Kevin's Walk 10: Day 2, Leg 2

No asshole cabbies or goofy teens calling me "grandfather" today, and I think I dodged a bullet by not going to my planned stop, Geumgang Oncheon Motel. Oncheon is from the same two Chinese characters pronounced onsen in Japan, the difference being that, in Korea, the term refers more to a hot, steaming bath or sauna than to literal hot (on) springs (cheon) with cute, pink-faced monkeys in winter. I saw the Geumgang Oncheon Motel as I approached, and I realized right away that it was going to be expensive. Luckily, there was the Crystal Motel right next door, and it's only W40,000 a night. Seems decent, and my room has WiFi. The room's mirror has stickers on it showing the WiFi service and password, so hooking into the system was no problem.

Unfortunately, the convenience store across the street doesn't open until after 6 p.m., so I'm typing out this entry while I wait. In theory, that convenience store, an eMart24, is open all day and all night, but because the store is located on a traditional hanok property, the only people who can access the store when it's unstaffed are the hanok vacationers, who are given access codes so they can pop in anytime. I'll be going there when I'm done with this entry.

But perhaps I should start at the beginning. I deliberately got up later this morning, thus allowing myself to sleep a little more, to start the day later, and to walk at a more relaxed pace.

Today's walk had a few slow, steady rises and dips, but by the end, it was relentlessly flat straightaways. I walked very slowly, sorely missing the usual extra day of rest I normally give myself after a segment of 30K or more. There were times when my pace was down to 2 kph—a crawl. I'm telling you: never walk with me. You'll go crazy. Aside from health, another reason why I'm slow is that my backpack is substantially heavier than the one I normally use.

Things didn't get really interesting until I reached the city of Gongju, which I didn't even know existed until recently. Gongju is known for a famous king and his burial mound, as well as for an impressive fortress that looks to have been featured in any number of historical dramas. Gongju is very nice, very impressive, and very tourist-trappy. The city is begging to be explored, but it's also somewhat tacky and, like some women, overly made-up. That said, I'd like to come back here and explore a bit.

So today's 20 km felt a lot like yesterday's 30-some kilometers. Tomorrow's going to be around 30K as well, so I'll be starting early so as to finish early.

Ah—there was, come to think of it, one weird incident today: I was trying to photograph a rather artistic-looking garbage pile when a biker crashed into the pile, ruining my photo. Not wanting the guy to lose face for his blunder, I apologized, and the guy grandly said it wasn't a problem. The guy's friend, who had passed me from behind by using the right lane, was ahead. He came back to check on his friend, and I gathered that my guy had been trying to pass me by slipping between me and the garbage pile. Pretty stupid when you think about it. And definitely not my fault despite my face-saving apology. Still: no skin off my balls, as a Kiwi buddy of mine used to say.

Here are your ten images for today.