Day 12, Leg 8

Man, my feet hurt. 33K today, from the Hotel If in Daegu to the Lee Motel in Chilgok County (Chilgok-gun). Once again, I took it slowly, waking up at 3:45 a.m. and leaving by 4:20, then arriving at the Lee Motel by late afternoon. I'd started strong, walking vigorously, but by this afternoon, my feet were an aching mess. I had also eaten nothing the previous day, having gorged myself at that Chinese restaurant on Wednesday, so while I had begun this morning full of energy, I didn't have much energy in reserve by the afternoon. 

I also walked past a long, sad parade of large, dead praying mantises, mostly moms, and almost all killed by bikes while attempting to cross the path. I had seriously considered documenting every single death I encountered—the crushed guts and exposed eggs—but I decided that that could be a little numbing. There were at least a few dozen forlorn carcasses. I documented some of them.

Otherwise, the day started off well above freezing, so I removed my outer jacket after an hour and, with the arrival of the bright sun, I took off my winter vest not long after. Another beautiful day, but they're still forecasting light rain for several hours the morning I leave for Libertar Pension in Gumi (Sunday morning). That's a 32K trek, and I'm at Libertar for only a single night. Luckily, the next day's walk is only 23K to Sangju and the Nakdan Dam neighborhood, where I'll be staying at the Bonghwang Motel, a much nicer motel than the Havana, with its surly witch of a manager. (Some brave soul needs to pull the shit-covered stick out of her ass.)

As I've noted before, the Bonghwang marks my first night in Sangju; Sangju is big, so I'll walk 25K to the Bobos Motel (also in Sangju), then turn east and do the final big leg: 36K to the Gangnam Motel in Jibo-myeon, next to Andong. The stay at the Gangnam will be my final two-nighter; after that, it's 30K to the Songhak Motel in western Andong for one night, then 28K the following day to the Andong Dam to finish the walk.

But first, I think my feet need tonight and tomorrow to recover from the day's abuse. 33K is definitely easier than doing 39K, but it's still no picnic, and at this stage of the walk, the damage is going to start to accumulate. I may have to slap on a few extra bandages—not for bleeding or oozing, but to give some extra padding to the raw, sensitive areas on my feet that are currently screaming. Tomorrow, I will again be fasting, but I might buy some food to snack on while I'm walking on Sunday.

The saddest news I got today came from the old couple who run the Lee Motel: the restaurant in the back of the building is still not operating. I'd thought it had come back after the COVID scare, but no: it's apparently defunct. I had been imagining having some kind of hot dinner there (an old sign still advertised an LA galbi rice dish), but no dice, so after getting my room, I went back across the way to the convenience store in the Chilgok Dam admin building and grabbed a simple, single-man's dinner of ramyeon and cans of tuna. Joy. What a letdown after that awesome mandu/gganpoonggi dinner in Daegu. But this is what I'd signed up for, so I can't say I didn't know that this—i.e., culinary disappointment—was coming. 

I saw two feral but well-fed-looking cats as I was leaving Daegu this morning. I also heard the sound of American soldiers running in formation and chanting some silly song in English for cadence. In fact, I heard the soldiers twice—once while they were running across a dam (Gangjeong-goryeong Dam/강정고령보) and once while they were running back across it. Daegu has infamously hot and humid summers, so running in this relatively cool weather must be a relief. Me, after a stroke and a heart attack, I can't imagine running at all.

Pain aside, today's walk was another beautiful one. I didn't see many shaman spiders, and the long parade of dead mantises was depressing, but I did encounter a tiny, wriggling snake and a live mantis, and I even managed to capture a few seconds of the snake on video. Here's the link (I can't embed YouTube vids via my cell phone).

Enjoy the stats, map, and pics. 

33K, not 39.45K 

au revoir, Hotel If

church by a river

fleur

moonshine through clouds, Gangjeong-goryeong Dam area

the ARC (river-culture center)

US army troops out for a morning run-and-chant

Boardwalk... I'm familiar with this from the walk's early days.

apiary... quiescent in the cooler weather

name the funky flower (cockscomb)

morning sun

BONUS: I mentioned well-fed feral cats and a live mantis, ja?

