Day 7 and trip summary

The last day of our trip we met up with my Seoul fried Gyubeen and had lunch in Gangnam.

At 5:30 we are going to take the express bus to go back to Busan. I have missed you Busan - can't wait to see you again :)

Summary of trip
6 days to finished the Busan to Incheon trail. It totaled 633km but with detours and stopping at cities I estimated the total distance bikes is around 670km.

Weight day 1: 64.85kg
Weight day 7: tba

Overall a great trip. For anyone wanting to do a similar trip. A couple of tips that you might not think about.

1. Get a back rack for your bike
2. Pack as light as possible. Bring only 2 pair of everything. I brought 5 pairs of clothing and that was very useless because you can and should do laundry at every rest stop. Especially if you stay in spas because then you can dry them in the sauna and you will have nice and fresh cloth for the morning.
3. Buy baby powder and use it every night on parts of your body that aches.
4. Wear sandals in case of rain and it is just more comfortable for your feet.
5. Have a Korean friend come with you. I can't remember how many times Wonseop saved us from getting lost - because there were many detours sometimes towns are not near the trail.

Day 6

The spa we stayed in last night is really nice. And it only costed 7000₩. Oh Korea I love your ways.

I wake up at 8:30 after a 5 hour sleep. But surprisingly I am not tired at all. Wonseop woke up even earlier than me and David is still asleep.

After a filling breakfast of ramen and Mandu it's time to hit the spas and stretch for the day. We will probably get out of here by 11am. Weather forecast calls for more rain in Seoul.

2:05 - Still at the spa. We really slept in yesterday. I am trying to convince the other guys to bike into Seoul but they want to take the subway since its Raining really hard outside and they don't have raincoats. But I feel to take the subway now would be like to go to Busan and not see the beaches. It's just not an option. Even if they take the subway I will bike into Seoul.

We just finished one Padbingsu (팦잉수) a Korean ice cream dessert. And it was so good we are ordering one more. After this it's spa time and time to go.

3:41 - Still here at the spa building. The rain is continuous. Wonseop has gone to try to find rain coats for David and himself. Hope we get on the road soon.

3:50 - Got in a fight with 2 security guard and the manager at the bottom floor of the office building we were staying at. So we had our bikes by the front door but it wasn't blocking anyone because there are three doors and ours is not even open. But they kept coming to tell us to move it outside even though it was raining really hard. Anyways we were just waiting for Wondeop to come back with the raincoats and we were going to go anyways.

The third time the security guards came back he started to move our bikes by himself so I just got fed us and shouted YA as loud as I can. Chest pounding against ajushis never feels good but they are such assholes.

Anyways once the manager saw I was mad he backed off and started to be appeasing towards us. Still fucking assholes :(

5:13 - Arrival at first stamp location of the day. Gwanalu bicycle park. We will probably try to find some food around this area.

7:36 - Last stamp achieved at the blue line. But turns out we passed by the last stamp place 17km ago without getting the stamp.

9:53 - We are on the final leg of our journey. We have already passed through the center of Seoul. We saw Namsung tower and 63 building as well as many bridges. We also had to carry our bikes through knee deep water because one of the bike path was flooded. Since that time my shoes have been soaked and now as I take off my socks I can see the damage - my feet looks like 90 year old's ball sacks.

The past 3 hours has been the hardest part of the trip. So we decided to finish the trail until the very end. But this was before we realized how far it was. We thought it was only 21km but turned it it was 37km.

While taking a break we met the kindest man on the trip. He offered us some ice cream because he thought we travelled really far. And we started to talk. His brother who could speak English really well advised us we should stop going to the last stamp place because it was around 10:20 and the subway closes at 11:30. We stil ha 10km left to go. But once we arrived there, there would be no motels or spas. So we would have to bike back 10km to catch the subway. So in summary 20km in an hour. We decide to risk it because we had already gone so far. To turn back now would be tantamount of failing.

We finally arrived at our destination. It was a great feeling! But by that time it was around 11:30 and there was no hotel in sight. We got some hotdogs. And prepared ourselves for the trek to find a motel. 7.5km later we arrived at the motel around 1:30am and fell immediately to sleep. The sight of that motel was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Total distance travelled for the day: 84.5km even though this was less than some of the other days it was the most physically exhausting day.

Day 5

We start our day with a visit to the motels spa. But much to our surprise we actually all gained weight instead of losing weight since the start of the trip. David and Wonseop each gained 2kg and I gained 1kg. I am hoping it's muscles. But most likely it's fat case I cannot see the shape of the 2 pack anymore :(


8:19 - We decide to get some breakfast (Dolsot Bimbibap) while David sleeps. He's probably been hit the hardest out of the three of us on this trip because he's using a mini folding bike which requires more energy.

10:17 - We left our motel and soon got our first stamp. From that point on it has been all downhill. Great start to a great day :)

11:32 - Quick water break. David and I switched bikes at the last stop cause David's bike is a pos and he is having ass failure.

