seoul again, and back to london via helsinki

somewhere in those 5 days in seogwipo jimjilbang, i think i must have formulated the idea to get back 'home'. getting into the arrivals hall at gimpo airport, out came the laptop again and i went online with the airport's wifi network. i found a recommended travel agents in seoul and took the metro to city hall. there was a big demo going on at the time and big gangs of riot police hanging around on every street corner in the neighbourhood. no time to figure out what's going on, just trying to find the travel agents was going to hard enough. after asking a few people, i got to roughly the right area. but then a woman asks me if i need help. yes please!! and it was just around the block. it was a small room in the office block and unfortunately, the english-speaking travel agent wasn't in the office. however, the receptionist got her on the phone for me. 20 minutes of the 'find the cheapest flight to london' game and no luck. i thanked her anyway, grabbed my pack and took the metro over to matt's place.

a longer search on the net got me to the conclusion that there was no way in hell of getting any discounted fares from seoul to london, and the cheapest ones meant possible visa and transit hassles in russia and china... no thanks. i checked my account and found that i had enough to get me a more expensive finnair flight transitting overnight in helsinki. i booked it and felt better. a long ten-months travel was coming to an end and i was looking forward to getting back. matt invited to come with him to his seventh-day adventist church on saturday, and so i did. the sda have a very large complex in seoul... with church, school, hospital, dental hospital, etc. we listened to the sermons and singing, and went for lunch. the church food was basic uninspiring stuff, as everywhere.

i was up early again on the day of my flight. a metro to seoul station and then the airport metro train to incheon international airport. absolutely no hassles at check-in, although our flight was delayed for over 2 hours. we got complimentary coupons for lunch and i spent it at a korean food place. the flight was uneventful, and with the on-screen view of our flight trajectory, it was cool to see the deserts of mongolia and the wonder that is lake baikal from 35,000 feet up.

 i tried to get on the next flight to london instead of waiting for my booked one in the morning. unfortunately, my luggage had already been checked through to london and it would take too long for them to find it and transfer it over to this flight. nothing for it but to find a nice place to sleep for the night, and the seats by my gate did a great job. i only saw one other sleeping out too, and in a seemingly better sofa place at the coffee bar place... ok, mental note to self for the next time when i'm at vaanta airport. british airways were doing the flight to london. from heathrow, i found again my oyster card and loaded it up, and 2 buses and one hour later, i was 'home'.

jeju (part 5): sitting out the typhoons in a jimjilbang

a jimjilbang is a mix of a sauna and dormitory hostel and a cheap option for the world-traveller when the weather isn’t behaving for camping out. there was a big typhoon working its way up the east china sea and jeju was right in its path. i wasn’t going to get caught out again like last time i was in seogwipo.

‘checking in’, i was given a locker key and the ‘uniform’:  mustard-yellow coloured shorts and top, baggy style (very uncool), and told to go to the sauna. dumping my gear behind the counter, i went to the sauna where there was a locker for my boots, and a separate locker for my clothes. after the mount halla trip, my poor aching muscles and body were keen to get some water therapy. i took a long dousing shower and hit the sauna. then a cold water bath and another try in the sauna. one last soap-up and shower and i felt better but my muscles were still sore. the locker room had a hairdresser's place too, plus a relaxing area with tv. plus a place to cut your finger and toe-nails! towels to dry yourself after you got out from the shower/sauna/pool area. it reminded me of the haman experience i had in casablanca, morocco. there was a body scrubbing service too to rid yourself of all the dead skin-cells and come out shining like a newly-waxed car. really, you couldn't have asked for more. the hot pools even had a jacuzzi-style bubbling feature.

leaving my clothes in the locker and putting on the uniform, it was time to go to the common room/mixed sleeping space and dining area. even though there were separate saunas for men and women, the common area was unisex. there were also separate ladies and gents sleeping rooms and about six ‘caverns’ for more private sleeping. there was a balcony/terrace area with tables, but the door was fully secured at the height of the typhoon. there was a big plasma tv showing a korean soap.

