But I got enough sleep and left the yogwan at 0830, headed up the hill to Kaya-san and Haein-sa. Cold overnight, but as soon as the sun hit the valley, it warmed up nicely. It took me about an hour to climb the 8 km to the temple, but it was a very nice ride with no traffic in the cool of the morning.
Haein-sa was my most rewarding temple visit so far. Very few people and not nearly as commercial as the previous temples. I sat around for about 2 hours listening to the chanting and spent a good while peering into the repositories that contain the “Koreana Triptaka,” a collection of about 80,000 wooden printing blocks of Buddhist writings carved around 1100. Very impressive , although it’s not possible to really get close to the blocks They are housed in buildings dating from around 1500. It’s hard to pin down the actual age since these wooden buildings are constantly being repaired and restored. There are about 15 buildings around the compound and all of them seemed to have something happening. One interesting sight was a tour group of Korean Catholic nuns, avidly taking photos of each other posed by the buildings, and prowling through the souvenir stands.
Buildings at Haein-sa
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I rolled back down to Kaya and picked up my gear at 1130 and had rolls and coffee at the road junction just north of town. Then I had about a 1 hour climb northbound on Hwy 997, getting to the top at 1300.
Then a gentle glide down to Kimchon. A bit of work, since a brisk north wind picked up about 1400. The farmers are burning off their fields, so it was quite hazy. Light traffic, with lots of roadside agricultural action--rice harvesting and drying, cabbage and apple picking, etc.
The final 2 km into Kimchon on Hwy 4 were congested. Kimchon (pop 100,000) is a long narrow city stretched out along the highway and railroad and river in a narrow valley. A busy, pleasant, and prosperous-looking town.
I met Peter at the station at 1700 and we found a nice yogwan for $19. A bit pricey but very clean and comfortable and warm.
[By this time I’ve grown to enjoy the Korean-style heating--radiant heating in the floor. Sleeping on the floor in cold weather is a great comfort. I like the combination of the cold room and the warm floor. All of the places that we have stayed in, except for Yongdok, have had warm floors and abundant hot bath water.]
We went out and had a good bowl of bibimbab for $5. Then I went for a walk to a computer store to plug in.
[After I had done my internet stuff, the guy in the shop and I were fooling around with my computer, and it locked up and would not reset. So it was out of action for the rest of the trip. After I got back to the USA, I figured out a way to do a restore without losing my files.]
The road runs in the valley bottom--mostly in rice and vegetables. The railroad main line and the Seoul-Pusan Expressway are also in the valley, but Hwy 4 is 1 to 2 km from the Expressway. The climb up the valley is gradual, and I got to the crest of a low divide at 1015. Then through Chupongnyong, a small but interesting and pleasant rail town. Lots of trains to watch. Temp up to 50F with a brisk east wind.
I turned of on Hwy 579 at 1050. Nice tail wind and gentle down-valley grade. I stopped in Chichong, a sleepy little crossroads to buy some lunch supplies. Then a very pleasant ride north on Hwy 19, with the tailwind still following me as I climbed gently up the valley. Then on Hwy 505 to Chongnae--a nice gentle climb in a broad valley with rice being harvested.
Then I headed to the northeast up the canyon to the south end of Songni-san National Park. The road below the dam has had a lot of recent flood damage--about 10 areas were washed out and I had to walk through several. Met a couple of mountain bike day riders coming down the valley. Nice autumn leaves on the surrounding hills.
Then a steep 4 km climb away from the dam. Got to the top about 1515. After a quick drop, I met Peter at the Hwy 37 intersection and we rode the 3 km into town.
The town--a tourist village--is a big collection of hotels, yogwans, restaurants, and souvenir shops. Very nicely done--a tasteful tourist trap. The whole place was jammed, but it turned out that most of the crowd were day trippers, and the place thinned out about 1800. The first yogwan we checked was full, but the owner led us across the street to a small pleasant place with the rooms arranged around a courtyard.
Main street in Songni-san
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Songni-san
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Dinner was sanchae bibimbap--rice and “mountain” veggies--mushrooms, etc. $5 and very good. Weather today--50-60F, cooling to 30F after the sun went down. Clear with nice southeast and east winds all day. About 80 km for the day.
We turned in about 2000. And then we found out that the hotels and yogwans in our part of town (including the place that we first tried) were occupied by a huge high school tour group. About 4 places within a half block of our yogwan were full with students.
Until about 0500, their chief activity was a contest to see which hotel could play the loudest music or yell the loudest cheers. My ear plugs were not sufficient.
Peter leaving Songni-san
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We left town about 1200, heading north then east on on hwy 37, then cutting over to northbound on 992/592. This was an excellent short ride, with virtually no traffic, very pleasant mountain scenery, and perfect weather--45-60F and clear. One short easy 200-m hill in the Sangju area. The rest was gentle up and down in the valley bottoms.