12:00 - Arrive at Chungju Tangeumdae the second stamp of the day. We travelled 28km so far. But it feels like way less than that because it has even mostly downhill. Oh also we finished the Saejae bicycle path (새재자전거길). Next one is the blue path which is the Hangang bicycle path (한강종죽자전거길). This is the river that flows out from Seoul. Almost there baby.

1:33 - We stop for lunch. The day is burning hot. Cold noodles will do us good.

5:22 - Still riding. Taking minimal breaks. Ambitious goal for the day. Get to the outer edge of Seoul by tonight.

6:10 - Arrived at Gangcheonbo (강천보). 64km bikes since our lunch time. It feels like heaven right now because the rest stop has reclining chairs. Gona stop for dinner at the next stamp area which is 10km away and then keep going until Seoul. This way we can rest all day tomorrow!

7:20 - Arrival at Yeojubo (여주보) Easy 10km for a stamp. It almost feel undeserved. :P

8:11 - arrival at Yipobo (이포보). We got excited but are having trouble finding the stamp area. One of the many disadvantages of riding at night. Dinner soon once we get the stamp.

8:25 - We haven't found the stamp booth yet. But we decided to back track from some Tonkatsu (돈까스). Looks like this all night riding is happening. Seoul here we come!

10:18 - Arrival at Yangpyeong art museum. . Only 10 more km till the Paldang bridge. But damn it's scary to bike at night.

11:43 - Arrival at suburb of Seoul. Sinwon station (신원역). Taking a quick 15 minute break and then into Seoul center baby.

12:38 - Arrival at Neungnae station. There is a train shaped cafe here but unfortunately they are not open now. It probably looked really beautiful in the day time.

1:57 - Arrived in a town near Paldang bridge. It started to really pour at about 1am. So we decided it was better to stay the night than truck through the downpour.

Overall a great day. This was the most tiring and longest distance we have travelled in 1 day since the start of the trip.

Total distance travelled today: 141km.

Plan for tomorrow - sleep in and arrive at downtown Seoul around evening time.

Day 4

7:05 we finally wake up. The original plan of 6:00 has been collectively vetoed by our snores.

Last night we found cockroaches and small bugs on our bedding. But it was a good sleep nonetheless since we were all so tired.

David talked to the manager and it seems the next leg of our journey is the hardest out of all the days. We have to climb 3 mountains today and in the rain no less.

The good news is that our clothing is nice and dry thanks to the nice grandma at the inn.

Last night while walking around after dinner we met 2 guys who also came from Busan and going to Seoul. They looked like college students and seem much more fit than we are but they started the same day as us. This gives us renewed energy for today. We probably will see then more than once in the next couple of days.

8:00 - Quick Korean style breakfast at the same place as last night. I needed to use the washroom, but as soon as I walk in I see a squatter toilet :( - the sight of defeat. My thighs and whole body curse me >:(

10:10: First stamp of the day. Just 17km from our last stop. We stopped for some rest and snacks. The rain has finally let up. But I plan on keeping my rain coat out just in case. Not that it matters since I am already wet.

11:15 - Hill after hill after hill. David went to get some water at the Sanji museum. And the sign on the konglish temple keeps my spirits high.

12:03 - Second stamp of the day at Sangju sangpung bridge. Met an old ajushi who camped here for the night He started out in Incheon.

12:35 - Arrives at the start of the Naldong river. From here on out we will be following another river path.

1:45 - We arrive in Mungkyung and stop for lunch. Kimchi jigae yum yum. My foot is swollen from the water and biking since morning in rain (it kept going on and off). We finished everything just like every meal.

3:35 - We stopped for break. During the last leg of our journey we met an old man who was on a really nice bike. He accompanied us for about 3km and had a nice conversation with us. He even offered to buy us ice cream at the next rest stop. But after a while he just took off and left us. We were supposed to get a stamp at the 1km mark but because of him we missed it. Now we are 5km away from the last stamping area which we should have stopped at. But we didn't stop because of this old man. We have started to call him Mungyung asshole - our theory is that he does this to all the travelers. That is he entices them with ice cream and make them miss their stop. Haha kidding.

Anyways we will be missing a stamp from Mungyung since we are not goig back 5km. Because the round trip is 10km.

4:30 - Water break. At the last stop I put some wd40 on my bike and it stopped creaking. :)

6:20 - Arrival at top of the mountain. The view from here is beautiful. Got our stamp. But the empty spot keeps reminding us of Mungkyung asshole. Grrr. We bought some snacks and are going to take a break here before going down the other side. It's goin to be beautiful!

8:45 - We arrived at Suanbo! The sight of lights after 2 hours of pitch darkness across a mountain is a welcomed sight. And from the looks of it we will be able to sleep well tonight. There are lots of motels and spas here.

We stopped at a chicken place for dinner and are looking forward to the hot water in the spa :)

Great day today. Like everyday. Loving this trip.

10:00 - Checked in at a motel. So far this is the best motel we have stayed at. My Chinese powers convinced the owner to give us a bigger room for the same price. Perfect ending for the day.



By the way. We have come up with an official theme song -

Balum Balum Balum - Oleh!

It's actually the commercial for a cellphone company here in Korea. But it's so catchy and perfect because each of us will say one Balum. :)