Bobtail, hoping I have food. I don't. I have only meows. Bobtail meows back.

Bobtail isn't sure what to make of my meowing. I know I speak cat with an accent.

here comes Longtail

a butt-sniff, or an exchange of secrets (or both)?

Bobtail and Longtail, prowling

alive, but not Pom Klementieff

PHOTO ESSAY

Bye-bye, If. (4:20 a.m.)

"Log-in Motel" sounds like one of those gamers' motels.

I've learned my lesson about trying to shortcut Naver's plotted route: listen to Naver.

Sometime back, I had tried to find my own, shorter way out of town and onto the bike path, but the way I chose led to the freeway, with no way to cross over. In shame and defeat, I had to retrace my steps and follow Naver's recommended path from the motel to the bike path.

a few blocks before I'm out of town

Billion Western Hotel

conveniently open

when backlighting goes nuts

Keimyung University front gate (it's 계명 in Korean, so personally, I'd spell it "Gyemyeong")

playing with "pro mode" sometimes pays off: a textured moon

Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital

hospital, wide shot

morning traffic

a subway station (I can't quite make out the station's name)

Here's Gangchang Station (Gangchang-yeok/강창역), Exit 2

When you're giving directions in a Korean city, and you know your listener will be using the subway, tell him which station to get off at, and don't forget to give him the exit number (in Paris, the subway-station exits are usually named, not numbered, so navigation is different depending on the city). You need to send your guy out of an exit where, once he leaves it, he can just keep on walking straight forward toward his eventual destination. After that, add any right or left turns—and any distances—that will get him to his target. You might or might not want to include landmarks like famous buildings to pass or to turn at, or intersections to be mindful of. And if the person is heading downtown to a building with multiple floors, give him the floor number or say he'll be met in the lobby. Of course, these days, there are plenty of apps to help with urban navigation, so you might not need to give any directions at all.

big church as I approach a crucial bridge where I cross a river (tributary to the Nakdong)

The bridge (Gangchang-gyo/강창교); I'll be crossing on the right side.

Here we go.

flowers in the cold

likely a marigold

Who'da' guessed? Another marigold!

the Geumho River (Geumho-gang/금호강)

All that electricity. Zoinks.

plenty of morning traffic

and more marigolds!

What have we learned, kiddies? I think we've learned that marigolds are pretty damn tough.

Container evokes bamboo without being bamboo.

Having crossed the bridge, I turn right and head down to the riverside trail.

sign for a "romantic music festival (together with other citizens)"

where the trucks sleep at night

signs pointing to the Geumho River bike path, both directions along the river

the moon glares through the clouds (5:34 a.m.)

Yes, I'm on the bike path. But there's no one else, and I do move over in a few minutes.

Daegu wanes.

One reason why I gravitate away from the pedestrian path is that it's never as well maintained as the bike path.

But as you see above, I'm on the pedestrian path all the same.

But this footpath seems walkable enough.

up a steep-but-short, ramp-like hill

Groups of young runners (in team jerseys) blew past me, all running while in the bike lane. I assume they'd move if a bike ever approached. But you never know.

The double line separates walkers from bikers; the single yellow line for bikers separates direction of travel.

Someone walks past me.

Man... sorry for the blur. This one sucks.

top-left sign: Gangjeong-goryeong Dam
bottom-right sign: Geumho River bike path

Gangjeong-goryeong Dam Certification Center: 250 m ahead

hypnotic moon

In the distance, the ARC approaches.

The ARC is a center devoted, I think, to local aquaculture.

so weird seeing this in the dark

like a whale that's been hollowed out and repurposed

It reminds me of a UFO or a hot-air balloon.

The moon brightens the sky. (6:21 a.m.)

