Hi! I'm back. (Oh no, they groan...)
I got back to the trail sooner than I
thought. I left off last time with both work and the lunar new year
in the way. Lunar new year (called Seollal) is one of the big, big
holidays in Korea. There are three days off in a row and everyone
goes to their family home, not quite far enough back to be called the
ancestral home with its connotations of generations and generations
of time passing. It could be of course, but for most Koreans it's
where their parents or grandparents are from and, more importantly,
are buried. This is one of the two more or less mandatory times when
family members go to the burial sites of ancestors and remember them
and clean their graves. (The other major holiday when this happens
is Chuseok, in the fall.)
Because of this necessity, it is one of
the times when pretty much every Korean is going somewhere, and it
isn't Seoul. But Seoul and its metropolitan area have roughly half
of the the population of the country, and very few of that population
have their ancestral seats in Seoul. Seoul is also scrunched up in
the northwest corner of the country. There is a sea on one side,
North Korea on another and relatively unpopulated rural mountains on
a third. The bulk of the people who are moving out of Seoul at this
time are headed south. Many take trains, if they can book far enough
in advance. And many others drive... using their navigation
systems... which shunt them all onto the same routes... clogging them
almost cruelly. The normal three to four-hour trip from Seoul to
Busan can take up to twelve on this holiday. So it's best to hunker
down and enjoy the peace and quiet of one's own area for the
duration.
However I forgot one important detail
to my situation at the present time. I don't live in Seoul. That
means that the people who are travelling that involves Seosan, are
coming TO Seosan. So going away from Seosan isn't as much of a
problem. In addition the best train station for me to travel out of
is halfway down the country. That means that by attrition, there
happened to be plenty of seats on trains going farther south, as long
as I was getting on the train there instead of in Seoul.
I noticed that traffic in Seosan was
not bad on Sunday, so I chanced it and got a bus to Daejeon and then
a train to Ulsan to continue the trail. And it was no trouble at
all. Yay!!!
I went to the point where I finished
the previous leg, hoping there was a place to stay right nearby. But
it was in a somewhat industrial area and I feared initially that I
was going to be out of luck and have to go downtown to find
something. Just as I was giving up, I looked up and saw a sign for a
motel. It looked dumpy, but inside it was quite comfy and just fine
for an overnight. Double yay!! This day turned out much better than
probably many people's travel day going “home.”
Monday, February 8th was the
actual new year day in the lunar calendar. As I headed out on the
sixth leg of the trail, there was pretty much no traffic. That was
good as the start was on a busy street.
It turned off almost immediately though
and then started a very nice day walking through parks and woods.
There was a lot of bamboo. I found this rather surprising. I always
thought bamboo was more of a tropical wood. Of course, I guess there
was the Japanese bamboo torture during the war, so I suppose it
shouldn't be so surprising.
Ulsan is a very industrial city, with
lots of industrial and chemical plants. But as I pointed out
previously, Ulsan seemed to have done everything that Busan didn't in
getting the trail away from ugliness. So it wound over a little
mountain.
It didn't completely hide the industry, but it was a good
effort.
Ulsan also seems to be something of a
whale centre. They are proud of it, too, with direction signs
pointing the way with whale cutouts.
The trail wound around through a
reservoir with a nice park around it. And more whales.
It was warm as well, and the surface of
the reservoir was melting away. It makes for a nice contrast.
Ulsan really is a big city.
And then it wound up through Ulsan
Grand Park, a long strip of mountainous parkland in the middle of the
city. It must be a lovely place for the citizens to spend some time
on weekends and during family times. Ulsan has done it up nicely for
them as well with exercise areas with equipment.
There are even little “forest
libraries.” There was nothing in English though.
I'm not sure if this was a house for a
squirrel or a bird, but I can understand why the squirrel is
crying... it must be frustrating to have food so close in those
little cup things, but not be able to get to it.
And it was the lunar new year's day, so
it was time for people to go to the graves. I crossed a bridge over
a large street and saw a long line of cars at one point. I wondered
where they were going to be waiting in line like that. Then I came
upon this cemetery. That explained it. People were all over the
cemetery doing the cleaning and visiting.
And the leaving of new flowers.
Eventually I came to the other end of
leg 6 at Taehwa River. The hill I was on gave a nice view over the
river. It looked like another nice place to spend a beautiful
afternoon. So I kept right on going into the seventh leg, right
after I finally stopped to get something to eat.
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