hitchhiking in south korea

hitching in korea is ridiculously easy. yesterday morning, i thanked matt for sharing his home with me for a week and hit the road for the hitching point. there is a service station 30 minutes’ walk south of yangjae metro station on highway one at the ‘interchange’. i was pretty nervous ‘cos my korean language skills consisted of two words that eunsil had taught me: ‘an-nyong haseyo’ (hello) and ‘kamsa hamnida’ (thank you) – well, at least i knew what to say before and after getting out of the car/truck!

i stood at the end of the services and stuck my arm out and gestured with my hand as if to say “come here”: i had done my research and this was apparently the way to hitch in korea. i got a few people stopping for me and i had my map of korea handy. unfortunately, the first three potential lifts were all going in different directions to mine. after ten minutes, one guy stops – he is going to busan and he speaks english! great! i forget his name – korean names are just as difficult to remember as chinese ones – but he took me out of his way to drop me off at a service station on the way to jeonju and gwanju.

the built-in sat-nav made him divert from highway 1 but we found an alternative route to get back to the highway. we stopped at the original services where he was going to drop me off and i showed him my paper map, suggesting that he could take me to the next services which would be better for me, and it would be almost the same way for him to get to busan. he agreed, and i even got him to turn his sat-nav off. he agreed that people just get too dependent on machines and technology – time to break out of the prison!

after he dropped me off and posed for a pic, i went to the end of the services and stuck out my arm again. not 5 minutes had gone when a pick-up truck stopped. he didn’t speak any english but with my map, we agreed on where to drop me off... a couple of services on the highway down to gwanju. he was a bit of a speed freak, weaving between traffic on the two-lane highway. a car in front tried to slow him down but he cruised from the fast lane and overtook the guy and another car on the hard shoulder. that freaked me a little and i was happy when we finally got to the services. gamsa hamnida!

again, to the end of the services and stuck out my arm... and maybe the third car that passed stopped. this time, a family... mum, dad, and daughter in the back. daughter who speaks a little english takes the map. i keep asking where they are going, and then i hear the magic word: mokpo. that’s my destination too!! my lucky day, i’m thinking, as i stash my pack in the boot and climb into the back seat. full luxury suv. there was a thunderstorm to contend with, and a little diversion to pick up a couple of their friends, but after everyone had been dropped off, ‘dad’ drives me to the ferry terminal.

i was at the wrong one but i find the ‘international terminal’ with a little help. i missed all the 3 ferries going to jeju that day, so i had to rough it outside the terminal overnight. when it re-opened around 5 this morning, the security guard approaches me as i’m rolling up my mat in the terminal. he gestures ‘sleep’. i gesture ‘outside’. he says ‘hotel?’ i say ‘no’. he gestures that i should have told him something last night when he threw me out at 11pm and then i could’ve slept in the terminal itself. (yes, it is possible to get all that from body language!) i gesture ‘sorry – next time’. i bought the cheapest ticket and boarded the boat at 8. and the sun is out and in half-an-hour, we should be at jeju.