Koreans love their abstract sculpture.

another admin building where all the convenience stores are closed at this hour, alas

The convenience store pictured here occasionally sells it own homemade gimbap (rice-filled seaweed rolls)

Gangjeonog-goryeong Dam as the sky lightens

"meeting plaza"

informational map with the dam in the background

dam length: 810 m

a peek rightward at the town

the edge of Daegu

The Geumho River bike path goes back the way I came; I keep on heading straight along the Nakdong River bike path.

passing the dam; cert center on the left (red booth)

a look down the dam as I pass

"Gangjeong-goryeong Dam Certification Center"

I used to be able to photograph that fish-thingie below more easily. Then they put that fence up.

Now, I can catch the fish's face only at a certain angle.

moon, not sun (6:36 a.m.)

moon, shot taken in regular, non-pro mode

pro mode, ISO dialed down, shutter speed dialed up; some texture visible

I'll be entering a covered area soon, but first, I hear chanting behind me, and it's in English.

I look back and see US Army guys, having their morning run across the dam before turning around and coming back.

at a guess: some kind of dam-related office

"Covered" doesn't mean "weatherproofed."

The Nakdong is very wide at this juncture.

"bike, nature, and me"

paved boardwalk

looking right

There's a bunch of litter floating at the bottom of the cliff. So much litter along this part.

This bridge would look nicer were it not for the pollution.

Morning, ma'am!

no dew on you

breaking right in a sec

another covered area coming up

In we go.

"Maegok Water Intake Facility"

a very vocal bobtail kitty

confused by my attempts to meow at it

I don't want to leave the cat behind, but...

No worries: Longtail will keep Bobtail company.

And how is your anus this morning, Reb? Fine, Jan, just fine. How's yours?

feline formation (pass in review?)

"Water Resource Protection Area"—yeah, then pick up the goddamn litter.

bottom sign: Four Rivers/Nakdong trail, thataway

drainage gate (baesumun/배수문)

my own footpath for now

A persimmon tree caught my eye.

closer

I always see things that leave me wondering what I'm looking at.

As tempting as it might be to eat these berries, it's wiser to refrain.

If that's lichen, the color is very strange. (what I think of as normal)

But as it turns out, yellowish lichen is possible.

The sign is facing the wrong way, but it says, "Don't throw your household waste plastic ('vinyl') here."

both signs advertise a "secluded house"

Sometimes, it looks as though the harvest season never came.

Another stop made to look like a bus stop, but there ain't no bus comin'.

Chilgok Dam about 32K ahead; this is the Maegokje area; Jingnije about 25 K behind

7:36 a.m.

top of a drainage gate (baesumun/배수문)

This tree has seen better days. I see fungus and a huge hole made by either a drill or the world's biggest woodpecker.

peekaboo

full name: lanceleaf Coreopsis

advertising goat stew—not just any goat stew but Munsan goat stew (cue tympani)

Every goat that is good of heart yearns to become Munsan goat stew.

signs for parking lots and restaurants

a shrine-like pavilion

暎碧亭/영벽정/Yeongbyeok-jeong, or "Bright, Blue Pavilion"

explanation of a poem written on a stone marker

this poem, this marker (note the little Korean explanations of certain hanja)

Near as I can figure, the poem is about justice and righteousness, sincerity and prayer.

I typed "탕건" into Google Translate and got "Tanggun" as the translation. Can that be right?

If you can decode this...

...I will be your slave forever.

I partially gather that this site is dedicated to someone's ancestors.

starting down the steps, with my shaky balance

another big mural

As long as there are murals like this, things can't be all bad.

big, white font: Fish Village

another minbak I've never tried (it's not even halfway along the route I'm walking, so stopping here would be too early)

Looks to be a nice place, though.

the kind of prehistoric beast I saw a lot of in Jeju (crushed by a tire?)

"Bateau Fluir Coffee & Oasis" (I thought I knew French, but what is fluir?)

Fluir could be an archaic French verb meaning "to flow." See the conjugation here.

But it would be in the spirit of Korean Konglish to mangle the French by naming a place "Boat To Flow."

