Adventures in Internal Monologues…

Day One: Wow! What a beautiful coast line. You can see where the lava oozed into the sea and cooled in black, poeous blobs. The sky is so blue, and the ocean smells so…so…oceany! This is going to be an awesome trip. Hmm, my butt’s getting a little sore.

Day Two: I smell bad. I hurt. My legs hurt, my arms hurt, my butt hurts. Whew ~ I smell REALLY bad. I wish the showers were open last night, or this morning at least. It’s so hot, and I’m so tired. I think my legs could keep pedalling if my body could find a bit more energy to send their way. Ewww, I really do smell very bad. I’m glad I’m the slowest, so nobody has to pedal behind me.

Day Three: (Morning, I’m on my own. Jen and Annelie backtracked a kilometer to go to a sculpture park. I’d be lucky to make it around the island without spending time going backwards too.) I smell better, but I feel worse. I…just…can’t…seem…to…find any energy. Stupid bike. Stupid rain. Stupid bike trip. Stupid Janice for coming on the Stupid bike trip. Stupid. Stupid. Stooooopid. Hmm, Stewwwwpid. I like stew. Stew. When I was in highschool I had a crush on a guy named Stu. I wonder what he’s doing now. I bet he’s not pushing a stupid bike up a stupid hill. That’s it. I give up. I’m pushing the stupid bike all the way to Seogwipo (the next meeting point) then checking into a nice hotel with a pool and getting the bike shop to come fetch my bike. I’ll meet Annelie and Jen at the airport on Thursday.

(5 hours later, after a nice rest, a nice lunch, a nice tour through the botanical gardens, and a nice cinnamon bun from Cinnabon) Amazing island. Perfect weather. I feel like I could pedal forever. Cruizin’ down a hill. Cruizin’, cruisin’, cruisin’. Glad I’m wearing a helmet. Pushin’ up a steep hill. Pushin’, pushin’, pushin’. Ooh, this is a really steep one. Having some trouble pushin’. Maybe I can get that taxi to take me to the top of the hill…hmmm… logistical problem of letting go of the bike to hail the cab…it’s a REALLy steep hill. Darn, missed the moment. The taxi’s gone and now I’m nearly to the top. Feelin’ great, glad I didn’t give up.

Day 4: Singin’ “Queen” Lyrics: : I want to ride my bicycle / I want to ride my bike / I want to ride my bicycle … Hmmm, those seem to be the only lyrics I know. I’ll sing ’em again: I want to ride my bicycle / I want to ride my bike / I want to ride my bicycle … etc. (As you can imagine, this made for a rather tedious, but upbeat day in my head.) I hope we stop for lunch soon.
(after lunch)
Sweet…we get to take a ferry to Udo island. Boats, boats, boats, I like boats.

Day 5: Spent the day on the beach on Udo island, so didn’t have any internal biking monologues going on.

Day 6: Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this is our last day! I’m glad I told Jen and Annelie I’d go ahead when we got off the ferry. If I can get a bit of a head start while they buy more water, I won’t be so far behind by the end of the day. What a beautiful morning. Hmm, my phone battery is dead and I have the tire pump. I hope Jen and Annelie don’t run into any trouble. I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike… It’s been a while, Jen and Annelie should have caught up by now. I wonder where they are…I’ll wait for them at the next bench or shady curb I find. (30 minutes later) Okay, they really, really should have caught up by now. Oh! There’s Annelie and…. uh-oh, it’s just Annelie. (Jen did have a flat tire. After I gave Annelie the pump, and she gave me her cell phone, we decided it would be best if I kept on going. They were sure to catch up soon.) I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike… It’s getting really hot, I’m going to pull over and rest at the next shady spot. (45 minutes later) It’s sooo hot. Where oh where is the next shady spot?!? Looks like I’ll have to keep on going. (30 minutes later) Uh-oh, I’m nearly out of water, and it’s really hot. A Shady spot, a shady spot…my kingdom for a shady spot!! (30 minutes later) Finally!! A covenience store with a table and umbrella outside. I’ll get a yogurt and a banana and wait here for Jen and Annelie. (Look at my map) Oh! I’m back in Jeju City! There’s not much farther to go to the bike shop. Sweet. I can’t believe how fast those kilometers flew by. I should go biking more often. What a great trip.

Adventures in Jeju Days…

Goodness, has it only been a week since we got back from the trip? It seems like ages ago. So much so infact that all I can remember about the Jeju days was that sometimes it rained, sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes it was gorgeous and sunny, but not too hot. Sometimes it was really stinkin’ hot. I’m afraid that now all the days have blurred, and I don’t remember what happened when. The coastal road is so beautiful though, and it was nice to smell the sea air every day, and to see the waves crashing against the volcanic rock shore. Sometimes I thought it was like Iceland and Fundy colliding in the Pacific, and getting bits of Korea caught in the middle. Yup, just like that. Other times, when we rode past strings and strings of squid hanging up to dry along the road I forgot about Iceland and Fundy and just thought I was in Korea.

Sorry this is a short post, but I realized that besides “The weather was nice.” and “I pedalled alot.”, there’s just not much to say about the days in Jeju.

Adventures in Jeju Nights…

The picture above obviously isn’t at night, but it does show our bikes lined up along the road. We’re on the other side of the street guzzling water like maniacs. The bike at the back was the one I rode.

Now, as promised, our nights on Jeju:

Night #1: Jen, faster than a speeding bullet made it to our checkpoint long before Annelie and I. She set up a tent, took a shower and read a few chapters before Annelie and I pulled up to the campsite at darkness fell. We pitched my tent, slapping away biting insects all the while. That task completed, Annelie and I took our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves off the the shower building…that was closed!!! We turned on dejected heels and took our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves back to the tents. After chatting for a while over our Corner Store dinner and congratulating ourselves on completing Day One, we fell exhausted into our tents. Even though the loud children (and their parents) in the tent next to ours were unfamiliar with the word “bedtime”, we managed to get a few hours sleep. The showers were still closed at 7:00 the following morning, so Annelie and I got our sweaty, stinky, tired, grimy selves back on our bikes and hit the road for another day.

Night #2: With no campsite to be found for our second night, we pitched out tents on a beach, along with several other groups of biker/campers. Annelie and I finally found a functioning shower room and scrubbed off two days of sweat, and promptly replaced it with beach sand. During the night, rain and thunder woke us from our beachy dreams prompting us to pick up our tents and move them under an awning on the beach. A few minutes later, the wind was so fierce even under the awning, that the sides of my tent were blowing in, reducing my floor space by half. With Jen’s help I moved the tent further under the awning and was soon sleeping soundly again.

Night #4: Unable to find a beach or a campsite, Jen went above and beyond and found us a lovely room in a place Korean’s call a ‘Pension’. It had a bedroom, livingroom/kitchen, and a bathroom. It also had a washing machine – which by this time was a welcome convenience. It’s best feature however, was one of those “Rainmaker” showerheads. What a lovely treat. All three of us slept like babies.

Night #5&6: We stayed on Udo Island in a pretty, but HOT Minbak (A minbak is similar to a pension, but cheaper). Again, it was nice to be spared the disadvantages of rain, sand and noisy neighbours. I like camping, and I like bike trips, but I don’t know if I like the two of them together.

Stay tuned later for Adventures in Jeju Days.