I made this last year with the help of naver and my co-teachers. It will give you an idea of how Pohang is broken down into its various towns and suburbs.
Category Archives: South Korea
Freediving in the Philippines
I recently came back from spending two weeks with Freedive HQ on Mactan,Cebu, the Philippines.
Freedive HQ is owned by Mike Wells, who basically shaped the SSI freediving programme along with Lotta Erikson, Linda Paganelli (from Freedive Dahab/ Freedive International) and a few other big names in the industry. There are currently 2 female instructors who are the deepest un-official record holders for their respective countries: China and Korea. Miya hails from Korea and is currently training to reach 58m+. Sura Dai, from China, has dived to 54m and no doubt she’ll be breaking that soon enough… when she takes a break from teaching all of us newbies!
I started off with some in-water training- call it a refresher if you like. I was worried that I’d forgotten loads during my 4 year hiatus. I did forget some things: I had to re-learn Frenzel and my freefall was a bit rubbish to begin with.On my first day I found myself thinking “This is crazy. What are you doing?” as I did my free immersion to 10m. Luckily it didn’t take long for my inner dolphin to wake up! FIM is so zen- I love hanging at the 15m bottom plate looking at the jellyfish pulsating by.
It was so good to be back in the water and I got back to 29m after 1 week. Now the hard work started.
Learning mouth fill, FRC and Frenzel is challenging. But I like challenges so it’s OK. The hardest thing with mouthfill/ Frenzel is to master glottis control and NOT swallow your air. We got loads on on-land exercises to do but underwater it’s just a case of trial and error until your body and mind get to the same understanding.
Our instructor, Sura Dai, is Chinese but her English is perfect. She is such an awesome instructor: funny, calm, patient. She also has an amazing collection of toys! We tested our lung capacity as well as our oxygen usage/ heart rate during dry apnea. I couldn’t believe that in 1:40 minutes I’d only used 21% of my body’s O2 and that my heart rate could drop to 39BPM so easily. That’s the mammalian dive reflex for you! One of the guys in my group managed to get down to 50% O2 before he inhaled. Amazing- he counted around 20 contractions. I didn’t push myself as hard as I should have because I don’t enjoy dry contractions. Underwater they feel like hiccups to me but on land I still struggle with them. This will be a major focus to the next part of my training.
I had 3 other guys in my group and we had such a great dynamic- we really motivated each other and you could see that in our results. I also witnessed a couple of LMCs and BOs for the first time ever- a lot less dramatic than I imagined them to be but it’s still weird to see someone go blank. Especially before you have to do a PB attempt. It’s SO important to control your thoughts, emotions and reactions and stay on the positive side of things. I saw that Robin Williams had died, but refused to let the idea swirl inside my head. Nothing bad was allowed to stay in there. Only good memories, good vibes and good tunes. It’s also vital for you to take the right amount of time for your breathe-up and increase your performance slowly. If you do 3 30m+ dives in a session you’re probably pushing yourself a bit too much, although it’s all up to the individual. What you don’t want is to keep on getting LMC/ BO and your body to get used to that as an acceptable response to breath-hold.
I ended up diving to 33.3m and if I had more time I think I would have gone deeper.
Sadly, we all have to go up to the surface, dry off and go home at some point. I surpassed my goal depth of 30m, completed SSI Level 3 and am ready to go back next year for a month for the next step. Meanwhile, I have to find a training pool in Pohang that will let me do dynamic and static…
Freediving in Korea:
There are clubs scattered across Korea, with my nearest one being in Daegu. Busan Scuba is currently gearing up to launch AFIA training (AFIA= Korea’s freediving association). Kevin Mitchell is based in Seoul and runs 1upfreediving. Most Koreans spearfish and don’t just purely freedive. Also, sea restrictions are a bit OTT here so expect most of your freediving to be pool based (great for pre-trip training). At the moment freediving is not hugely accessible to foreigners here but let’s see if I can change that a little bit before I leave! The terminology has mostly been borrowed from English so once you get a foot in the door the rest should come easy.