I've never figured out what to call the French equivalent of Konglish. The word Konglish is a portmanteau of Korean and English. It refers to words and expressions that appear to be plausible English but are, in fact, faux-English terms used and understood only by Koreans (e.g., skinship, a word used by Koreans to describe the touching, hand-holding phase of a romantic relationship). In French, Korean is "Coréen," and French is "français." So... le corçais? That feels wrong.

gettin' in the holiday spirit

a sign pointing the way for bikers to go; below it (white letters, red background) is a sign saying "Riverside Landscape"

...which turns out to be the name of this restaurant. (강변풍경/Gangbyeon Punggyeong, Riverside Landscape)

I love the dilapidation here.

a sign announcing aloe "cactus"

This site argues that aloe is a succulent, not a cactus. I wouldn't know.

another apiary

zoomed in

I bet you can hear the tinkling sound in your head.

irrigation channel

That looks like 대홍주말농장, which could mean "Daehong Weekend Farm." What's a weekend farm?

I answer my own question: a weekend farm is a farm that is tended on weekends by people who have commitments during the week. It's close in concept to a hobby farm.

shwimteo on a hill

Hello, flowers.

sulphur cosmos, very similar to that lanceleaf Coreopsis

cockscomb

cockscomb up close

Even the bedraggled flowers have their charm.

a black-eyed Susan that got itself a black eye

healthy black-eyed Susan

up the hill

and back down

산불조심/sanbul joshim "Be careful of forest fires" sign
san = mountain; bul = fire; joshim = be careful (jo/catch + shim/mind—a mind that catches things)

the big solar farm

There are some huge, mountainside solar farms along my route, but this is, I think, the biggest one that I pass close to.

sticking my camera through the fence to get the shot

not quite concertina wire

another forest-fire sign—careful!

swing left

more early-winter persimmons

underside of the solar panels (these things create their own microclimates and microbiomes)

I love persimmons, but as I've written before, they're inedible when unripe.

another naughty picture of solar-panel undersides

Songha Farm, the sign says

an ad for Munsan goat stew

How quiet must it be to live out here (except for the damn PA announcements)?

park and observation deck ahead; water-purification facility behind

cosmos

This zinnia has been through some shit.

another frazzled one

This one looks a little happier.

This one got into a fight and came home drunk.

leaving the solar farm

gravesite

long eyestalks attract the ladies, I'm sure (unless... this is a lady)

Ah—I see that most land snails are hermaphrodites. (You can still say "hermaphrodite" about snails without being politically incorrect, ja? You don't have to say "intersex," do you?)

a most ambitious drainage gate

8:28 a.m.

curving out and back to the riverside

I rested at this shwimteo for a bit.

open roof lets the rain in

onto another boardwalk

What's the story here?

off the boardwalk and back on the 'crete

At this point, the Nakdong is wide.

back in my pedestrian lane

"pedestrian lane"

The pedestrian lane is gone.

Ah, yes—the eternal mystery of the inverted plastic bottles.

You see this on so many farms.

distant graves

not exactly a scarecrow

chilies

The British spelling is chillies.

lichen and small bracket fungus

another grave

This one looks ready go. It could be an Asian nursery-web spider.

spider, out of focus

This one doesn't immediately strike me as having been pregnant.

toward another drainage gate

swinging left

looking ahead

looking right

looking left while standing above that drainage gate

didn't go this way... just staring wistfully at another road not taken

the local drainage facility

shwimteo

interesting tree coming up

funky shwimteo

Could that really be yucca in the foreground?

And holy shit—these are yucca flowers! Fancy seeing you all here.

a warning about not using the bike paths during severe weather

and there's that 국토종주 logo again, but the real focus is...

...Madame Web, just hangin' out.

berry-like or plum-like growths on a vine (and as always, probably not edible)

probably a toad, definitely dead, having run its last race

less distance ahead than behind

Is this what it looks like when a slug winks at you?

fall colors

The Korean expression 단풍 들었어요/Danpung deuleosseoyo literally means, "Fall colors have come in," 단풍/Danpung ("dahnpoong") meaning "fall color." Coincidentally, 단풍 also means "maple."

