Without a car or a bike (yet) I can only get around on my own by foot for the most part (I haven't tried to use a taxi by myself yet and the only other options are buses and the subway).
So I've been exploring by walking, which I enjoy. "Land kayaking" you could call it, because like the slow and up-close view of the land you get from kayaking along the shore I've been getting some nice intimate views of my surroundings by traveling the sidewalks (and sometimes off the sidewalks) by foot. Slower than cars or bikes there's much more time to notice details.
I took two fairly long walks (1.5 - 2 hrs) around the local area here the weekend before school started. That was fun because I'd been looking at the area on Google maps and imagining it prior to coming here so it was fun to see it in person. Then last night I took the subway a few stops in toward Seoul to the Gimpo International Airport area which is not the airport I landed at (which is west of here, just off the coast on an island) but rather an airport which generally serves flights to China and Japan (I read somewhere). It's about halfway between here (which is near enough to the coast that you can walk there from here) and downtown Seoul, whatever that means since I'm getting the impression that Seoul is pretty spread out, kind of like Los Angeles, though I haven't been back there again since the one time for the team-building exercise. The trip to Gimpo was part pleasure and part business since I'd heard it was another way to get to a shopping area and I needed some groceries. My meal plan dinners don't happen on Friday nights and nothing at all is provided on weekends so I have to fend for myself. But that's another story I'll save for another time.
For now I just want to share some pictures I've been taking on my walks.
Trips 1 and 2 were by foot only and took place in the region of the map below. The red line shows my first trip (which was counter-clockwise) and the purple line was the second trip (out and looping then back). I'll label the map with numbers to show where the pictures were taken:
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| Red #1: from the main street that runs past the school, just north of the school, looking southeast-ish toward Cheongna center. You can actually see the corner of the boys' dormitory on the right (brick). The field you're looking over was full of tall grasses and had a bunch of white herons living in it but in the last couple weeks it's been completely plowed to make way for a soccer field and now it's just bare dirt with some pools of water. Great fodder for my environmental science class! |
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| Humongous spider, at least as big as my thumb. The first time I went down the sidewalk on this street I kept feeling my head snap back as I ran into these webs. They were so strong it was like getting clotheslined! I even saw a vine growing up one strand of a spider web but didn't think to take a picture of that. One of my goals is to learn more about these spiders. Red #2. |
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| Red #3. View of power plant looking southwest across water. At this point I was cutting across the grounds of another school, which I've since learned is a public sports-magnate school. It wasn't in session yet. |
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| Red #4. The sidewalks are a bit overgrown. I didn't see many (any?) other pedestrians in my local rambles. |
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| Red #5. Looking due west. The bridge connects Incheon Intl airport to the mainland. |
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| Red #6. The gates which regulate the water flowing from the estuary behind me out toward the Yellow Sea. The airport island is in the background. |
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| Red #7. Looking back to the northeast across the estuary. The sports school I cut through the grounds of is on the horizon on the left. I still haven't been across that bridge. |
Red #8 doesn't exist. It was supposed to be a picture of the power plant. I was standing at the corner trying to frame the picture correctly and get it in focus when I noticed a guard in a guard-tower waving at me and pretty clearly telling me not to take pictures of the power plant, so I made some sort of spastic gesture (and forgot to bow) and headed on my way. Later I was sorry I hadn't just taken the picture instead of trying to get it just right. Maybe another time. Maybe I'll go back after dark and... maybe not.
