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