Links:
Freedive HQ’s blog
Sura’s blog (Chinese)
Miya’s blog (Korean)
One Breath (Korea)
Korea Freediving Team (Korea- NOT the national team or anything, that’s just their name)
Kevin Mitchell’s (AIDA instructor/ judge) blog on freediving in Korea
Annelie Pompe’s blog
***Featured image’s rights belong to Freedive HQ***
Biking adventures of a Random Black Girl
Way back in July I met a South African chick who made it her summer mission to cycle all round Korea. I caught up with Thato Mokobane when she visited Pohang and again later at Korea Burn. Working in Seoul as a university lecturer, Thato also DJs on the side and we share 2 loves: scuba diving and cycling. I gave her a list of questions to answer at the end of her journey and I was very excited to get her replies last week.
1. How old are you? 29, guess I wanted to get this trip under my belt before my dreaded 30th.
2. Why are you doing this trip? I haven’t quite figured that out yet. All I know is that I love cycling, I love travel and I’ve been eager to explore Korea… Get to really know the country I live in.
3. What do your kids and school think about you doing it? I teach University students, so they think I’m pretty badass. My co-workers and superiors were a little concerned about the risks of doing a trip like this on my own, but for the most part they have been very supportive.
4. How many kms have you done so far? How many days have you been on the road? I’ve been on the road for just over 7 weeks. As for the km I’ve done, I’d have to guesstimate somewhere in the region of 7000km, but I can’t be completely sure.
5. How long do you expect the journey to take? Are you on schedule so far? I’ve been on schedule for the most part, sometimes a little ahead and other times a little behind, but so far so good. I had planned for a two month time frame and have managed to stick to it so far. I can’t believe I have just under a week left.
6. What’s been your longest day so far? My longest day was a few weeks ago, when I rode 150km from Seoul to Chungju Dam. That was definitely a personal record.
7. Have you had any dramas along the way? Small things mostly, running out of water, getting lost and having to ride in the rain. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have had guardian angels who have assisted me along the way whenever something went wrong, so it’s been quite a pleasant trip.
8. What’s been your favourite part so far? Without a doubt, Korea burn was my favorite festival to visit during this trip. I got to meet up and party with friends for a couple of days on the west coast. It gets pretty lonely on the road alone, so getting to spend a weekend with friend after a month of cycling alone in a country where few people speak English, was definitely a highlight. I also discovered a recently added bike path that goes from Chungju to Daecheon. For a biking enthusiast like myself, the discovery of a new long distance bike path is like Christmas, Easter and My birthday all rolled into one.
9. Give us an idea of your daily food intake. I wish I could say I mostly ate Korean food, but unfortunately that would be a lie. When you’re cycling close to 100km a day, time becomes a scarce commodity, and stopping to eat at a restaurant a luxury I could not always afford. So I mostly ate convenience store food while on the road. And then when I finally reached my destination, most of the time I was too tired to go looking for a good place to eat, so I most nights I dined on either McDonalds or Lotteria… Which is why I haven’t lost much weight during my trip.
10. Do you use music? What’s your perfect playlist? In Seoul, I fancy myself a bit of a DJ, so music is a big component of my daily ride. I have about 10 mixes that I put together myself, all house music. Deep house for the chilled out ride, hard house for when I need to light a fire under my ass, and electro for the long ride.
11. Are you going to keep cycling back home? I hope to keep cycling around the world, and I would love to do Africa at some point. However the landscape and infrastructure is completely different to Korea and a lot of research and planning would be needed for that type of ride.
12. Has the trip changed your view of Korea and Korean people? If anything, it’s cemented my love for Korea. As soon as you get out of the main cities, the Koreans you meet are the friendliest most helpful people you’ll ever meet. The love and pride they have for their country was the biggest thing I noticed on this trip. Everywhere I went, I was met with words of cheer and encouragement for what I was doing, and countless stories and suggestions of things I had to include and see along the way. Not to mention the discounts and freebies I collected from cycling enthusiasts.
Check out her adventures on Facebook.
I’m so stoked that I met you Thato- you’re a great inspiration. I hope your adventures continue once you head back to South Africa!
