Happy 4th!

A belated Happy Fourth of July from here in South Korea!

Friday evening Nate and I crashed at Steve's in order to get a good jump on on our Saturday, not entirely sure what we had in mind. Waking up and heading out for breakfast, I suggested we take everything we'd need for the day as it's a rarity for us to venture out and then return without first going through some overextended adventure. Which, as you might have guessed, is exactly what we did!

From Steve's place in Cheonho, we first stopped off at Paris Baguette to fill our bellies and then topped off with liquid fuel at a rather impressive coffee shop just a few blocks from his 'home.' Leaving our second 'meal' of the day, the sounds of video games lured us in to an arcade just across the street where we spent a good half hour and all the change in our pockets. Then, it was back to the road.

With no particular destination we simply wandered left and right, picking one alley over another for no real reason. Eventually we found a road sign pointing us towards and English Village. This sounded like as good of a destination as any and we took off towards it. It was a let down to find that our destination was no more than a giant brick school, but a beautiful one at that. We did however notice in the distance one of the numerous bridges spanning the Han River, which meant we couldn't be too far from its shores. Thus, we had our next destination in mind!

We had talked earlier that week about spending the Fourth in Itaewon as if anywhere were to host festivities it would certainly be this foreigner haven set aside a US Military base. So, as we walked, I jokingly suggested simply pegging the 'Twon as our final destination and humping it all the way there. . . I'm still not sure why suggestions like this, and climbing two mountains, are ever given serious consideration!

After an hour or so we made it to the Han where we were all rather impressed at it's size. While it does a great job of cutting the city in half, it does little to support the metropolis that it runs through. As you can tell from the design of the bridge below, the river hosts almost no traffic other than a few water taxis, dinner cruises and brave windsurfers. Having spent the past four years along the banks of the Mighty Miss, it's quite surprising to see a total absence of giant barges cruising up and down at all times. Though, someone once explained to me that the Han's delta dumps out way too close to North Korea for comfort and there fore this impressive waterway is totally unused as a shipping route. What a shame!

Troubled Water

Following the river, we first headed south and then eventually turned east where we got our first glimpse of the city center and Namsan Tower high up above. Again, with no real destination in mind, we simply continued wandering enjoying the sights, sounds and, ew, smells of the Han. Walking along the river trail we had to make sure to stay single file as we shared the path with a number of pretty serious bikers. There wasn't a whole lot of room for two bikes to pass safely with us on the side and to be honest, I don't trust the majority of Korea's weekend warriors to handle much of anything that requires great control. By the end of the day we had witnessed two pretty serious crashes. The first was a female hiker who got flattened by a gas powered remote control car and the second was by a biker, who looked like he could've taken on Lance, simply lose control and flip over on flat ground. Sticking close to the guard rail was the least we could do!

Line 7 Across the Han

On and on we wandered, stopping only once or twice at riverside convenience store installations. We did at one point look into taking a ferry from Jamsil to the island of Yeoido but decided the 13,000 krw one way ticket wasn't worth passing up our beautiful walk. So we pushed onwards. This time we were at least smart enough to load up on water whenever we had the chance! It also helped that we stuck to (relatively) flat ground!

A fellow walker

While the Han's landscape was rather unchanging, the man made structures that spanned it are quite impressive, especially from the other side. I can't imagine the load that these bridges bear each day but they seem to be doing the job! I once heard that a dozen or so years ago there was only one bridge crossing the Han while today there are dozens, all of which are used. Go ahead and look up exact statistics if you're really interested but otherwise, just think about what that means in terms of this city's amazing rate of growth and expansion! Seoul makes LA or Atlanta look like quaint college towns in comparison.

Man Made Marvels

As the sun began to fall on the other side of our face, we noticed Namsan tower growing closer and closer. Though we had once discussed heading up towards the street and hoping on a bus, we now seemed to close to give up our once impossible goal of hiking all the way to Itaewon. After a final prolonged stop at a 7/11 on wheels, we got up and made the final push upwards towards a bridge that we hoped would allow us to cross the Han on foot.

Namsan tower at dusk

A few flights of stairs later and we were on top of a busy bridge that hosted an eight lane highway. At first glace, it appeared as though we would have to hop on a bus to get across. We then noticed a small pedestrian pathway along the edge that required us first to hop across a lane of oncoming traffic. Don't worry, there was a zebra crossing but I'm sure the majority of cars flying up the on ramp aren't looking for or expecting pedestrians. Whether it was good luck or bold actions, we all made it in once piece! Our closest call however came as I was lining up the picture below and a giant cement truck went barreling past us. The small outlook that we were standing on shook so violently as to elicit a yelp of terror from the three of us. Nate's is caught on film below!

Preparing to be shaken off the bridge!

Once safely on the north side of the river, a short, but uphill hike landed us right at the edge of Itaewon! It didn't take us long to decide on dinner at Nashville, an American style pub with rooftop seating. We were lucky enough to grab one of the last tables open on the roof and immediately placed an order for three chili cheese burgers and a basket of fries! Hey, it's the Fourth of July right!

An American Feast!

We plowed through our burgers and hung out just long enough to talk to some soldiers and hear the fireworks blasting over the Yongsan base. I say hear because even though we had roof top seats, the fireworks, which Nate accurately predicted, were lined up directly across from a giant rooftop ventilation system that we could only just barely see through. So excuse the lack of pictures but I'm guess you saw a better show than we did!

All-American

From Nashville we headed to the next best place we could, Woodstock, known (to us at least) as a soldier's hangout. We were disappointed that Beef and Penetrators, an all servicemen band, wasn't playing but we had fun listening to the terrible house music and making some of our own. Heck, we even had a chance to bang around ourselves as we rang in the fifth of July. . .

Rocking out at Woodstock!

No, we didn't make it up any mountains and unlike a few people we saw, we didn't go for a dip in the Han. Even so, we made it a good 15 km at least on foot from the city's eastern edge to it's vibrant heart. Just another Saturday in the life of some wandering FT's! Next weekend it looks like it's off to Mud Fest but, then again, who really knows. . . Thanks for stopping by!