And here is what got me so angry. I
really am all right with walking along roads when necessary, and it
had seemed necessary at times in the past few legs. In order to
maintain a course mostly along the coast, the road had been a lonely
option, with seemingly very few trails below rocky cliffs on the
shore. Perhaps it could be argued that in the absence of shoreside
paths, taking the trail up into the surrounding hills would be a good
option. It would have made it more interesting and probably less
dangerous than walking along the side of a potentially busy road.
But when the trail had the opportunity to stop in interesting places,
a temple or an interesting beach or park, it had done so, and that
had made the monotonous road walking bearable. But...
On the previous leg, I saw this...
And the bike trail, which has been the
walking trail for many other sections, saw this...
The bike wound past Haesindang park
(known as the penis park, for obvious reasons)...
And I got this. And if I hadn't been
looking at the map at pretty much the time I had checked my progress,
I would never have known I was passing something I wanted to see
until I was long past. That had me angry. Railbike stations are
important, but a very interesting cultural park and experience get a
detour? That to me is a laughable trail management choice, and shows
they have no particular respect for the visitor be they Korean or
otherwise.
So I headed out to Haesindang Park
first thing on this third day of hiking. My feet were quite sore
from the previous two days. I really wasn't sure how well this day
was going to go. I also had stayed in Samcheok and had a great deal
of trouble finding a place to stay for a reasonable price. This
trail may become somewhat more expensive as it comes into the summer
tourism season. I will have to see if I can mitigate that somewhat.
Otherwise I will be taking a break until fall when prices go back to
sane.
Haesindang Park is a park that
glorifies penises. There's a story about a maiden who was drowned in
the sea after getting caught on a rock and being unable to get back
to land. After that the fishing in the area became very difficult.
One day a man urinated into the sea and caught some fish. The people
thought that the drowned maiden liked the attention and brought the
fish back and so they started putting up phalluses all over to honour
her... and catch fish. It's an interesting park.
While there I saw a map with some other
attractions I missed while being sent up through a fairly boring
little pass on a mountain...
Then I descended back to the start
point of leg 30 and headed off towards the other end of the railbike
route... passing more scenery that was much better than crossing over the mountain.
I passed through the little town and
saw a really nice-looking house.
Then it was up the hill to a rather
nice view.
The trail wound back to the road and
then down along another section of the railbike course... and a
memorial to the first Korean Olympic marathon winner, who grew up in
the area. (So local sports heroes are okay, but don't go to the
penis park... Sigh!)
Then it was back to the beach and I got
to see a bunch of people riding those railbikes. It looked kind of
fun, but there were so many people... I don't think it would have
been that enjoyable, really.
The final portion of this railbike
section was past what looked to be new recreation area. There is a
nice condo-type bunch of units being put in behind a sand dune on the
edge of the water.
I think, however, they had better
rethink the strategy... that or find a way to move the sand dune. I
certainly wouldn't be charmed by paying whatever amount for a nice condo, and
then not be able to see the sea.
Tired feet though I had, I decided to
go for one more leg this day. Onward to leg 31!!
No comments:
Post a Comment