I'd love to see some Shakespeare in the park in a place like this.

At least he's holding his lane.

another casualty, but no eggs

snake, recently dead and flattening as it dries

another funky shwimteo

not exactly a farm vehicle, so not exactly welcome to me

국토종주

As Yogi Berra supposedly said, When you see a fork in the road, take it.

I think this is a side road.

swerving left

un petit marais

another view of the little marsh

Thanks to Peter Jackson, I expect to see dead things lying just beneath the water's surface.

I wonder how many slugs I'd collect if I collected all of the slugs I encountered.

And how many slugs would I see in warmer weather?

See the spider?

I bet you see it now.

nice trail, big tree, big sky

shwimteo

in context

This part of the walk is about the various fields I pass. Baseball...

basketball (and soccer...?)

drainage gate in the distance; stream covered in algae in the foreground

the park-golf section

I can't... seem to...

...look away. But, oh, look at the hole-y net!

walking right up on these folks

Paul had it right with his recent "don't give a fuck" comment.

color-changers versus evergreens

Frank! Frank, what the hell happened?! And where's Connie?? Where's my sister, Frank?

another that gave up the ghost

interesting rebar

Jersey barriers politely guiding me

white signs (both directions): 4 Rivers and Nakdong River bike trail

more rusting shipping containers that could've used a coating of protectant

"Hotel" Europe, which probably has nothing European about it

"Peace Art Village" (평화 예술촌/Pyeonghwa Yesul-chon)
pyeonghwa = peace; yesul = art; chon = village

shwimteo, a tempting place to set a spell

11:37 a.m.

I follow the bike path, not the road.

a glance right

loony loons

slight rise ahead

a mix of loons and ducks

back on a boardwalk

This Katy... did.

"Wanna wrestle?"

big straightaway

another dead mom

"Look! It's that cynical ghost fish again!"

"Sigh... chased by a kid on a bike... must be Monday..."

tunnel to mystery

Another chem trail... breathe deeply and inhale the government.

cell tower

국토종주

glove, clenched

looking left

a very glassy shwimteo

small snake

Video: Snake Seen While Leaving Daegu.

Ain't nobody campin' in dat.

river-fishing boats with no fishermen

still adding up to 385K

You can't hide from me, glove.

another "glampground"

Ugh... glamping...

Get out into nature, guys. Or just use a motel. That's basically what these facilities are.

I think my dislike of glamping and Korean-style campgrounds that have wooden platforms for your tents(!!!) stems from the fact that there are plenty of places along the riverlands where wild camping is perfectly legal, and why on earth would you go camping in places that are crowded with other people? Don't you get enough of that in the cities? Are you trying to remake the feel of cities? Glamping and public campgrounds are where you can temporarily fool yourself into thinking you're out in nature and roughing it. Now, I can see the pragmatic utility of a campground whose sole purpose is to provide a simple resting spot for bikers who've packed their camping gear. That's a whole different animal. But glamping is generally more expensive and, as the name implies (glamping = glamor[ous] camping), at a distinct remove from "roughing it."

As for me, I've spent a lot of time and mental energy replotting my course over the years to minimize the need for camping because, as a practical matter, camping even one day along the route means that I need to use my large backpack and bring along camping gear for the whole trek, which adds a few kilos to my back. (People have suggested that I mail myself my pack for the few days I'd need it, but the practical issues are insane when you think about the details.) Otherwise, if I had a strong back and a stronger heart, I'd love to camp the whole way down. Come to think of it, depending on what I find out about lodging along the Geumgang Bike Trail, I might end up camping every night along that entire trail. (Or not. Every segment is under 40 km, so everything depends on whether there's lodging at each waypoint. If there isn't, I'll definitely consider camping.)

the (soccer? jokgu?) team poses for a photo

prehistoric beast—but alive

I can't remember why I took this shot. Anyway, it's 3:08 p.m.

coming up on the Chilgok area

The dogs always sense me too late. They need to be barking when I'm half a mile away.

