August 8 - Staying at Jecheon

With Jungmin Choi Before leaving for the next leg of my journey

The ride today would be a short one and I decided to have a target point as opposed to randomly cycling and figuring out where to camp. My next target point was a place called Jecheon, midway to the next national park, Sobaeksan national park, located close to Danyang. After walking down to the office and repacking my things back to cycling mode, I proceeded to bid farewell to the staff who took care of my possessions.

The national park staff were more then happy to help me out along my journey and gave me directions as well as asked me to fill up my camelbak and water supplies at the office. Jungmin also made me a cup of coffee which definitely perked up my morning .

 The sign boards I was looking for surfaced like a short while after cycling out. I HAD asked the staff which direction to ride towards so it was more of a confirmation. Today was a short ride and Jecheon was less then 50 km away.

I had a few more things to see. One thing in particular, a motel called couple C caught my eye. I would be seeing alot more of these 'love' motels and even staying in many of them.

My first experience with a never-ending uphill slope also happened here. At such instances I just get off and push the bike.

Stopped by a provision shop at the top of the slope for a quite bite and came across preserved eggs. These would be a source of protein for me at national parks and I got like 6 of them. I also asked the shopkeeper if I could charge my phone and he was kind enough to let me. Throughout my entire trip in Korea there was only one lady who refused to let me charge :)

One of the items on my essential things to bring was a portable charger and I got one that could charge my iphone twice and also my kindle. This was a big relief since I always listen to music when I cycle. I always tried to use it only for charging at night so during the day I would ask to charge it at the shops where I buy stuff from.

The man at the shop was kind enough to get me a plate of watermelons after seeing I was so hot and tired after the upslope ride ( or rather walk). Another example of the generosity of the korean people. Enjoyed that and then it was time to move on. I heard from the old man that the road would be downslope from there and that spurred me on :)

The place where I stopped for watermelons !

Bumped into a representative of Santini bikes along the way. It was interesting as while I was cycling they just passed me a can of coffee mid-motion. Naturally I stopped and we had a chat. It was interesting to learn that the koreans are very into cycling and do make many short trips across the country, though not many ride on the roads. ( I hardly came across anyone cycling on the roads)

A short while later I made my way to Jecheon and started scouting around for a place to camp. It was kinda tough finding a place with water and a toilet and I had to settle for a place in the midst of Padi fields. It looked like some sort of an experimental area  but had a spacious shelter and no water.

By this time, I had spent almost an hour trying to find a place to rest for the night so the shelter would have to do. In the midst of a park, the place was busy with a number of older folk walking and relaxing. A few came by to see me and enquire but generally let me be.

This place I chose had a beautiful view of the mountain as seen below, but overall was a bad choice as being in the vicinity of padi fields, mosquitoes were abundant as well. I could hardly get proper sleep and ventured out at night to the nearby shops on my bike, making sure all my belongings were hidden. Uploaded my pictures on facebook this night.

Coming back around midnight I was surprised to see that there was not a soul in sight and the whole place was abandoned. Kinda creepy :)

My sleeping place for the night :)

Guess the mosquitoes were more efficient then I figured they were at keeping people away. I never carried mosquito coils as I never figured it would be this bad :) The hut where I slept in is actually shown on the signboard above.

Either way, my things were safe and untouched when I returned and I tried to get some sleep amidst all the buzzing. This was to be my most sleepless night throughout my entire stint in korea but an interesting experience nontheless :)