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| Red #9. At this point I was wondering how I was going to get back to the other side of this hill where I knew the road that led to my school was. I didn't know how far south I'd have to walk to find a connecting street and I was kind of interested in hiking up on the hill to see if I could get a better view. Then I spotted this hillside farm that had a guy tending a patch of something so I took this picture then ventured off the road on a little footpath toward the hillside farm. I was afraid I was going to startle the guy because he was intent on his work but I said one of my 3 Korean phrases (4 if you count the two different kinds of good-bye) "Anyeounghaseyo" for "hello" and then pointed up the hill at myself and tried to look like I was asking a question and he didn't seem to object so I started up the hill. Immediately the bugs became started swarming on me. They hadn't been a problem up until then. I went past different patches of crops, and some lawn furniture, and an outhouse, and some branching paths. I was hoping to get up to the top of the hill and come down on the other side because I knew that would bring me closer to home. But it wasn't to be. I did find another old farming couple up there though tending some more plants (and with whom I repeated my earlier brilliant performance) before the trail gave out in an overgrown foresty type of situation where I had to turn around pass all three of them on the way back down, giving me a chance to practice my Korean versions of "Thank you" and "Good bye" (to those who are staying). |
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| Red #10. I took this just because I was struck by the colors and the pattern of the sidewalk. |
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| Red #11. I was happy to find this E-W running sidewalk which took me in the direction I wanted to go. The sun was going down and I was ready to get back to my A/C. |
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| Red #12. Everything is under construction around here. The elevated highway which runs past our school, which currently in Google maps just shows up as the base of some pylons, is almost complete. That's just north of here, which is in the direction this photo was taken. It looks like this section of the highway will be a tunnel. On the left side of the image you can see the bottom flank of the hill that I was trying to cut across when I was climbing past the farm and ultimately had to go around. |
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| Red #13. Looking back to the southeast just a little north of the last picture. I'm not on a real sidewalk at this point, just sort of following some gravel construction roads alongside the highway under construction. |
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| Red #14. More construction. Looking pretty much due east. The only thing I could read on the signs I saw was "CCTV" which pretty much eliminated any desire I had to go exploring further, not that I had any to begin with. |
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| Red #15. Looking the other direction across the highway under construction. Power plant on left, bridge I haven't crossed yet, just circled around, and setting sun on right. In background is bridge leading to airport island, and airport island itself. |
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| Red #16. Our little local canal. Now that I've expanded my horizons so much I feel proprietary toward this piece of real estate. Looking eastish. |
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| Red #17. Almost home! There's a tree growing out of my head! and my scrub top is soaking wet with my own sweat though I've only been strolling for 1.5 hrs at a constant elevation (for the most part)! That's what 90 degrees F and 80% humidity will do for you. |
Next up is "nature" walk #2 (purple route), which I took 2 days later, making it the Monday evening of last week, the night before classes started. Eventually you've been working long enough you need to take a break and clear your head, so that's what I did. I wasn't satisfied with the proximity to the ocean I'd achieved on the earlier walk and I'd heard there was a way to get closer so I took a right instead of a left at one point (see map above).
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| Purple #1. This is looking west from "Freedom Hill" across the mud flats (tide was out). Highway and bridge heading to Incheon Int'l airport island is on left. |
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| Purple #2: Looking north (toward you-know-where! - probably some of those mountains in the far distance are there!) at locks. Also from Freedom hill. |
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| Purple #3: Freedom hill is kind of like a highway rest stop. It's got a gas station, rest rooms, snack bar, souvenir shops, views, and a statue of a big geometric blue bear with a little yellow bear sitting on its head. |
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| Purple #4: If you need socks you can get them from this vending machine at Freedom Hill. Come to think of it, I remember last night seeing lots of socks for sale in the subway. I wonder if the prevalence of sandals stimulates the sock market? Heh heh, I said "The Sock Market"! |
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| Purple #5. Do I have to mention this is looking west across the tidal flats toward the airport island or can I put this issue to bed and get into bed myself and get back to watching "Penny Dreadful" on Netflix before I have to start the work week tomorrow? |
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| Purp #6. You figure it out! |
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| Purp #7. They've got some pretty funky architecture happening here. This is on the far side of the waterway with the locks, which I wasn't able to cross over. |
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| Purp #8. See comment above. |
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| Purp #9. Ditto. I'm not saying I don't like it, mind you! |
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| Purp #10: Circling around to find my way home. Afraid to try going east on this (the north) side of the highway because I don't know how far I'd have to go before I can get back across again to my side, so I play it safe (for once). Turns out that was probably a good decision: it's a ways to the next road which crosses the highway and it was getting late at this point (and again I was streaming sweat). |
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| Purp #11. Heh heh, I said "Purp". |
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| Purp #12. Freedom hill which I'd passed on the way into this area is on left. This is yet more water-control structure. I love dams and controlling water flow! Damn how I love them! |
Purp #13, bonus pic (not shown). On the way out, on the sidewalk where I'd seen the huge spider two days earlier I found a pile of chairs (pretty nice, sturdy, dining-style chairs. Made in Malaysia) apparently thrown onto the sidewalk (they were in a jumble and one had a broken leg. Since I didn't like the IKEA desk chair that came with my room I carried one of these home. I told Eric about it and said there were more so the next night we walked back and each brought one more home. Now I have two! But, as they used to say in the Uncle Wiggly books, that's a story for another time.
I will also have to blog about my trip last night to Gimpo at another time as well as I'm ready to have dinner and wind down. I've already set my alarm for tomorrow morning. While it's about 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning there and you have a full relaxing weekend day ahead of you it's after 8:00 p.m. here and I have to think about starting a new work week tomorrow.
Have a great week everybody!