After swinging to the west on 592, I left the highway and headed down to the village of Hwayang on a beautiful paved hiking trail along the river. No other people for about 5 km. The trail was nicely landscaped with maples in brilliant red colors planted along the rocky stream bed. Unfortunately, the light level was starting to fade by 1600, so I wasn’t able to photograph the valley.
The village is a small scattering of minbaks and restaurants just inside the park, with a few more scattered down the valley. I missed the minbaks on my first trip down the valley, since they were hidden behind some restaurants in a glade of trees.
We arrived at the minbak ($12 without bath) and checked in about the same time as a Korean couple touring by car. He turned out to have a brother in Salem, Oregon and had lived in Seattle for some years. They invited us to dinner, and it turned out to be a very pleasant evening, with a boiled chicken and some unusual mountain-style kim chee. And several flagons of soju.
Final dinner
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This minbak is about the nicest we have found. About 10 rooms, each opening onto a central gravel courtyard. An older building, very well maintained. Some of the other guests (an elderly group of about 10) were having a party, singing old songs very well, which was quite enjoyable. I tried to record it but my recorder battery was getting too low. They broke up about 2100. Peter’s neighbors (a younger bunch) carried on for a good while longer. I was on the end of the wing, so I had no trouble getting to sleep.
About 50 km for the day. Very pleasant and relaxing.
[Bicycle storage at our hotels, yogwans, and minbaks was no problem, with one or two exceptions. Most places had a shed or a “garage” or a street-level entry to store our bikes. The proprietors’ perception of risk of theft was low except in Taegu and Seoul]
Minbak in Hwayang-dong
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Quite a few confusing highway signs: there is a new road with heavy traffic providing a shortcut to Hwy 25 south of the City, not shown on my map and the old road is not signed very well. I lost the trail for a few km, but picked it up again near Taesan. I stopped briefly to look at the fortress at Sandang Sansong--but not much more than a wall. The last few km into the City included a long moderate climb, a spectacular view of the City sprawled on the plains to the west, and a very steep and fast descent into town.
Not much traffic or congestion until I got into central Ch’ongju (pop 400,000), where there was a lot of Saturday shopping traffic. Wide sidewalks in the city center, so I was able to move along much more quickly than the cars.
I met Peter on the west side of town at the Express Bus station. We went across the street for an excellent lunch of kim chee mandu ($2 each).
Then we went back and bought our tickets to Seoul ($4). The buses leave about every 5 to 10 minutes and there are at least 3 competing companies. The single ticket agent seems to make the decision as to which bus one gets. So we missed out on a chance to take the “Excellent Express” Bus. The price is the same for all buses.
The ride was quick and comfortable. The bus was full and not well ventilated, but there is a bus lane, so we zoomed by the Saturday stop-and-go congestion on the Expressway into Seoul. The trip took about 3 hours for 275 km. The bus cargo bay had lots of room, so we had no problem getting our bikes aboard, without folding. No extra charge for the bikes.
Then we had an exciting 5-km ride to our hotel--the Green Grass again.
In the evening we took the subway to Namdaemun and did a bit of shopping in the market there. We had an excellent but expensive ($20 each) meal of sashimi, grilled prawns, and grilled chicken and the usual trimmings. About 3 times what a similar meal would have cost us in the Provinces.
Insa-dong, Seoul
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Northbound, about 60 km, we stopped at a couple of war memorials, one Philippine, the other Korean/American. Then, after several checkpoints and no-photo zones, we got to the Camp where the UN (US) detachment is based. We had about an hour delay while some sort of “operation” was carried out in the DMZ. We never learned exactly what had occurred.
Then lunch in a US-run club (pretty good salads and kim chee) and a well-rehearsed briefing by a US Army representative. Back on the bus which took us into the DMZ and to Panmunjom. Two more checkpoints where our passports and visitor badges were looked at. Lots of ROK troops and fortifications in the area just south of the DMZ.
In Panmunjom, we toured the new buildings on the south side of the line and the conference building that straddles the line. Sentries from both the South and the North were patrolling the compound. Then a bus ride around to some other points of interest in the DMZ, and a quick expressway ride back to Seoul.
It was an efficient and informative tour. Our bus was mostly Japanese (Korean- Japanese?) with only 6 English-speakers, 2 of which were Romanian. The other 2 were Mormons from Provo. They had been missionaries in Korea about 25 years ago. In the DMZ, the tour guides were US Army, and their remarks were translated into Japanese.
After returning to Seoul, we went shopping in the Namdaemun area. We then had an excellent sashimi and everything else dinner at a Japanese-Korean place near our hotel. $20 each and excellent value.
I went back to the hotel and packed up my bike. The manager of the hotel gave me a lift to the air terminal, about 2 km east of the hotel, and I took the 1500 bus to the airport.
I met Peter in the check-out line. He had taken the 1530 bus. Then we had an excellent lunch/dinner of kim chee and rice and tofu. One of the best airport meals that I’ve had.
We left on Delta at 1830, on time. Full MD11. Arrived in Portland a bit early at 1100.