time for food:  the menu was all in korean but one old guy helped me choose something when he saw me struggling to be understood. “rice is bap”, he said, and picked out a fried fish with a nice sauce and seaweed soup with kimchi and boiled rice. good choice. i took a mat and found a place on the floor to lay it out and fell fast asleep.

 this morning, after another sauna session, i made it down to the tourist information office and got another map of jeju as i had lost the last one. it was conveniently located near to the pretty waterfall and gorge so i took a little walk there too. logging onto the island wide free wifi network ‘iptime’, it seemed that the typhoon would hit sometime that evening with the full force coming tomorrow morning. so after getting something to eat at the covered market, i walked hurriedly back through the drizzle and gusting wind to see out the typhoon in the safety of the jimjilbang.

that night, the typhoon came with driving rain and wind. i watched from the safety of the jimjjlbang’s windows and was glad i wasn’t camped out in my tent. the next morning, it was as bad as ever, and there were plenty of others holed up there too. it was around about this time that the soreness in my legs really made itself known. they were stiff and aching so much, i had trouble to walk down the steps to the sauna. i went straight to the hot water pool to get the heat treatment for the stiff muscles and inflamed tendons. it was only temporary relief as everything contracted again after a while. i struggled back up the stairs and hobbled to my hidey-hole cavern and lay down. after the same set dinner, i rubbed some tiger balm ointment onto the legs and hoped it would work its magic.

i befriended another korean guy called joon when i was again struggling to order breakfast the next morning. his english was quite good and he translated for me. he told me that typhoon bolaven was already past jeju, but that another typhoon was soon coming. that morning was sunny and fine but typhoon tembin was due in the evening. i decided to stay another night in the jimjilbang. also my legs were still aching in any case so it was really a no-brainer. i passed the time with trips to the hot pool to treat the legs with vegging out in front of the tv with korean tv news showing all the destruction wrought by the typhoon. it was not a pretty sight.

tembin came with predictably strong winds but not as much rain. it was still windy in the morning and i decided to stay another night. the legs were a little better and i could walk down the stairs without having to hang onto the rail and take each step one at a time. another korean guy around my age got talking with me in good english, asking me a lot of questions. i was pretty tired and maybe was a little sharp in my replies, but he ignored it, so i turned the tables on him and asked him about his story. it soon transpired that he was also hooked on alcohol and nicotine and i had to tell him the same story as i told jerry and lee, and countless others i had met during my travels who all aspired to quit one or both of these demons. “if you, your real self, really want to quit, you can do it right now. but if you, your ego, just says that it wants to quit, then you will just keep on deceiving yourself over and over again. you will just keep on making excuses again and again, the fear the ego always has of its own destruction will always win. you just have to be true to your real self.” he was nodding affirmatively, i could see that the words were resonating with him and he knew what he had to do, only he was too strongly gripped by his fear and his ego. he was craving a beer. “so get one”, i said, “just don’t go on saying that you want to quit! and when you do want to quit, you won’t need to say it to yourself or anyone, you will just do it!”. i went to my ‘cavern’ and applied the tiger balm to my legs, stuffed the earplugs in my ears and went to sleep.

i was up early the next morning, showered and was the first for breakfast as the little kitchen opened up at 8. the cook made me my usual bowl of rice and two fried eggs. back in ‘civvies’ and back into the ‘real’ world with the pack on my pack and heading off for the hitching point on the road for jeju-si. it was a beautiful sunny windless day without any hint that a couple of typhoons had struck this place. i'm sure the locals have had a lot of experience with how to cope with typhoons.

the jimjilbang experience wasn’t really like 5 nights in prison, but i was glad to get going again. besides, it had been a safe harbour from the typhoon storms, and it had been a good place to cure my aching legs with the hot water treatment. so maybe i’m being a little unfair to it. it was a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. i had decided to end the jeju island adventure and return to seoul. i waited about 15 minutes for a lift, and he was going to the airport. perfect! at the airport, he also helped me by directing me to the cheap airlines to get my ticket back to seoul. in the end, i paid 57,000 won for the ticket: about twice what i paid for the ferry from mokpo, only an hour’s flight and no need to hitch back! i got in touch with matt again and he’s agreed to host me for a few more nights.