This is the town of Waegwan (왜관). That's the Waegwan Rotary Club (and youth association) building.

My kingdom for a healthy-looking shipping-container office!

park golf... with no manly straining at the pullup bars

"Waegwan Park Golf Course"—some kind of admin building

looking right

looking left as I cross the bridge

a spray of cosmos

I think Mom would've loved this one.

3:34 p.m.

la géométricité des ponts

I'm on final approach to the Lee Motel, a few kilometers from here.

looking across the water

jokgu (left) and basketball

Jokgu is played soccer-like, using only your legs (and chest and head...?) to handle the ball. But it's also played tennis-like, with a low net between the two teams. Read more here.

church with a spider-Jesus cross—Choong-eun Church (Chungeun-gyohoe/충은교회)
At a guess, 충/choong means "faithfulness" (忠) in a Christian context, and 은/eun means "grace" (恩).

The Korean military shout of Choong-seong! Comes from 忠誠/충성/chungseong, meaning "loyalty" or "allegiance," and also making it the rough analogue of the US Marine's Semper fi!—from semper fidelis, or "Always faithful." So that's where choong/충/忠 in the church's name comes from.

Meanwhile, the eun meaning "grace" comes from eunhye/은혜/恩惠, commonly used as a girl's name here. A lot of Korean girls with the Korean name Eun-hye are given the Western name Grace. So that's basically where the eun/은/恩 in the church's name comes from.

So: Choong-eun Church could mean something like Steadfast Grace Church.

And since we're on the topic of girls' names, the name Jihye/Jihae/지혜 comes from 智慧/지혜/jihye, meaning "wisdom." In the West, the names Sophia, Sofia, and Sophie all come from the Greek sophia/𝜎οφία, which also means "wisdom." Some Christian theologies (especially feminist ones) see Sophia/Σοφία as a feminine instantiation of God's holy wisdom. A lot of Korean girls named Jihae have the Western name Sophia.

So if you meet an Eunhye (she might go by Eunhae), you might risk saying, "Hi, Grace." And if you meet a Jihye/Jihae, you might risk a "Hi, Sophia." Be careful, though: not all Korean parents give their kids Western names to use with Westerners, and not all Eunhyes/Jihaes are Graces/Sophias.

looking up at the street level

"Waegwan Ferry"

footbridge, but also for bikers (wheelbridge?)

Kids learn from an early age what it's like to pass through a caterpillar's digestive system. It's fun.

Welcome to the Chilgok Stank District.

I need to make this into a poster.

something about buckwheat-flower blooms in October?

In Korean, months are all numbered. January is "Month 1"; October is "Month 10." I hear that, in Chinese, the days of the week are also numbered (with Sunday being an anomaly). In Korean, the weekdays are named for ancient Chinese elements or celestial bodies:

Monday = 월요일/weol yo il/月曜日 (月/weol = moon, so a lot like moonday/Monday)
Tuesday = 화요일/hwa yo il/火曜日 (火/hwa = fire)
Wednesday = 수요일/su yo il/水曜日 (水/su = water)
Thursday = 목요일/mok yo il/木曜日 (木/mok = wood, tree)
Friday = 금요일/geum yo il/金曜日(金/geum = metal, gold)
Saturday = 토요일/to yo il/土曜日 (土/tō = earth, ground)
Sunday = 일요일/il yo il/日曜日 (日/il = sun, day, so a like like Sunday/Sonntag)

So the "yo il" part means, roughly, "day of the week" (lit. "shining day"). And as a bit of trivia, my mom's surname Kim derives from the above geum/金, meaning "gold" in the surname context. So every Kim is Mister or Miss Gold. The elements of fire, water, wood, metal, and earth are the five ancient Chinese elements (think of the old Greek elements of air, earth, water, fire, and aether). Many of the planets are named after them:

