Productivity!! warning: post contains reflections and tangents

[Sonia]

Well, things finally got ultra productive!! I managed to find the areas north of Tongyeong pretty easily. The young woman at the information center (where I added to my hefty map collection) in Tongyeong had given me a general area yesterday. She helped me find the myeon-- a rural administrative district in Korea-- on the map. Now I was on the main road, and as soon as I entered Gwnagdo-myeon, I saw the Myeon office. I have had pretty good luck stopping at administrative offices for informtion in Korea. Korea has a fair amount of Tourist Info booths, kiosks and buildings (near public transport, major parks and touristed places, city halls and the like in decent size cities -- amenities (bathrooms, local products, maps, computers and printers to use free. . .) and English generally vary by size of city and importance of location. Urban and rural, (dong, gu, gun, myeon) administrative offices have been very helpful, and have dealt me many surprises. I've received rides to climbing gyms.

Once, I happened to catch a sign on the building for the Korea Forest Association building in Jeonju, as I was on a bus trying to figure out how to get to some climbing areas I knew to be just south of town. I took them a little by surprized, armed with maps, printouts and xeroxes of the area and climbing info. We spread it all out on a tapble with their topo maps and set to work. The Korean Forest Rangers actually sent me with a driver and their best English speaker to find 2 climbing areas just South of my old home in Jeonju. They were impressed with the information I had assembled, and though initially reluctant to leave the car and scout, they were psyched when the saw the bolts! When we returned, we had to take requisite photos with the people at the office!

But back to the trip! I look to my left and there is the Myeon office with the door wide open that seems to scream "Come in". . . when I enter, I am greeted by two young women. "안녕하세요 적덕마을은 어디에 있습니까?" I ask. (It does help to speak a little Korean, especially away from major cities. It sort of reminds me that my University classes, chapter 4 and/or 5 on directions (just after the "leisure time" unit and before "my schedule" was probably most of the preparation these students had, and the most contact with a native speaker, before landing the not-so-well-paid post in a lonely info outpost). Anyway, this is a simple enough conversation in Korean, and the village is indeed tiny. They find a map that shows the village (very tiny) xerox it and mark my route in red. They tell me not to take 77, but the coastal road 5. Not sure if there was work on 77, or they just thought the former was a much more pleasant drive, but they join right by the village. I had to stop along the way, though. I had to videotape a cute village (with a friendly cow) and some of the coastal road, including a beautiful stretch where friendly fishermen took a break, spreading their nets out near this newish fitness park overlooking the sea on one side and mountains on the other! Suddenly there was a kind of industrial zone and 3 huge cargo ships. . . (this area is big into ports and shippbuilding and shipping!) . . . and shortly after that, I just spyed the village name 적덕 (on a tiny street sign) about as soon as I saw the rocks behind it! I actually had to U-turn and headed into this rather small town (with a sadly large church sticking out of a fairly traditional setting).

Cha-cha has been amazing, but I think I really pushed her up the 5.11 approach road. It was paved (well, we rolled backwards before it turned gravel). . . i have to remember that I don't have 4-wheel drive, that these roads are crazy and that I hate having to back down steep narrow village roads with tight turns, etc! This one wasn't as bad as Mae Bawi Village (where I had to open someone's gate and clear their lawn-- I did put it all back) to turn around! I had actually tried to get someone to do it for me, but it was on Korea's biggest holiday, Chuseok, and I was on my own (it was rainy!). . .) anyway, perhaps having survived that with a minor dent in the silver under the door (from driving over/into a small rock placed at the edge of the road), I had more confidence this time. I think the road was less steep and the car didn't stall out so much. . . er, the new breaks probably made a big difference!! OK, $150 bucks, but I was really really glad for these!!!

So I back into a kinda steep parking lot (well, after that not really steep!) and head back up. . . say 10 minutes to my highpoint just below a parking area. then a short gravel road. I took the sign pointing to Buchae and Sangsa Bawi, though the path direct to Sangsa a bit further on, is probably better.

WOW! Amazing climbing! I ended up spending quite awhile looking at all the routes. This is potential book material, provided I can contact one or both of the local clubs (that obviously maintain the place) to get accurate route info. I got lots of photos and notes, as many names/grades were listed beneath. Once thing that goes against my US ethics is that almost every bolt was spray-painted red. That said, they looked solid and the area was very clean. Signs pointed away from the rock, sometimes far into the woods, for "bathrooms". At any rate, it's not super easy to get to, but time and space considered and this might get included. At least if after some climbing the consensus is "yeah".

I ended up leaving late and taking 77 most of the way on the coast, heading inland to go more directly to Masan. traffic through Masan was crazy around 5:00 and I stopped for some food and a break and to call the person I was staying with. Driving through Busan on a Friday evening warranted a second break (after breaks I am happier and calmer, even making some videos of the city at night). I arrived fairly late in Korea's 2nd city.

The plan is to meet-up at Daeryokbong, a popular area on a big mountain right in the city and do some craggin' and of course, information gathering for me! Dave from Gunsan is turning 21 tomorrow and I picked up some Green Tea Wine (world's only from a highway rest stop at Korea's green tea capital, Boseong, a city I passed through (sadly at night) after leaving Ricky's. I also picked up a number of Korea's popular hangover rememdies and bundled it with some Vita-C and Emergen-C! Hard to believe some of these folks are 20!! I've been climbing longer than that!!