11 Things to do in Pohang
1. Take a surf lesson at Yeongilman (영일만, 서핑 포항).
2. Go to Chilpo-ri Temple (칠포리). From Shiwae Bus Terminal, go to Heunghae Transfer Center ( bus 100, 500, or 107). There is a country bus without a number you can take from the Heunghae Transfer Center Stop. Ask the driver to stop at Chilpo. The bus runs once/ hour. The 500 and 510 go to Wolpo beach too.
3. Go to Bogyeongsa Temple/ hike the 12 waterfalls (보경사). Hop on the 510 bus from Shiwae Bus terminal- it ends at Bogyeongsa.
4. Visit the Homigot Hand & Guryonpo’s Japanese Street (호미곶/ 구룐포). Take the 200 bus – get off at Guryongpo transfer centre(구룡포환승센터) – then take the “Homigot” bus (호미곶 – there’s no number). Ask the driver to tell you where to get off (but it should be obvious).
5. Go to Jangsa Beach (장사리) – the best beach in Pohang. Buy a ticket at Shiwae Bus Terminal and ask the driver to stop at Jangsa. The journey takes about an hour depending on traffic. Buy your return ticket at the shop next to the convenience store opposite the beach (use the tunnel that connects the beach to the town).
6. Attend an orchestra performance. Bus 200 goes there from Shiwae Bus Terminal.
7. Attend a baseball game– Samsung Lions. Bus 200 goes there from Shiwae Bus Terminal.
8. Attend a soccer game – Pohang Steelers. Bus 200 goes there from Shiwae Bus Terminal.
9. Shop at Jukdo Market (포항죽도). Most buses pass by Jukdo Market.
10. Stay awake all night, party at Tilt and watch the sun rise (포항틸트). Naver has all the bus details!
11. Eat Haemul (cold noodles, grated pear and sashimi) (포항해물). It’s off the hook tasty! There are loads of restaurants that serve Haemul along Pohang’s main beach “Bukbu”, now known as Yeongildae.
6th Annual Mayor’s Cup surfing Championship (Busan)
I’m back from a great weekend in Busan.
I was disappointed that we didn’t have waves on Saturday but the event as a whole was pretty fun! It’s worth bearing in mind that the surf comp and indeed the sport itself is still relatively new in Korea so there’s lots of room for improvement.
When the judges saw that the day was getting on and conditions were not going to improve before the beach closes at 6PM, they decided to have board paddle races to select the winners instead. Before the event started, all the surfers formed a big circle in the water to pay respect to the victims of the Sewol Ferry Tragedy.
I met Brett Burcher, who won the 2009 Red Bull Juniors in Cronulla, Australia. He’s studying to become a teacher and is extremely down to earth. I think that if he could combine surfing and teaching like Skateistan has done with education/ skateboards he could really be a force for good! Check out Toby Cregan’s surf short, Carpark Stories , featuring Brett riding some shweet waves.
The youngest surfer at the competition was Kai Kim, who, at the age of 2, has more sponsors than she can shake a stick at: Spider surfboards (from Durban, South Africa), Ocean and Earth, Carver Skateboards and Gwangali Surf School. What she lacks in height she makes up for in cuteness! All her sponsors products are available in Korea here.
5 reasons to enter next year’s competition
1. Swag: You get a cool goody bag. This year’s swag included a Billabong cap, surf wax and event t-shirt (and the comp rule book).
2. More swag: There are lots of spot give-aways during the day that you don’t find in every day Korea: trendy sunglasses, big towels, surfwear etc.
3. Free Red Bull!
4. Prizes: If there are waves, you could win a prize. Prizes range from goody bags to 1.5 million won for guys and 1 million won for girls. If there are no waves, you can paddle and still win a prize. Or not, like me… I came 4th out of 4. Sad face.
5. The afterparty. The best fucking party I’ve been to in Korea. The music, the vibe, the all you can drink for 10,000 won… Is there anything hotter than a party with sexy, sweaty surfer boys and girls?!
6. Bonus reason: Mel Vin gave anyone who was interested a SUP intro lesson . I really enjoyed it – great for developing your balance.
5 reasons not to bother:
1. There may not be waves so if you’re a purist this might annoy you. Your back up plan should involve improving your paddling and wrestling skills.