jeju (part 4): the climb to the peak of mount halla

i thanked jerry for his hospitality, and grabbing all my gear (one big pack and one small daypack), i waited for the 502 bus to take me to city hall. i knew the bus would go on the road that i wanted, so i just sat on the bus until it would turn off this road. but it kept going and going, so i was happy that i would get clean out of the suburbs of jeju-si to start my hitching. the bus finally turned for jeju university and i got off and stood by the road. again, around 5 minutes had passed before someone stops for me. again, no english, but with my trusty map and sign language, he got the message that i wanted to go to gwaneumsa and the start of the hiking trail there. he dropped me right there, again going out of his way to do so. great guy!

i sussed out the situation... the climb to the peak had to be done before 13.00 from the last shelter, and to get there would take 3-4 hours. i had missed the time window and so decided to camp out at the camping ground. it was a blissfully sunny and peaceful day, the korean kids were blissfully playing their badminton and football games whilst the adults were busy preparing the tents and mealtimes.

i took this downtime to catch up with the jeju adventures for the blog. i woke early the next morning and went to the trail-head. i asked one of the maintenance guys for the time... he showed me his mobile phone: 06:36. it was a bit cloudy but the morning sun soon came out. the trail was a mix of boardwalk and stones, lined with ropes on either side to keep everyone on the trail and for me to pull myself up the steep parts sometimes. i was soon regretting the decision to bring all my gear... but i was fretting a bit about the coming typhoon and whether i would be stuck in the tent for this time. better to be in a solid building in seogwipo when the typhoon struck. i got to the bridge before the first shelter and took breakfast of a packet of digestives. 

then the steep climb up to the second shelter, and i was taking frequent breaks passing through the forest trail. another good cardio-vascular workout. not as bad as sarangkot but there i wasn’t lumping all my gear. finally, i passed out of the forest into the clearing where the second shelter was. i took a long break here knowing the last and hardest 2.4km section was yet to come. i needed all my strength for that. i met a couple of guys there who offered me rice wine (no thanks) and gimbap and sweet rice cookies (yes please!). i loaded up on water at the spring at the other end of the bridge 10 minutes’ walk past the shelter, and then the steep ascent began. at times, my heart was pounding so hard i thought it would pound its way clean through my chest all the way to the mainland! it was tough going and i was regretting all the gear even more now! people who had overtaken me were already coming back down, but finally i got to the peak! 

it had taken about 6 hours after i started at the camping site! wow, what a sight to see the lake in the hollow of the dormant volcanic crater. a magical place for sure. the clouds were being blown hard and fast at this height (around 2000m) so we were lucky to get even a glimpse of the lake. and then an extended clear spell when all those looking in the right direction at the right time also got to see the coastline and sea. i befriended a lad from seoul, hong, who was also taking the longer seongpanak trail back. he got a dodgy knee coming down and my trusty friend tiger balm came to the rescue. we came across a couple of small roe deer munching away in the forest. they weren’t so shy so we got some photos each time. i set off down around 13:20 and we got to the trail-head at 17:15. 10 hours walking in total and my legs were like jelly. i told hong i would hitch to seogwipo and he could join me, but he didn’t like the hitch-hiking idea.

so after saying goodbye and wringing out my sweat-soaked t-shirt, i planted myself and gear on the road to seogwipo. again, about 5 minutes or so and i get a lift. the driver wasn’t so talkative which suited me fine... i was so dog-tired even for small talk. by chance, he dropped me off at the same junction which i was already familiar with from my last visit to seogwipo a few days earlier. i took hong’s advice and decided to try the jimjilbang experience. so after asking in a shop and getting directions from an english-speaking woman customer, i forced my weary legs to take me there. i had to ask a few more times and sign language soon brought me to the jimjilbang.

jeju (part 3): u-do

and all too soon, it was time to hit the road again the next day. kimi, being the beautiful generous soul that she is, asked me if i had had breakfast...  and got me a cheese sandwich for brekkie, and i said my goodbyes. walking up to the main road and a good place to hitch at the bus lay-by. the second car stopped – this is probably one of the best hitching country i’ve ever experienced. father and his ten-year old son were going to seongsan, and the kid was translating for his dad. they even waited for me whilst i got some provisions in for the udo trip before driving me to the ferry port. gamsa hamnida!!