Mercury = Suseong/수성/水星 = lit. "water-star" (seong/성/星 = star)
Venus = Geumseong/금성/金星 = lit. "gold star," like the Korean brand
Earth = Jigu/지구/地球 = lit. "earth-orb" or "earth-sphere"
Mars = Hwaseong/화성/火星 = lit. "fire star," which seems notionally close to Mars, god of war
Jupiter = Mokseong/목성/木星 = lit. "wood star"
Saturn = Toseong/토성/土星 = lit. "earth/soil star"
Uranus = Cheonwangseong/천왕선/天王星 = lit. "heavenly-king star" (a bit like Ouranos/Uranus)
Neptune =  Haewangseong/해왕성/海王星 = lit. "sea-king star" (like Neptune/Poseidon)
Pluto (honorary membership) = Myeongwangseong/멍왕성/冥王星 = lit. "underworld-king star")

So you see that some of the later planets (and Pluto) were named to be consistent with Western nomenclature once they'd been discovered.

Further trivia: Korean Christians often use the term ju il/주일 (Lord's Day) to refer to Sunday.

Learning Korean, even at my high-intermediate level, means learning a lot of little details.

bee in sunflower

a sunflower shows off its Fibonacci sequences

'Sup, dawg?

If it weren't for the Roman letters on the left-hand building, I would have thought that that right-hand building was advertising itself as "L E-1 Liverville." Which would've been all kinds of confusing. (Note, though, how it's "Rivervill" on the left. The dropping of final letters and syllables in Western words is definitely an East Asian thing.)

some event being set up or taken down

Google Translate renders the sign as: "The inauguration ceremony of the Executive Committee and the 37th Local Service Award Ceremony," so if that's wrong, don't blame me. I just wish I knew which executive committee we were talking about. 'Cause I'm curious.

I walk a lot more than 800 m beyond this sign, but I don't think I've ever noticed the Waegwan Market. Maybe there are other signs, and the market is on street level. Or maybe I'm just exhausted by this point (it's 4:09 p.m., and I'm gassing out) and no longer noticing the important things.

The bridges you see ahead mean I don't have much farther to go.

the poignant statues celebrating those who fought for Korea's freedom and were part of the refugee lines

I explain this monument more fully in the next day's post. Scroll way down.

Maybe the post-conflict (I can't say "postwar" since the two sides are still technically at war, held back only by an armistice) division of the peninsula into two Koreas by the larger powers wasn't the best solution for the Korean people, but it may have appeared to be the best solution at the time. The north apparently benefitted, at first, from Soviet and Chinese help, and its economy was temporarily stronger than South Korea's. Then the south caught up and leapfrogged the north, and in the meantime, North Koreans were becoming indoctrinated by an oppressive series of dictators while South Korea broke free of authoritarians (though perhaps not completely) and voted in a series of (relatively) liberal democrats (note the lower case). South Korea became a loud, boisterous protest culture while, in North Korea, you could be shot or sent to a labor camp for expressing untoward opinions about the government. Not that speech is totally free in South Korea: if I walked around with a tee shirt blaring out Fuck Lee Jae-myeong, I'd probably get my ass kicked by somebody.

It occurs to me, though, that the south/north situation is a lot like The Walking Dead, with zombified (and often literally skeletal) northerners milling about and only occasionally sifting through the borders into South Korea. While I sometimes hear some South Korean bitterness toward America and the West for the current situation—which is so tense as to be weirdly stable and not something everyday Koreans think about—in most cases, South Koreans just blithely go about their lives. Is this what a real zombie-apocalypse scenario would look like, with the zombies mostly confined by hard-to-penetrate barriers (that don't stop random missiles or spy incursions), and people just on the other side going about their daily lives, only rarely thinking about the zombie hordes? Maybe a better parallel is A Song of Ice and Fire, with the army of the dead confined for centuries by a magical wall of ice, and with the civilized people on the other side of the wall eventually forgetting about the existence of the dead... but that's not quite right, either, since the Kingdom of the North, and its warden, is constantly aware of the potential threat of the dead. Winter is coming.

