Kimchi Kiwis

And so another piece of our global motorcycle jigsaw puzzle is in place, the bikes are surrendered and we leave tomorrow. This 3,500 km trip has been fun and we take away very fond memories of the ROK and its people. What are the main impressions?

That we got back to Itaewon, the European suburb in Seoul where embassies, fast food, and US troops cluster and immediately went to the backstreets looking for Korean food, indicates that Korean cuisine has once again seduced us. Even Brendan – who early in the tour referred to kimchi as “silage”, couldn’t face leaving it behind just yet!

Then there were the roads and the mountains – a motorcycling paradise that has been quite a surprise in this small country of 50m people. But the east and north (of Seoul) are very under-populated and the roads are of a standard New Zealanders can only envy. Our Hyosungs were in their element swinging through the countryside.

The hiking destinations have been an equally captivating aspect of the tour. Koreans hike the mountains with the aplomb that Kiwis wander the waterfronts of St Heliers or Oriental Bay. For us huffing, puffing tourists it was a little humbling to see folk much older than ourselves striding up the staircases attached to sheer cliff faces, in cheerful, effortless pleasure.

And finally have we mentioned the honesty? Everywhere we’ve been we’ve always been assured that leaving all our gear on our bikes would be “no problem” – Koreans don’t steal. One still sees the evidence of this in the smaller towns where after closing time retailers simply throw a tarpaulin over the displays of goods they’ve put out on the sidewalk. Can you imagine crates of beer in NZ being safe overnight just stacked on the footpath and covered with cloth?

So we’d like to thank the South Koreans very much for fantastic hospitality and encourage any intrepid Kiwi tourists to experience this “undiscovered” part of the world.

We’ve spent two days now riding along the razor wired southern boundary of the DMZ from the east coast back toward Seoul. Past the rest of the tunnels bored by the North Koreans and past the shot out Labour Party Headquarters where hundreds were tortured and executed during those dark days of occupation.

The presence of military is heavy and we seem to share the roads and tracks only with vehicles driven by the young conscripts doing their 2 years compulsory service. It’s clear that this border is somewhat less porous than that between Mexico and the USA which we were able to swim across earlier this year. Even thoughts of a Steve McQueen-style motorcycle leap across the wire into the DMZ don’t linger – the South Korean troops, the minefields, and the helicopters hovering overhead seem to have most options closed – and we don’t have time to dig a tunnel north.

Oh well, best away to Seoul now then for our last 24 hours.

The roads we have experienced here have been just great. Lots of tight curves and us wishing the footpegs didn’t drag quite so easily. Some wonderful views and the other extreme that we have seen in the last few days, serious smog, obliterating all but the closest scenery and shrouding our lives in grey.

The prolific production of crops and veges on every bit of available land meant that camping sites would have been impossible to find (if we were looking). Luckily we have stayed in an assortment of local places averaging about $45 to $50 and often having dozens of extras squeezed into a tiny room. Air con, fan, hairdryer,TV, video, hot and cold water filter,computer,fridge, baskets of toiletries, toothbrush and tonight a painted romantic roof and mood lighting.

Today has taken us along the guarded roads parallel to the central part of the DMZ, past the historic Labor Party Ruins and the trench behind where the Commy tortured patriots were buried, we watched the helecopters and migratory birds crowd the skys and no doubt were watched ourselves from the multitude of guard posts on every hilltop.

Middle of the night here and the room computer is getting the better of me so must get some shut-eye in anticipation of another fine road to Seoul

That’s how the climb up Ulsanbawi, the most famous rock outcrop in Seoraksan the most famous National Park in South Korea is billed. Can’t say we were looking forward to the challenge but if this biking and hiking tour of the ROK is to be complete then the climb is a ‘must do’ pinnacle of our hiking efforts.

The queues at the cable car were 2-3 hours long as the lazier tourists opted for that means to view the spectacular autumn colours that this time at Seoraksan offers. So there was no easier alternative available - the climb it would be.

Half way towards our goal and for the first time on our visit the weather turned inclement. A thunder storm and accompanying wind and rain drove us to shelter beneath one of the massive boulders en route. Could this be the easy way out? Would the weather provide the excuse for us to turn back? Unfortunately it started to clear and our own pig headedness to knock this one off, got the better of us.

So up and up we climbed. My thoughts turned to the 318 corners in 11 miles of the Tail of the Dragon motorcycle ride on Smoky Mountain in North Carolina that we’d set as a goal ealier this year -and wished we were doing that instead. It sure would be easier on the knees.

Finally to the top and I’d like to say the most surreal view you could imagine. But the smog and the storm put paid to any notion of that. Together with a hundred other Korean hikers - some as old as my Mum (I’ve concluded earlier that Koreans are stark raving mad climbers and hikers - and that goes for all ages) - we crowded atop the rock pinnacle in the gale force wind.