the ferry to udo took 15 minutes and i had decided to walk the ‘olle’ hiking trail on the island. two guys having lunch at a ‘resting’ pagoda platform beckoned me to them. at first i just wanted to walk on, but they were insistent. so i went over. they were fisherman from udo, taking a lunch break of octopus and beer. they offered me the alcohol but i explained that i didn’t drink. so they ordered a korean lemonade ‘cider’ for me. and two more octopii, delicious with the hot chili sauce. i sat with them a while communicating in broken english before saying goodbye and back to the road. before i got to hagosudong beach, another resting pagoda place had a middle-aged couple and their sister enjoying the view. the guy asked me to take watermelon with them and so i did. his english was ok and so we chatted a while. they were holidaying from seoul. some other walkers passed and got invited for watermelon too. walking on towards the beach and past, i realised that i had passed my destination for the day. i walked back and looked for a good place for the tent. this was definitely a touristy and commercial beach place and it was a while before i settled for a semi-quiet and secluded place with a view of the small bay. 

during the night, it had begun to rain, and by morning, it was still drizzling intermittently and grey skies all around. i took a brief break in the rain to take a wash/swim in the sea before it began to rain again. hiding in the tent, i considered my options. with the next lull in the weather, i took down the tent and just in time, i made it to the pirate cafe before it began to really belt it down. there i asked for rice again... dodgy stomach back again.... and they gave me two bowlfuls on the house. nice people. with the next lull, i made it on the trail again. again i saw the two fisherguys, again they beckoned me over. this time drinking and having fried chicken. i joined them again, but they were really quite drunk and the sister and friend were trying to take them on their way. i devoured some chicken – see, bad discipline – and hit the road.

it was light drizzle all the way round to the peak with the lighthouse, and i thought about roughing it with just the mat at the top there for the night. it wasn’t a really perfectly sheltered place but it could be ok. and then i saw the dark, dark clouds approaching and i knew i wouldn’t make it. i grabbed my gear and started walking down. there was another information building there, with a sheltered place near the entrance. i got there just in time before it really started pissing down.

the splashes from the low walls made it such that there was only one dry corner, but it was enough for my mat. but then the mozzies came and i knew i had to get the tent up somehow. trouble was, it wasn’t a free-standing one and needed to be staked down. no chance of that there. the only other solution was to tie the flysheet (over the inner) to something at either end. the door handle for the ‘info centre’ was one, but nothing in reach for the other end. then i realised what the scrap piece of metal wire i had found earlier was doing there. i stretched it out and it was long enough to reach the metal fence and for me to tie the other end of the flysheet to it. it wasn’t really over the dry spot anymore, but at least one side would be dry and away from the rain coming in from the low wall.

one of the guys (from the lighthouse) came to see what i was up to as i tried to explain about bad weather and if it was ok. he came back a bit later and said it was ok. the rain eased off for a bit, and the sun even came out for a very short while before the sunset resulting in a nice rainbow over the lighthouse. the poor horses and cows grazing on the grassy meadows just kept on chewing away. the rain was really coming down in buckets and i could see the flashes of lightning again through the tent. the storm’s centre was close as the thunder roared not long after. i slept as best i could.

in the morning, it was as bad as ever, and the lighthouse guy was back with an apple for me. kamsahamnida! i took the wet tent down and packed up, and ventured into the drizzle when i thought it best. the path was like a river, and my boots and socks were soon wet. then i heard a jeep coming up behind.... it was the lighthouse guy. he took me down to the ferry port via a quick look at the waterfall coming out from the side of the cliff. only after rain like this, he explained. he dropped me off at the ferry port and i was glad that he did... the road was completely flooded in places. 

i took the next ferry to seongsan and waited at the terminal for the rain to ease again. when it did, i decided to make a break for it. i tried hitching on the main road, but this was not a good place. i needed to be at the roundabout at the other end of seongsan. i decided to walk it there. bad move...  just a km out, the rain belted down again and really drenched me as i sought refuge at a coffee place.