2. You feel pretty clueless as a foreigner as there is hardly any English support.
3. The Korean competition has many divisions: junior, longboard, beginner and open. As a foreigner you can ONLY compete in the International Open. This means that whether you’re a beginner or intermediate, you will be competing against surfers from Japan and Korea who are experienced and who regularly compete on an amateur level. You could still beat them in a paddling match, if you run into the water for as far as you can instead of paddling straight away!
4. If you live in Korea you know that the plan can change at a moment’s notice. The surf comp was no different. My event was supposed to be at the end of the day but they suddenly gave us 5 minutes to get ready. In fact, 2 girls missed out on competing because no one called them to let them know about the schedule change… That’s a bit crap since we’d been on the beach from 8AM that morning.
5. You’ll need a Korean friend to help you enter since the KSA website is only in Korean but that’s a lame excuse not to go!
I’m definitely entering next year’s competition and it would be great if we had more foreigners. I know that loads of Saffas, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits and Yanks surf back home so the level of competition could be so much higher if everyone gets involved! I really think sport has been my favourite way of bonding with Koreans.
GET ON IT!
Gamcheon 2-dong Artist Village (Busan)
Gamcheon Artist Village (naver 감천문화마을), also known as Taeguekdo Village, teeters precariously on a hill in Busan. It started out as a refugee camp during the Korean war. North Korean troops advanced pretty far down into what is today’s South Korea, but Busan was a strong-hold that wouldn’t budge. Seeking refuge in the hills is always a good idea, it’s easy to spot the advancing enemy and easy to defend your position (those hills would suck the energy out of most mortals).
What started off as a ramshackle collection of shacks developed into a village with a maze of narrow alleyways, steep staircases and colourful box-shaped houses.
History: Why is it also known as “Taeguekdo” Village? Gamcheon has a strange history intertwined with religion and war: the religionTaegukdo was founded in 1918 and states that the Taeguk, aka yin/yang symbol, represents the true meaning of life and the universe. Cho Je-chol converted many refugees by offering to uplift them from poverty and eventually he had so many followers that the religion’s headquarters moved here. I didn’t see any yin/yang symbols painted on the walls so I don’t know how popular it is nowadays. The main temple is located at the foot of the village but I didn’t have time to visit it.
During the 1970’s another movement took off, the Saemaeul “new village” movement, during which slate roofs replaced the pre-existing corrugated iron ones and running water was installed. Gamcheon only got electricity in 1965!
More recently, a government initiative was launched in 2009 to uplift the community via art and many people were sceptical at first. It turned out to be so successful that Gamcheon is now being touted as a great example of urban rejuvination and has had many official visitors from other countries seeking to improve their own shantytowns! Although this area is still seen as poor in comparison with other Busan neighbourhoods, it is definitely far more aestetically pleasing than modern Korea’s concrete jungle.
It must be pretty annoying to live there and have hundreds of tourist types traipsing past your house every day- especially when your front door opens right onto the walkway and everyone can see your laundry drying in the sun. There are loads of photogenic faces in Gamcheon- so many old people considering the hills! It’s worth noting that you should always ask permission before taking photos of people. Don’t be a dick- a little respect goes a long way. The walls are pretty thin, providing a living, breathing soundtrack to your journey through the labyrinth. Just before I left the village I saw 3 old men sitting at a table outside, having a very heated discussion. One of them reminded me of Carl Fredricksen from “Up”- same outfit but instead of his tennis ball-adorned walking cane, this guy’s chair had tennis balls as floor protectors. If they weren’t having an argument I would have asked for a photo.
Highlights: Most people go here to take photos of the Little Prince. When I got to Korea I was very surprised to learn how popular Antoine de Saint-Exupéry‘s literary character was here. In fact, I recently bought a mini book that features the Korean/ English version of the book complete with scetches at a local bookstore. The installations around Le Petit Prince change from time to time, as does the other murals so what you see on other blogs may not exist when you visit. I found the baby-faced pigeon gargoyles fascinating and creepy at the same time. For me, the best part was watching the locals, the soulful eldery characters, going about their daily business.
Novelty factor: You can buy a map at Haneul Maru (2,000 won at time of writing) and take a stamp tour of the photo gallery, book café, art shop and Gamnae Eoulteo observatory. If you get all the stamps you will receive two souvenir postcards at Haneul Maru.
