4-Day Chuseok bike trip

September in Korea brings many wonderful things. The weather has started to turn cooler, the humidity and rain are gone, and best of all September is Korea’s Thanksgiving, or Chuseok. For Koreans, it means time spent with family, a lot of cooking, and perhaps visits to the tombs of those who have passed away. For foreigners, it means a long weekend. This year, we had a four day weekend and since traveling by car or plane during Chuseok is either too expensive or a complete pain in the butt, we decided to do a 4-day bike trip starting and ending at our doorstep.

I had the great pleasure of mapping this trip. On all the trips we go on, day rides or long weekend rides, Jared is always the one making the map. He has taught me how to make the maps so this ride, I wanted to do the whole thing, well most of it, on my own.

We started off bright and early on Saturday morning. Katie, one of Jared’s good friends and cycling mates from his 6 month trip, joined us on our trip. Katie came back to Korea last year and is just as nuts, probably more nuts actually, as Jared and I when it comes to cycling. She was more than excited to be riding for 4 days with us and we were more than excited to have her along.

Saturday was planned to be a relatively easy day. Most of it was spent riding on the bike paths up and out of Seoul and to the city Uijeongbu, which is where Jared started his adventures in Korea way back in 2004. After the trip down memory lane in Uijeongbu, we were finally leaving the cities and heading to the countryside and mountains of Korea. Since I was the one who planned the route, I threw in a few back/country roads into our route. These roads are my favorite kind of roads in Korea. We ride through small farms and houses and usually get pretty funny looks from the locals. But these roads are great to stay off busy roads and get to see real rural life in Korea.

Before we knew it, we had already done 80k’s and were well on our way to our destination for the night. Our route kept us off busy roads and gave us great scenery during the day. As the afternoon grew on, we knew we had to think about dinner that night and what we were going to eat. Since we were camping and cooking we didn’t have a lot of choices. One easy thing make on the road is eggs and vegetables. Jared and Katie had plenty of practice wild cooking on their 6 month trip across Asia and Europe so I just went with what they thought would be good. We stopped at a mart and bought bread, eggs, cheese, and vegetables. We were planning on having vegetable omelet sandwiches for dinner. One of the great and horrible things of cycling is the amount of food you get/have to eat. Since we cycle for close to 7 hour every day, we need a lot of calories and energy to keep us going. We are constantly snacking and eat big dinners at the end of the day to refuel. Many days I get to the point that I don’t want to eat anymore gummy bears or pretzels. Putting food in your mouth gets old after 7 hours of doing it.

After we picked up dinner, we soldiered on. The afternoon was growing late and we were getting close to the area we had picked out to camp for the night. We had reached a small mart, which we thought would be our last mart before camping for the night. But in true cycle touring fashion, when we got to the mart, we looked at the roads and found a new place to go and a new place to camp. It was about 5pm when we decided to change routes and by looking at the map, we had just added a 600meter climb and about an hour to the end of our day. I was hurting pretty bad and I had started shaking because I was getting tired and really hungry, but I didn’t want to be the one to icksnay the idea of going longer and harder so I just put my head down and powered on. Once we started the climb, I had to gobble up a power shot just to make it up the climb and get to the campsite. Jared stayed with me for the entire climb since he knew I was struggling and he really helped me through it. We made it to the top and stopped real quick at the top to get some Gatorade but didn’t want to be up there too long as we were getting cold and just wanted to be done riding.

Our campsite was just about half way down the mountain. Once we got going off the top, it was only about a 5 minute ride down to the site and it was a glorious site to see. By this time it was about 7pm, we had been riding for about 8 hours and had covered 151k’s. We quickly set up our tents and got dinner going. By this time, we had to use our high power lights to be able to see what we were doing. We were in a nice quiet parking lot right next to a river on a pretty deserted mountain. We were actually in a resort area but since it was past peak season, there was no one around. Dinner that night had never tasted so good. We stir fried some veggies, mixed them with eggs and plopped all that on bread with cheese for some delightful sandwiches.

After filling our stomachs, we quickly cleaned up and got ready for bed. Wild camping has quickly become one of my favorite things to do. There is just something so liberating about being out in the open, eating huddled around a small burner, cleaning yourself in a river, and just being one with the world around you.

As we were just about to get in our tents and call it a night, Jared had left to go to the bathroom and discovered two gazebos on the other side of the parking lot. Gazebos are great when you are camping because it gives you shelter from rain, not only keeping your tent dry, but gives you a dry place to get packed up in the morning. After a quick discussion about the pros and cons of moving all our stuff into a dry area, we decided to quickly pick it all up and move under the gazebos. It only took us 10 minutes to move it all and we were thankful the next morning when we woke up and it was raining.

