Jeju Day 3: Commemorate

I think I am finally getting over my inability to sleep on the floor. I'm excited about that. It means I'm ready to become super Korean this week.
I find that I can also look at myself in the mirror without all that self-loathing I used to feel. I'm just...me. For better or for worse. I'm excited about that too.

Today, I start hiking. I've got a beach to get to. I'm looking forward to some sun, and perhaps a big rock to dry my sweaty clothes from yesterday.

I'm starting to realize what a dfficult journey this is going to be. I'm not being metaphorical at all. It's faaaaaar, and I'm really not good at reading maps. I think this island is like most islands, in that its road system is a little inefficient, swerving, turning into an alley, or completely dissappearing. Originally, my plan was to follow the coast and use the ocean as my guide, but I'm finding that a lot of the coast is blocked to foot traffic.

Further inland, I found a hiking trail that seemed to go in a direction that I liked, so I took it. I'm so glad I did, because this is the Jeju I really wanted to see. Everything was green and the mountain air was cool. At a rest stop, I met these two Ajuhshis who spoke pretty good English. It wasn't perfect, but between their English and my Korean, we got along pretty well. One of these guys was an English teacher before retiring. The other one was a retired police officer, who was fully the Korean Matlock. Looked like him and everything. We arm wrestled, so that pretty much means we'll be friends forever, cause, well, that's just how it works. The two of them had a bunch of really awesome and hilarious questions for me. Sample:

Are you married?
No.
No girlfriend?
No.
What about Korean girls. Pretty?
Yeah.
Commemorate.
What?
You have been in Korea one year. Commemorate by marry with Korean girl.

I hated to leave those guys but I have places to get to today, and I think time is running out (though I don't know what time it is). I found the shore again, and I'm walking along, sweating buckets. Don't really care though, because no one can see me.

The trail led me to a more central part of the island. I probably should be freaking out a little bit, 'cause I can't see the coast right now, but it's hard to be woried when everything is so beautiful. I'm looking for a beach that Alex said was awesome, so I'm just going to keep walking until my mind is blown. So far, it's looking pretty promising, but it's starting to rain. I fear the ink in my pen will run. I must continue on.

The rain ended up being a bit more intense than I'd counted on. I took shelter at a nearby bus stop. It doesn't look like a lot of buses come through here. Oh well, that's life, I guess. When it starts raining, and you planned to hike all day, what do you do? I'm just glad I brought a towel and my gigantic ugly/awesome hat. Just gotta wait till it stops raining. Sometimes I think it's going to stop and it just gets moe intense. That's life. Just try to get somewhere safe, and wait until it stops. A Korean guy with a car drove by and signaled for me to get in. I said thank you and waved him on. There's realy nowhere I have plans to be right now.

It's crazy how a bad situation seems like it's going to last forever, then all of a sudden, the sky opens up and everything is as beautiful as ever it was. Pressing on.

Guys, I really need to learn how to use a map. I have an awesome one, too. Alex found it for me before we parted ways. I was shocked when I learned where I really was. Waaaay off course. I wonder, why do I always wait so long before consulting a guide? Especially when there's one available whenever I need?

Oh well. Sort of makes me laugh, I guess.

My skin is leaking.

All these clouds and not one ounce of shade. I found an exercize area off to the side of the road in some regon of the sland called 신천(Shincheon). There's a tarped gazeebo-type construction in the corner that has a floor of concrete with pebbles imbedded in it. The Koreans believe that walking barefot on these pebbles is good for your health. I've never put much stock in that, but today they realy felt good on my sore feet. Felt pretty good on my back, too.

I can hear chickens in the background as I doze off. I dreamed about home. Chasing chickens around the property with Jon, sharpened sticks in our hands, like mighty warriors of an unknown tribe. Dreaming is the only open door to that version of home these days.

The beach is, in a word, disappointing. Maybe I'm just cranky, but I'm sore, hot, sweaty, and I now have sand sticking to me? My inner thighs are pretty chaffed too. I'm not used to walking this much. I think this is where I'm calling it a night. The beach sounds like it's raining, but I don't hear any raindrops. It seems like the ocean is drawing water from the shore, and the suction is making a sound like raindrops and putting little dimples in the sand. Weird. I'm going to have to fact-check that with one of my more scientifically inclined friends.

In the meantime, I see a strange shape in the clouds that looks like a weird goat-man thing. I'm getting out my sketchbook, because I think this guy is going to be important later. I have no idea why. My body is so sore. I want to give up already, after my first real day of hiking. Not going to though. Gonna finish. I'm already behind. Gonna finish.

Epilogue: (didn't think I'd be writing anymore today, but...) After an incident of high tide (from behind me, somehow) that left me soaking wet with most of my cothes also quite damp, I gave up on finding a Jjimjilbang in the tiny beach town I landed in, so I hailed a cab. The cab driver told me that the nearest Jjimjilbang was 15 minutes away. He then proceded to drive me right back the way I came, to right next to the Jjimjilbang I stayed at the night before. In 15 minutes. Huge blow to my self esteem, as well as a huge step backwards in my plans. I am currently about 5 minutes from the boat dock where I arrived, sore, a little burnt, and I have rashes in places I can't show, for reasons of both propriety and physics.

Now I have to decide which is more important: seeing everything I wanted to see or walking as far as I can around the island. At this point, I don't see how I can do both. I guess I'll see how I feel in the morning.

Found a massage chair in the Jjimjilbang that pounded out a Strauss medley on my back for about 1,000원. Almost gave me a nosebleed, it was so intense. I'll bet something like this would be illegal in my country.