Opening hours: You can visit the village between 9AM and 6PM.
How to get there: Take Line 1 (orange) in the direction of Sinpyeong. Get off at Toseong-dong (토성역, stop 107). Take Exit 8 and jump on mini-bus # 2 or 2-2 from outside the PNU Cancer Center and get off at Gamcheon Elementary School (감천초등학교). Alternatively, catch the 17 or 17-1 bus across from Busan Station. Get off at the last stop and walk to the mini-bus stop to take the 2 or 2-2 mini bus (“maeul”).
More photos on my Instagram page.
Surfing in Pohang/ Busan Surf Competition
I tried my hand at surfing for the first time in 2010. Jeffreys Bay, better known as J’Bay, is famous for its perfect barrels and its annual surf competition. I’ve been practicing paddling out and standing on our coffee table since I was 18 so it was cool to finally take beginner lessons. Two days of basic lessons followed by a year’s gap before I repeated the beginner game in Newquay, Cornwall. One day of surfing foamies followed by 3 years’ hiatus.
Last year I was in Busan to learn sailing and I happened to catch the last part of the Busan Surf Competition. The “waves” made me laugh. I come from a country where you grow up being dumped by waves and almost drown on a regular basis. They call THIS the sea? WAVES? Seriously… Korea is not known for its waves, that’s for damn sure. North Korea, maybe. South Korea? Typhoon time, sure. But then you’re not allowed to surf. In fact, they have cancelled the Annual Mayor’s Cup International Surfing Championship in the past because “the waves were too big” ??? Check out this cool blog on surfing in the DMZ.
I decided to enter this year’s competition (entry cost 40,000 won) because I reckon even a beginner like me can surf Korea’s teeny tiny waves! If you want to learn how to surf in Pohang (in English) you need to contact these guys. However, if you already have some basic skills that you want to build on and you only need to rent a board, you can go to Surfer City or Green Room (naver 서핑 포항). These shops are both located in Yeongilman, past the industrial park and the harbour. I have rented boards from both shops and I got a better deal at Green Room but Son Young Ik, who runs it, is often away and Surfer City is usually open (expect to pay anywhere between 20,000-25,000 won for 2-4 hours’ board rental) . If you become a member of the KSA this will drop to 10,000 won. If you have your own board and a car, you can obviously go anywhere and Guryonpo is a good spot for bigger waves.
We had a few big waves around full moon two weeks ago and I got a bit cheeky. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up with a broken foam-top rental board. Young Ik is super laid back and was nice enough not to charge me, but I’m now known as that girl who broke a board. WORSE! The waygookin girl (the only one) who broke a board. Ah well, shit happens! That’s how you learn, right?! Haha.
Korea surf culture is still in its infancy but it is growing very quickly. Foreigners like to complain that Koreans follow no safety rules or etiquette when they surf. They also like to bitch about too many people at “their” spot. I would hate for Koreans to learn this negative, greedy, clique-y attitude to a resource that belongs to no one and everyone at the same time. No one owns the sea, you can’t own a surf spot.
Currently Korean surf culture is still very open, friendly and leans more towards longboards, which is more suited to the waves here. I’ve rented both 8 and 9 footers here and I actually prefer the 8.
SUP (Stand up paddling) is also taking off big time here, which makes sense considering the “waves”. Mel Vin is the best guy to contact on Facebook regarding SUP sales and lessons.
I have about 10 hours of practice under my belt for the Busan Surf Competition. All the foreigners get lumped together in the International Open, seperated only by gender, not experience. The Korean competition is divided into juniors, beginner, open and longboard . When I spoke to the KSA earlier this week there were only 2 other girls in the International Women’s Open, so we’re 3 in total. People can still enter on the day, but I hope no one does! How awesome would it be to snag 3rd place with my limited experience??! The prizes in the International Men’s open are: 1,500,00 won for first place, 500,000 won for 2nd place and a goody bag for third place. In the Intl. Women’s first place gets you 1,000,000 won, second place 300,00 won and a goody bag for 3rd place. Aussie surfer Brett Burcher has flown in to do a few workshops with Kai Surf/ Ocean & Earth Surf shop prior to taking part in the comp. I’m paying 35,000 won for surfboard rental through Kai Surf (to pick up at the venue the morning of).