But the zombie analogy isn't totally wrong. Zombies can bite you and turn you into a zombie. North Korean ideology can waft south and turn South Koreans into pro-North leftist apologists. "Those are our brothers up north! It's not so bad up there! The scary stories are all lies!"

Heh. Move north, then, idiot.

three of the four bridges I need to pass (this one is the 한국의 다리/Korea's Bridge, I think)

I've got the river to my left and a freeway to my right. Eventually, I'll have to turn right and go under the freeway via a tunnel leading from the Chilgok Dam's admin building to the neighborhood where the Lee Motel sits, waiting for my arrival.

Waegwan Bridge (왜관교/Waegwan-gyo)

two rail bridges: Waegwan Bridge Gyeongbu Line (왜관교 경부선/Waegwan-gyo Gyeongbu-seon)

Chilgok Dam in the distance

Sorry—the so-called "fourth bridge," visible way down there, is Chilgok Dam, which has a bridge across it, but which I won't be crossing today: instead, I'll reach the dam's admin building, which is on my side of the river, and I'll turn right and go underground through a tunnel (thus crossing the freeway) and end up in the Lee Motel's neighborhood.

yes, that Muslim crescent-moon design that makes this bridge unique

I'm pretty sure the design has nothing to do with Islam, any more than a swastika here has anything to do with Nazism or Hitler.

fast forward, and I've reached the admin building

Chilgok Dam certification center (woo-hoo!)

in America, they're calling him "Derpy Tiger"

The portrayal of tigers in Korean culture is all over the place. Unlike in the movie KPop Demon Hunters (which I reviewed), tigers don't normally act as companions for demons. If anything, they're sometimes portrayed as fighting demons or working as messengers for mountain spirits. Tigers are, however, often portrayed as goofy, especially as compared to another folkloric character—the rabbit, who is usually quick and clever—but not always (the following is adapted from this Amazon entry):

Inside a house on the edge of a village, a mother playfully tries to quiet her crying baby with a threat: "the tiger will get you." Meanwhile, a hungry tiger lurks outside. When the child finally stops crying with the offer of a dried persimmon, the tiger, who can only hear the exchange, assumes she has called on a creature scarier than he is. Terrified, he slinks into an outlying stall. Mistaking the tiger for an ox, a thief skulking in the neighborhood slips a rope around the tiger's neck and mounts him. The tiger in turn believes his rider is the dreadful dried persimmon. After a wild ride, the thief escapes and hides in a hollow tree. When the tiger tries to explain his adventure to a rabbit, saying the terrible dried persimmon is in the hollow tree, the skeptical rabbit boldly goes to the tree, reaching inside. The hungry thief snares the rabbit by the tail; the rabbit screams. This in turn frightens the tiger, more than ever convinced that the creature in the tree is the feared dried persimmon. The tiger escapes into the mountains while the rabbit loses his tail, which is why rabbits have short tails these days.

There are several versions of this story in Korean folklore (the above version is close to Suzanne Crowder Han's translation), and the overall story template is not unique to Korea; parallels can be found in India, China, and even parts of Europe (right-click and hit "translate to English").

Travel-worn and hungry, I hit the convenience store inside the admin building before crossing over.

My feet were in pain by this point.

I wouldn't want to do it at this dam, but I fantasize about getting married by one of these dams.

through the tunnel, under the freeway, and over to the motel's neighborhood

the Lee Motel

I arrived at almost exactly 6 p.m. This place is a love motel, so expect statues that evoke...

The arms aren't exactly proportionate.

Imagine this sitting in your shower.

We likes 'em cha-hunky.

Eros/Cupid

motel in the evening

Chilgok Dam, lit up at night

the observation deck I'll be visiting the following day

It was a long 33K.

Compared to the miraculous feast I'd enjoyed in west Daegu, tonight's dinner was relatively spare, but it filled my stomach. The Lee Motel is run by a friendly older couple. My room, true to form for a love motel, had mirrors on the ceiling. I somehow managed to eat dinner and bang out the main part of this post before I finally went to bed.

And thus ended Day 12, Leg 8.