Of course as you’d expect there is a coffee stall up there - sherpa-like carriers transporting the full water coolers, 4 at a time on their backs up the mountain at about 3 times the speed we could manage carrying as little as we can.

The sense of achievement was just reward and we forgot about the knee-jarring 808 steps that we would now have to descend. We’d beaten the storm and our own inertia to conquer Ulsanbawi.

What a weird feeling walking through a Korean town and having a meal. Today’s nuclear test by the DPRK has sent shockwaves through South Korea and in the reaction within small provincial town of Inje where we are - not far south of the DMZ - I’m guessing is typical. As the obligatory television sets in every shop and home blare endless re-runs of the footage and calming speeches by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, one cannot escape the reality that the North’s action has mesmerised this nation.

We’re near a military base and certainly activity there is anything but quiet. But the opinion in the streets of the town next to this base seems divided - older folk are genuinely scared, even blaming the Sunshine Policy for ignoring the reality that the DPRK is a beligerent nation state. But younger folk seem more to take the view that the North’s actions have come about because of the constant bullying from the USA. In many ways the two views reflect the dichotomy of opinion here about the role of the US on the peninsula - olgder members of society believing that its presence is the only reason that South Korea exists while many younger people see it as the cause of trouble.

President Roh is alreay beleagured here in the South for taking too soft a stance towards the DPRK and the fact that while this approach has been going on the North has just marched steadfastly towards missiles and nuclear bom capability, is unlikely to endear the President to the people of South Korea. At first blush I’d have thought things here are about to get pretty hard-assed.

As we head back to the northweast corner of South Korea today, a highlight of our journey looms - the visit to Soraksan National Park and the last of our hiking torture. But two things make me suspicious;

(a) The autumn colours seem to far more accentuated today than on previous days

(b) this is the worst day for smog so far - at least we think it’s smog

(c) we’re back in the military-heavy part of South Korea - but there’s helicopters around and all the soldier boys are standing to attention as we pass by - looks like heightened military alert.

 That nuclear test by the North Koreans this morning was underground wasn’t it?

Suanbo is a resort town with hot springs and ski slopes, set in the central hills.

We managed to get a good deal on a couple of tired rooms in a tired hotel with an “oncheon” (Bath house) in the basement. The segregated pools were full at night so I thought a discrete plunge in the morning would give me this very Korean experience. Brendan told me to take the camera and turned off all the beeping, flashing and clicking it does so I could be discrete.

 There were still 20 others, many in inter-generational family groups scrubbing each-others backs and torsos. I sat scrubbing myself and watching the naked revalry  and exhuberance of the old and young girls in steam and hot or cold plunge pools. A very wonderful experience, I just needed a friend to scrub me. I could have employed the masseuse of course.

The thought that stays with me is the two rounded matrons with some reddish mud like stuff that they proceeded to cover each other with as they chatted loudly about everything. It was like mud play in a kindergarten paddling pool.

You didn’t really think I’d take photos. No way. This is very unusual girl only time, next time I’ll take the kids. 

XX Jo

It’s the annual homecoming festive season of “Chosuk” when Koreans head back to the small family communities that are their roots. From home and abroad they converge on the little villages and farms that are where they originate from. There are the burial mounds of their ancestors are located and Chosuk sees all the family visit the graves – some in solemn processions, others just to have a lunch with the extended family to celebrate or give thanks to their ancestors. It is a chaotic time in Korea and the expressways out of Seoul become a parking lot choked with hordes of folk desperate to get home for the festive occasion.

Dave you don’t know what you’re missing, we’re getting disgustingly fit, mixing mountain hikes with a motorcycle ride. They certainly make for an exhausted team at the end of the day but by abandoning the bikes and taking to the slopes we get another perspective on the history of the place as well as having reinforced – as if we needed it – the Koreans’ love of climbing mountains. Today we were once again accompanied on the ascent by families out for a rather exhausting Sunday jaunt.

But the highlight of Woraksan mountain was to pass through the wall that had been constructed to resist advance of the Mongols of Kublai Khan back in the 13th century. These same fortifications were again deployed to resist the first invasion by the Japanese some 200 years later. This wall, rather than the Buddha carved into the rock at the summit of our climb, made the screaming knees that seem to go with these steep outings, well worth the pain.

Another mountain, another National Park. This time, another with Sharman origins (reminding us of our visit to Penis Park earlier in the tour), Chilgapsan provided just too many mountain trails for us to contemplate with our knees still in a fragile state left from the hikes to date. So instead we opted for a lunch of Bi Bim Bap sitting amongst the Sharmanist totem poles at the entrance to the park.