Obviously I can write what I know about surf comps on the back of a soju bottle cap, but they still expect you to know the rules (even though there will be no briefing for foreigners). The rules are on the KSA’s website and event but they’re all in Korean. Luckily, the follow ISA rules, so you can inform yourself here.
For more info on surfing in Korea, go here.
Tide tables and Weather forecast: Use KHOA (Korea hydrographic and Oceanographic Administration), Buoy Weather or Windfinder.
Vocabulary: 밀물 = high tide, 썰물= low (ebb) tide,날 짜=date, 북= north, 서= west, 남= south, 동= east
Groups to join on Facebook: Surfing Korea, Korea Surf Association, Korea Water Love, Surfer City (Pohang), and Esl English Surf Lessons (Pohang).
Hostels on Haeundae Beach (Busan): Pobi Guesthouse and Popcorn Hostel.
Happy surfing x
Manbulsa Temple (10,000 Buddhas)
I first read about Manbulsa Temple on another blog. It sounded so fascinating that I convinced my co teachers to arrange a trip so we could check it out.
It’s currently being renovated so there’s a lot of digging and building going on- not very tranquil. However, if you have a thing for Buddha statues, this is the place for you! Manbulsa mean 10,000 Buddhas (man= 10,000, bul= Buddha, sa= temple). It’s a bit of a theme park.
You know how some foreigners say “seen one temple, seen ’em all” ? Well, I learnt a few new things here.
– Dead babies. This was creepy: there are rows upon rows of baby Buddha statues with little caps, being guarded by Chinese Horoscope sign characters. Some little statues have chocolates and others have money and trinkets hung around their necks. All of them have names though. These statues represent babies who died before being born- these are the parents efforts to ensure that the baby gets re-incarnated.
– Graves. I’ve grown used to seeing round mounds on mountainsides and assumed this was the standard way of burial for Korean Buddhists but there are a couple of different graveyards here.
– Wishes: A water fountain with little Buddha figures adorning it. Apparently if you make a wish and pour water over the statue’s head three times, your wish will come true. Let’s see about that!
– Sin: There is a small bell that you can gong 3 times to absolve all your sins. Wow, that was easy! I’ll be back for more no doubt!
I really liked the “sleeping pose” Buddha, a.k.a death pose Buddha because it reminded me so much of the one in Bangkok, only this one is A LOT smaller, as in 10m long and it’s bronze, not gold leaf. I liked his golden robe, meters of fabric sewn together and draped over him to keep him clean.
Manbulsa Temple has a novelty factor that you won’t find at many other Buddhist sites in Korea so I definitely recommend going- only wait a month or so to give them time to complete their renovations!
How to get there: Follow the directions on the official website.
Hiking Namsan, Gyeongju
I hiked Mount Namsan (nam= south, san= mountain) in Gyeongju with my co-teachers last weekend. The mountain is like a living outdoor museum, littered with Buddhist relics as well as royal tombs from the Silla Dynasty. It stretches 8km from south to north and is 4km wide from east to west, including over 40 mountain valleys. There are enough hiking routes here to keep you busy for ages- we started at Samneung (삼릉 탐방지원센터) and had a 4 hour hike in mind. Samneung means 3 royal tombs. One of my co teachers is a Gyeongju native and he is the ultimate guide. He loves Korean culture and has been kind enough to share his knowledge with us. He took us off trail a few times to show us some special spots!
Seabed once told me that in the old days, there were so many temples up on Namsan that if you look up at it from the valley below and what is Gyeongju today, it would have been lit up like a small city!
We saw various carved Buddhas, mostly broken and fixed up, but it was the rock carvings that impressed me most. The time, skill and patience it would have required to complete these carvings astound me. Many of the carvings and statues date back to the 8th and early 9th centuries and they have really stood the test of time. We were very lucky that it was a damp morning, because it’s harder to see some of the carvings in glaring sunlight. The only carving we saw that was from the Guryo instead of the Silla period, was the Seated Yeorae. It was interesting to see that the style of the Buddha was different to the others: this one has bigger lips and a wider nose. All the Buddhas I saw had haloes, signifying nirvana. Apparently the shape of the hair/head with its little bun also means that enlightenment has been achieved.