E-mailing our works from our hotel room in Manila

Waiting for our flight leaving Hong Kong that was delayed

The 'taxis' in Manila

Fishing boats

Old and new

Victoria Harbor at night

Fishing villages in the countryside of Hong Kong

The country side of Hong Kong

Doing a little market shopping

First views of Victoria Harbor

The big Buddha

Making our way up to the Big Buddha

The view from the hotel room Jared surprised me with

Me and Toby

Me and my closest high school friends. It had been a while since we could all have dinner together.

One of my favorite pictures. Dylan with Toby walking through Mall of America hand in hand

Dad with the goofballs!

All of us together for the first time in a year and a half

CJ enjoying her dinner

Lu equally as excited to eat hers

Me and my little man making funny faces on the computer

I was also able to see all of my college roommates while I was home. It was the first time the four of us had been together in 5 years

Summer in a nutshell and in pictures

The summer months seemed to have passed me by this year. After the three day bike trip in June we had plenty more adventures on the bike. Since the summer months in Korea bring monsoons and horrible heat, some of our microadventures had to be cancelled because of the weather. We were still able to have fun throwing Typhoon parties, running half marathons, and partaking in the summer tradition of Mud Fest.

We have been up to a lot this summer, which has made me busy and thus I have been lacking at my blog updates. In the spirit of catching everyone up on what has been happing on the Korean Peninsula without too much boredom, I am going to tell the story of my last few months in pictures.

The two most exciting things of the summer would have to have been my two week trip home and mine and Jared’s trip to Hong Kong. Since I had signed on with my school for a second year, they gave me an extra week of paid vacation. Since I wanted to get the most out of my time at home, I decided to back my extra week with our week off for summer vacation. Since I did this, I was able to have 16 full days at home. It was incredible to have so much time at home and it was more than brilliant to see my family again! I can’t even explain how overcome with emotion I was when I finally saw my nephews, nieces, brothers, sister, and parents after so much time away from them. I spent the two weeks soaking up every minute I could with family and friends. I was able to spend much of my time with Toby, my smallest nephew, and C.J. and Lu, my twin nieces that were 3 weeks old when I left. It was so great to get to be part of their everyday lives and not just a face on the computer screen. In the end, the two weeks went by way too fast and before I knew it I was back on a plane heading to my second home in Korea. It was hard to say goodbye again but knowing I had Jared to come home to was my saving grace.

I didn’t have much time to be homesick because four days after I landed in Korea I was off again. Jared and I had a three day weekend so we decided to make the most of it and head to Hong Kong. Originally we were going there to visit one of his friends but after we had booked the tickets we found out his friend wasn’t going to be there. It didn’t matter too much to us, we were still going and we were still planning on staying at his friends place, seeing as though it was free and all. We landed in Hong Kong early Saturday morning and we hit the ground running. We started our sightseeing right away with the giant Buddha that was right by the airport. The afternoon was hot and long but well worth it, the Buddha was pretty cool. After we had our fill, we got on the bus and headed into the city. I had thought we were staying out at Jared’s friends place in the country but Jared told me we had to go into the city to pick something up, and then we would head into the country for the night. Well I was in for a big surprise. After Jared learned his friends would not be in the country, he decided to book a hotel in downtown Hong Kong, but he didn’t tell me. So I was just following blindly as we made our way into the city, thinking we just had to turn right around and head back to the country. We got off the bus and started walking through the city, and then we turned off the main road and into a luxury hotel. I was baffled. I had no idea what was going on. I thought we were at the hotel to pick up the package Jared told me we had to get. It wasn’t until we were checking in that I realized we were staying there for the weekend!! I was shocked! Jared had to keep telling me that it wasn’t a joke and that we were really staying there. The lady checking us in thought it was so cool that I didn’t know that she upgraded us to a suite! It was a great surprise!

The whole weekend was a blast. We were full on tourists and did all the tourist things. I was glad to be able to see the city and play tourist for a weekend. We were pretty much go, go, go the whole weekend and in the end I felt like I needed a vacation from both of my vacations.

Even though our Hong Kong experience ended when we left, our travels took an unexpected turn on our way home. Our flight out of Hong Kong was delayed and this made us miss our connecting flight in Manila. Now, most of the time this would not be a huge deal but our flight was at 10pm Monday night and we both had to work on Tuesday morning. Since we missed the flight, there wasn’t another flight out of Manila until Tuesday afternoon at 4:00pm!! This meant we would have to stay the night in Manila, somehow get a hold of our employers and tell them we would not be at work the next day. Not the ideal situation. Fortunately the airline put us up in the hotel and paid for everything for us. We both e-mailed our work from the hotel and got things somewhat sorted out before going to bed.

In the end, everything worked out. We had an unplanned vacation in Manila, a day of stressing about what our employers would say, but since there was nothing we could do about it, we just went with it.

