where I got back on the road marked the area as a famous flea market in Seoul. It took so long to get to the mountain because every train I got on ended its run after a few stations and I had to wait for the next one.
Also, mid-morning, my prepaid data ran out. By my estimate, I had used maybe 800 megabytes, far less than the 1.5GB I had paid for. I guess I had gotten cheated. On the other hand, it was still a good deal (I paid less than 20 dollars for the equivalent of 120 dollars worth of data). I just wish I could figure out how to charge a bit more to last me this final week.
By the time I got to Dobongsan, the sky was gray and rain began drizzling down. It was sunny when I left, and I was so certain it would be warm, I only had a t-shirt on under my windbreaker. The weather didn’t seem to deter the swarms of hikers, so I carried on. After passing a hundred stalls selling all sorts of hiking gear, alcohol, and Korean snacks, I finally found the trail head and saw that it had stopped raining. However, within ten minutes of beginning the hike, it began snowing. As I climbed up, the snow got thicker and thicker, to the point where the main peak (a pitiful 726m) looked like I was in the Alps or Himalayas.
So sweaty
As soon as I started down the other side of the mountain, the sun broke through the clouds, but the wind picked up. I was certain I would get lost in the mountains because 95% of hikers return by the same route up, and the fresh snowfall made it hard to follow trail, which is also not very well marked with signs. There was a point where I caught up to a pair of Korean hikers, and kind of followed them for a while because they seemed to know the way. On the top of the third mountain over, I ran into a party of foreign college students posing for pictures. From there on, the trail was easy to follow, but it didn’t matter because they came down with me. We talked a bunch, and they stopped for photos a lot. It was annoying, and amplified by my lack of data coverage, because I was incommunicado and was supposed to meet someone for dinner.
I dozed on the train back into town and missed my stop because I needed to bid a farewell to the exchange students. I rushed, rushed, rushed back to the hostel, to shower, change, and charge, but it wasn’t necessary. That friend didn’t even reply to me until 7pm, suggesting a dinner at 8pm. I was so freaky hangry, but endured. With the sun down, it was as cold as on the mountain top. I walked the 20 minutes to the appointed restaurant, and spent close to 20 minutes waiting out in the cold. Needless to say, it was a strained dinner, but we cleared the air over coffee afterwards.
Back in the hostel, I was hydrating and thinking about skipping the Saturday night party scene, but got called out to meet another friend. Its so weird how crowded that one bar street gets, but the weirdest bit is the military police patrolling it. With an Army base a stone’s throw away and the propensity of trouble to follow alcohol, I get it. Nonetheless, it makes me uncomfortable. I guess it’s lucky I don’t look like a soldier. One of the guys I met on the hike had spent a couple hours in a (Korean) police station the previous night.
I went to a club — no cover charge, my driver’s license was accepted without question, and the hand stamp washed away easily — to rendezvous with my friend. So much for taking a night off of alcohol.
I was super hungry in the morning and decided to track down the gukbap place I had gone to with S & Y after the feed the homeless service activity over a month ago. It was even better than I remembered. I grabbed a Mega Coffee on the way back so I wouldn’t have to waste so much time making my own coffee.
I finally got around to nailing down my schedule for the remaining days in Korea. The (half) marathon is only about 10 days away, and I went ahead and booked places to stay.
I was sitting downstairs studying with mild chitchat, but felt an overwhelming sleepiness, so I decided to mix it up by taking my nap first and eat lunch second. I had the last packet of salad for lunch and hung out downstairs for a bit–sucked into two episodes of “Modern Family”–before heading to another new (to me) cafe.
The coffee was good, but I was dealing against the Scylla and Charybdis of my own lack of energy and distractions through the phone. It’s hard to muster my concentration in the first place, its even harder to find the flow after hanging up the phone. Jazz and rain don’t seem to do the trick any more.
I didn’t do much else that day. After hanging out in the hostel for a bit, I headed out into the drizzle to find some food. I wanted some spicy tteokbokki or Japanese ramen, but ended up popping into a North Korean cold noodle place. It was nice, and gave me the boost of energy to do a bit more studying in the evening. If was a quiet evening and I didn’t have any temptation to drink.
I slept well and was up fairly early in the morning. I only had one coffee and did the minimal studying necessary before I decided my time would be better spent taking advantage of the clean air. It was still somewhat wet and gray, but I had a good run. One shower later, I had another coffee and kept studying in the living room while a Canadian guy was watching “Vikings.” We had talked about going around the corner to a homemade Japanese ramen place the previous day, and as we were both hungry, we headed over at 11am only to find that they didn’t open until 11:30. We went back to the hostel to wait it out, but the wait was worth it.
I took a short nap before heading over to a nearby neighborhood to explore a bit and find somewhere nice to spend an afternoon. I picked a cafe that looked pretty good, but I was the only person there and it got cold after a while. It was also hard to focus on work, so I gave up mid afternoon and went back to the cozy hostel.
There had been talk about a barbecue at the hostel on Wednesday night, and having been cancelled on account of the rain, I was under the impression of it being postponed to Thursday. That wasn’t to be the case, but I had the idea of barbecue fixated in my mind and kept talking it up around the hostel hoping to stir up some interest. While talking, a Serbian fellow who was in Seoul on a visa run for China asked about book stores in the area. As he wasn’t comfortable about getting lost, I agreed to accompany him. We headed over directly, and I got a chance to really look through a bunch of Korean textbooks, paying particular attention to the way they presented Hangul. The first one confirmed my intuitions about the need for a better system, the second gave me some good ideas on sequencing, but the third was a book solely dedicated introducing the writing system, basically the Hangul museum distilled into a textbook/workbook. I’m going to have to meditate on whether the fool’s errand of writing my own introductory textbook is worth it.
After about an hour in the bookstore, it was getting into the evening and I was still antsy about getting together a group for dinner or something. By the time we got back it was apparent that I missed whatever window was available, so I headed back out to see about feeding myself, dropping a bunch of money at a banchan truck and picking up a couple bottles of soju. I enjoyed my dinner in the hostel living room as people came in and out and hung around. There was still much chatter among the guests about going out to party that night, and I was on board for whatever.
However, I was also perfectly content to entertain myself, and I put in some earbuds and cranked the volume on music for quite a while, even as I was marching along the streets with five other people off to some bar or club. At some point, there was a huddle and the group split up because someone had some bad blood with me, and I ended up a convenience store with the two French guys drinking more even though I really would have preferred to just go to bed early at that point. There was a Korean man also drinking at the convenience store and we all hung out together. After a polite enough time, I made my farewells and headed back to the hostel, which despite being well past midnight, still had plenty of people around, meaning I was up for another hour or two talking. Eventually, I was able to get myself under control and go to sleep.
I had seriously wanted to go to be around 11 so I could wake up early for another run, but that social bug seized me and just wouldn’t let go. I don’t know if it was the most volume of alcohol I’ve had in a while, but I was the drunkest, completely transforming into the kind of guy who talks to giant invisible rabbits and quotes liberally from the Sermon on the Mount.