the woman there didn’t speak a word of english, but she kept stroking my arm, obviously pointing out how hairy it was to her friends as if i was a zoo animal. i just smiled -  it didn’t bother me. she turned on the air-con and said to sit near it so that i could dry off, but i was way too wet. i went back up to the stairwell to watch the rain again and change for a dry t-shirt. the woman from the cafe went out for a bit and when she came back, she gave me an umbrella for keeps. gamsahamnida! armed with my new weapon, i ventured out into the rain and found an internet place to get off a couch request to an english guy in seogwipo i met at the festival. i dried off a bit here too in front of a big fan, and again, just waited. however, this storm was not about to die so soon! 

i decided to take the bus to seogwipo and hoped that nic had got my message. i got stressed because i thought that the bus had gone past seogwipo and i couldn’t see a thing for the rain. however, the driver dropped me off at the right place at a busy junction. out with the brolly straight away and find a little shelter by the hn bank and consider my options. i tried to look around for a cheap place to stay, but at the first crossing, my boots got completely soaked with the bottom of my trousers ‘cos the drains couldn’t take the water away fast enough! ok, back to the bank. i had to dry out again - right next door was a coffee and confectionary place called paris baguette. i decided to dry out there over a black coffee.

the place was almost deserted but there were a couple of girls. i asked them if their smartphone had internet. great, i got to see if there was any reply from nic. nope. when they left, i asked the next couple of girls who came by, and again yes, i could use their phone. but again, no luck. then three other girls came by - seems like this place is a regular haunt of teenage seogwipo girls - and i went into my usual spiel. again, i could use the phone, but again, no luck with a message from nic. i got talking with the girls anyway, explaining to them my predicament. i had no plan b. it was raining really heavily again and it looked really forbidding out there.

the cafe place decided to close early due to the bad weather, but by that time, i had dried out enough. the girls were also waiting for a friend, and so we went into the atm section of the bank. wow, this could be the ideal place to crash for the night – but then the girls pointed out the cctv camera and the motion detector which would come on when the place closed at midnight. bummer. i had missed the last bus to jeju... i thought i could always go there and crash at jerry’s place again. too late! last resort place was the 7-11 across the road. 24 hour opening. with tables and chairs. sounded good.

so when time came to say goodbye to the girls, i went over to that brightly-lit place. i got a coffee, but it turned out to be milk, not black as shown on the packaging. the guy wouldn’t refund me the money. too right maybe ‘cos i should have learnt to read korean by now. i hung out there for about 2 and a half hours before the guy had had enough and asked me to go. i pleaded with him and his conscience... “are you really going to send me out into that horrible weather at his time... i’m going to get really wet again... man, it’s a typhoon out there...” he wasn’t happy but he relented.

however, the die had been cast and i knew i would have to find another solution, so after 10 minutes, i gathered my stuff and went out, back to the building entrance that had a stairwell. i walked up all the flights and soon discovered that i could lay out my mat and kip rough there for a few hours until i could get a bus back to jeju. the mozzies were annoying but around six, i packed up and walked to the local bus station and caught the bus to jeju.

i caught jerry before he left for work... i washed my clothes, dried out the tent, hung out my boots, and went to the hospital for an infection i got whilst camping. the doctor wanted to run a whole lot of tests and when they asked me to pay beforehand and i saw the charge, i freaked out again. i found the doctor and just told him to forget the tests, just prescribe me the antibiotics. much as i hate popping pills, it was better than suffering unnecessarily. the doctor agreed and i just paid the consultation fee of around 15,000 won.

the medicine from the pharmacy cost me almost 45,000.... because i didn’t have insurance! crazy buggers!! i went to the lotte mart later and bought some squid and spicy sauce to cook up... it’d been a while since i cooked and it was returning the hospitality. shame that jerry didn’t take to the wholemeal rice and squid, but no worries, i enjoyed it. the rain had eased off that day, and by morning, it was blue skies and sunshine!! there was a big typhoon forecast for monday, but never mind... ok, spontaneous decision to go climb hallasan!ace as before. er english teacher in jeju. and dumped my stuff, we wentfor a social dinner wi