The next day I talked to my boss and explained to her what happened, she was cool with it and just glad I was back at work.

After Hong Kong, we traded in our plan tickets for our bike pedals. The weather was starting to cool down and that meant it was time to do some serious cycling.

Day 3. Up and down and calling it a trip

The last day started early, as most days on the road do. We were awoken to the sound of birds chirping and the flowing of the river right next to us, my favorite kind of alarm clock. Even though we had a ways to go on that last day, we didn’t rush too much to break camp and get on the road. We wanted to enjoy our last morning in the wilderness and not rush to get back to reality.

After we broke camp, we headed to our route home. The route consisted of heading downhill to the coast then back up over Seoraksan Mountain and to the car in Inje. The ride to the coast was one of the most fun rides I have done. We started going uphill; just a little, then we entered the tunnel-o-fun! This tunnel was long but all downhill. It was so fun to be able to not touch the pedals but still be flying at 65kph (40mph), and not even try! Once we were out of the tunnel the fun continued. We were still up about 400meters and we had to go all the way down to sea level. As we flew down the mountain, I was enjoying every second of it but I just kept thinking that we had to go back up the same amount of meters we were going down.

The trip down was great, with great views of some of the most beautiful mountains Korea has to offer. We landed in the city of Sokcho, right on the coast of the East Sea. It was early in the morning and the skies were clear and the sea looked endless. We were able to ride along the coast for a bit but decided to get off the busy road and head for the back roads and the mountains. We were at 12 meters above sea level and needed to climb up past 800. I knew what was coming but I was enjoying the view, the outdoors, and being free on the road too much to care.

The climb up started innocent enough, slow and gradual. But once we hit Oseak, the base of Seoraksan, the pain started in. Since I knew the climb was going to be slow and painful, Jared and I set off at different speeds. He attacked the mountain and I popped in my headphones and charged up the mountain with some help from the music in my ears. I had climbed that mountain before, but this time it was a lot harder than I had remembered. It was hot and sunny and the mountain seemed more relentless than ever. But one of the many things I love about riding in Korea is the encouragement I get from complete strangers when I’m biking. Those people driving up and down the mountain will roll down their windows and shout supportive words at me. It’s in Korean but I can usually get the gist. As little as these words may seem, they actually do help as I am struggling up mountains.

After we make it to the top, I was really struggling. It was very hot, I was running out of food and water and all I wanted to do was be off my bike and in an air conditioned car. Unfortunately we still had one more climb to go before we made it to the car. We flew down the mountain we had just climbed, only to ride threw a valley for a few kilometers and have to start climbing again. I knew once we were finished with the climb it would be nothing but downhill to the car, I just had to make it up and over the last mountain. Jared wasn’t struggling as much as I was so he was off to power up the last climb as I fought through my own pain, soreness, and hunger with my headphones doing their best to pull me up the mountain.

The climb seemed to go on and on and after every turn, I was hoping to see the top but it seemed as if the mountains goal was to swallow me whole. After what seemed like an eternity, I saw the top and Jared cheering me on as I finished the last climb. I was more than thrilled to see the top and to know the car and food was right around the corner. Even though it was all downhill to the car, it was still a struggle and like all days and trips, the last 10 kilometers was the hardest 10k’s of the whole trip. Once we saw the car, I thought I would be thrilled to be off the bike and get into some air con. But surprisingly, I was a little sad and wasn’t ready to be done with the trip.

Once we got to the car we were able to get everything off the bikes, had them loaded on the car, and were on our way home in less than half an hour. It was good to be cool again and get some food and water but I definitely wasn’t ready to be back in reality and go back to work the next day. This was my first 3-day bike trip and it was more than I had thought it would be. I was learning why cycle touring was so addictive.

Day 2 on the bike. Mountain climbs and War memorials

Waking up to birds singing was a great way to start the day. It had been a long time since I had slept in the wilderness and it was a great feeling. The early morning hours brought fog throughout the mountains but it didn’t take long for it to burn off and bring crystal clear skies. We weren’t in any rush to get on the road. We had an idea of where we wanted to end up that night but one of the great things of cycle touring is that plans can, and will, change. It took us about an hour and a half to eat, change, and pack everything up. One thing I love about camping is that you find a piece of land to call home for one night, then just like that it’s all packed in a few bags and strapped to your bike.

We left the Peace Dam feeling rested and ready for the day. We were very excited for the day ahead, we had planned to make about 120k’s with a few big climbs, and as you will find out, it was a bit ambitious. The day started with a bang. As we were making our way to the mountain, we passed a few groups of Korean cyclers who had just come down the mountain we were about to go up. We got many, ‘good luck’ and ‘way to go’ looks and cheers from them, since they knew what we were about to go through.