There are 11 temples on this mountain according to the map but we only visited one- Sangseonam. It felt very ethereal climbing the steps to this small temple in the mist, with the monk’s chants getting louder with each step.
We had kkalguksu (칼국수)- handmade, handcut noodles in a sesame (케) broth- a delicious Gyeongju food specialty.
For the hike as a whole, I’ll let the photos do the talking.
How to get there: The bus stations and train station in Gyeongju town all have Information booths with tourist maps available. Take a map and a taxi (which should be around 15,000 won) or take the 500 bus from Naenam sageori (내남사거리), which is located opposite the Cheonmacheong Tomb. Get off at Samneung (산릉) on the west side of Namsan.
More info can be found on these blogs:
http://blog.korea.net/?p=16106
http://gyeongjulove.blogspot.kr/2012/01/mt-namsan-place-called-outdoor-museum_19.html
http://www.hikekorea.com/trails/saunter-back-time-through-silla-namsan/
Seoul to Busan Day 5 (Namji to Busan)
We were on the home stretch with 95km and only two hills remaining. After this, the route is flat all the way to the Nakdonggang Certification Centre. We started from Namji (p.40) and rode in the misty morning for a while. We really lucked out with the weather- our only hot day was Day 4. Day 5 was cloudy and cool all day- perfect cycling weather. We finished our day around 15:00!
My favourite part of the morning ride was Yudeung-ri, in Changwon-si (p.45). The village houses and walls have all been decorated with bike and farm themed murals- I found it a very welcoming sight! After Yudeung-ri you will have a steep hill to wake you up and another smaller but noticeable hill just before you enter the outskirts of Yangsan.
Note: there is one section where all the signs tell you to cross over a bridge (the Susandaegyo if I remember correctly) and I remember we were confused by it in 2013 too. Last year we ended up following a Korean over the bridge and had to do a huge hill. This time, we rode along the river, ignoring at least 5 official 4 River signs saying TURN BACK, MAKE A U-TURN!!!! and guess what? We were fine. Yeah, we still had to do a hill but it was MUCH smaller than the alternate route.
After this it’s sweet cruising at a great pace until you enter the outskirts of Busan. The bike path will be MUCH busier here so beware of pedestrians, dogs, kids on bicycles and rollerblades.
Once you get to the Nakdonggang Hagutduk CC you have a few things to do. First, celebrate, high five and hug each other! It feels so good to finish. Take lots of photos, pose with the Koreans who will no doubt ask you to and THEN make your way to the Certification Center Building. You need to fill in a form with your details and present your passport at the desk for processing. They gave us silver route completion stickers for the Hangang, Namhangang, Saejae and Nakdonggang (even though we left out Andong! Apparently they give you the sticker even if you have one stamp missing), as well as the golden Cross Country Road sticker. I got my completion medal 2 weeks after completing the journey, which is pretty impressive.
Once you’ve done your admin and had a beer or lunch, head to Sinpyeong Subway Station (Line 1- orange). This will take you all the way to Nopo Station which is also the bus terminal for many cities, including Pohang. I’ll refer you to Marie Eksteen’s great blog for further transport details.
I hope you have found my blog entries useful when you plan your journey. Get on it! You will not regret this trip of a lifetime 🙂
Day 5 summary: 95km total, 7 hours total time including lunch.
Fact of the day: I burnt over 13,000 calories on this trip!
TOTAL trip mileage: 705 (starting from Waterpia Jimjjilbang in Incheon to Nakdonggang CC).
If you’d like to see someone else’s photos of our trip, go to Andrew’s flickr albums:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/119431543@N07/sets/72157645142176773/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/119431543@N07/sets/72157645087705961/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/119431543@N07/sets/72157645047340816/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/119431543@N07/sets/72157645090125232/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/119431543@N07/sets/72157645100754264/
You may also find his strava route useful (although the phone lost reception on Day 4 in the hills): http://www.strava.com/activities/149321638
Happy cycling!
thissokolife 