Let the Ride Commence

The first day, a Sunday, started off by struggling with overloaded panniers and manhandling my bike down four flights of stairs to the road. To describe myself and hot, sweaty and highly irritated would have been an understatement. But as with most things in life, struggle pays off and before long I was out amongst the relatively light Seoul Sunday traffic and always heavy smog enroute to parts unknown.

That's the beautiful thing about cycling, or simply going anywhere in Seoul, even when you think that you've got it all down pat, one wrong or unexpected turn delivers to all whole new world where right is wrong and up is down. As Kevin Costner playing New Orleans DA Jim Garrison in Oliver Stone's epic 'JFK' said, 'we're through the looking glass here, people.'

But forget conspiracy theories and the shooters on the grassy knowl, navigating the roads around Seoul isn't that much of a conundrum, it just requires patience and the willingness to make a lot of wrong turns before eventually finding your way. Kind of like life really ... but enough with the barber shop philospophical analogies, this blog's about what happens to a cyclist on the roads of Korea.

The first leg, and possibly the most difficult, saw me cycle 118km from Seoul to Asan, and oh my hell, it was difficult. Heat, humuidity, hunger and constantly stopping to check my maps to ensure that I was on the right road condemned me to a nine hour stint in the saddle. Nine hours for 118km was a cruel result but by the time I reached the outskirts of Asan, it truly was worth it.

As saddle sore as my arse was, the beauty of the rice paddies, the mountains and the pine forests more than compensated for any physical discomfort I was experiencing. Stopping to enjoy an incredibly sweet peach at a roadside fruit stall, I realised that living in an environment such as Seoul's where you are surrounded by concrete and bitumen is a very very bad thing: It's time for a change.

But before the day's ride was over, I detoured into the mountians of Asan in search of the town's fabled hot springs. Although finding the general area was easy, more yogwans ('love motels') than you could poke a stick at, I couldn't actually see the hot springs. That's one of the biggest problems with Korean place of interest road signs -- you'll see them for miles before but once you hit the area, they disappear, leaving you high and dry.

After a 10km detour through the mountains -- beautiful riding but this wasn't taking my saddle pain away -- it was back on the highway to Asan. Fortunately, I entered the city though the 'gates of sin' and found the yogwan area immediately. Less than 10 minutes later, I was disembarked and enjoying the air conditioned comfort of my room with no view, save for the Korea soft-core porn channel, and the hardness of my circular bed.

The interesting thing about Korean soft-porn movies isn't so much the action, or some would say, there lack of, but more the selection of accompanying music. In the brief, and yes I do mean brief moment that I was watching, I noted that Roxtte's 'Dressed for Success' was playing as the male lead tore his female co-star's clothing off. Who said that Korean soft-porn directors don't have a sense of humour?

As far as love motels go, this one was a good 'un with complimentary condoms, lubricant and bedside-controlled spot lighting in an exciting shade of muted red.

I was too tired to hunt around for dinner, so it was a simple spread of tuna and bread, washed down with a bottle of juice, a can of Asahi Super Dry ("Karakuchi") and a bag of prawn crackers. Post-dinner entertainment was lame, with not even a page of Rebecca West's 20th century classic, "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" finished.

Tomorrow: Easy Riding.