The first climb of the day was full of switch backs and great views. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be but it was still challenging. It was fun to climb up and be able to look down on to where we were staying the night before. Like all the ups, the downs are always the best part. We had a great downhill that took us through the country side of the mountains. As we have biked this spring, we have watched the rice patties being planted. Some by hand others by machine. As we made our way down the mountain, we had great views of the rice patties and could see they had started to grow. The farms we were passing by on this trip were much larger than the ones we had seen on previous trips and the rice fields seem to go on and on. I don’t know why I do, but I just love the rice fields and seeing them during the day is always one of my favorite things.

We rode through the farm villages and rice fields for quite a bit before we started the “real” climb of the day. I knew it was going to be a tough one but the incredible weather and fabulous scenery made the mountain seem a bit smaller. At the foot of the mountain both Jared and I stopped to put in our head phones. Most of the time when we are riding, we ride next to each other and talk but going up mountains is a different story. I don’t know what it is about music, but it can put you in a different frame of mind. It can give you a lift you didn’t even realize you needed. And without a doubt, it can help you to keep moving your legs up a 1000meter climb (for those Americans, that’s over 3,200 ft!!!)

Thankfully the area we were riding in wasn’t too populated and consisted mainly of military bases. You see, we were riding about 5k’s from the North Korea/South Korea boarder (did I forget to mention that). Oh yeah, that was one of the highlights of the trip. Jared purposely made the route to get us close to the DMZ and he definitely succeeded in that. Because of this, the traffic on the road was limited to minimal cars and military trucks. As we continued to climb the mountain the traffic thinned even more. See most people would drive through the tunnel built to bypass going over the mountain. But going through the tunnels is cheating so needless to say we opted out of going through the tunnel and went over the thing.

I don’t recall how long we were climbing for but I think it was close to 2 hours. Of course we would stop and take quick 5 min breaks to chug some water and inhale gummy bears but the majority of the two hours was spent on the bike. As we got closer and closer to the top the road seemed to get steeper and steeper. I swear at one point by front tire was going to come off the road it was so steep! Regardless, we both kept our legs going and charged on. At long last, we reached the top. It was a spectacular view of the farm villages below and the military bases that lined the boarder. We were busy taking pictures of “Beware of Mine” signs when a young Korean solider came out to talk to us. The poor kid knew little to no English but knew enough to say “camera, no.” We figured this would happen but we wanted to play the foreigner card and get as many pictures as we could before they came out and told us to stop.

Once we put the cameras away we really took in the view, and it was a pretty remarkable one. The sign on the road said we were at 1,050m, which still the highest I have climbed and the view from that high is just spectacular. After enjoying the view and relishing in the fact that we just climbed that many meters on a bike we got ready for the best part, the downhill!! With headphones back in we both took off down the mountain. The 2 hour climb up was well worth it and made the downhill seem to go on forever.

We came down into a small farm village and decided it was time to get some lunch. At this point we knew there was no way we were going to make our 120k goal for the day, nor were we going to end in the city we were aiming for. Like I said earlier though, that is one of the great things of cycle touring. It doesn’t matter if we don’t’ get to where we “planned” on going, as long as the day ends with a place to sleep, some food, and the satisfaction of a knowing you control the day, and not the other way around, the ride is a success.

Little did we know when we were coming down the mountain that we were dropping into an area that was known as the “Punch Bowl” during the Korean War. The Punch Bowl is a basin along the DMZ in Yanggu, which is where were cycling. The basin area owes its name 'Punch Bowl' to its geographical appearance, resembling a bowl for punch. Surrounded by high hills, some with peaks above 1,000 meters, many fierce battles were fought here during the Korean War because of its strategic location. The Punch Bowl area is famous for a hand-to-hand fighting during the War during a lack of ammunition.

As we were cycling along we saw a small war museum and decided to stop. It was there when we learned where we were and all the fighting that had taken place in the area. It was incredible to think about those soldiers hiking up the mountains in the dead of winter not knowing who was also in the mountains hunting them. I have been to the War Museum in Seoul but it was a much more intimate experience to see the museum in Yanggu and be able to be in the area and experience it firsthand.

After we left the Punch Bowl area, time was getting on and we were tired. Since we knew we weren’t going to get to our original destination we just looked at the map and decided to ride for a bit longer and look for a good spot to camp. After managing our way around a busy highway and taking a wrong turn, we were finally riding right next to a river. We found a great spot to camp that was just off the road and a perfect place to not be seen by cars. We decided to call it a day after about 100k’s and just over 6 hours of ride time. It was still a little early and we could have pushed on but there was no point and by being done early, we could get cleaned up in the river and still have time to enjoy the camp site.

After a quick rinse and a good dinner, the sun was leaving us and we were pretty tired. It had been another great day and I was sad we only had one day left on the bikes. But falling asleep to the sound of the flowing river was a great end to a great day.