Even more motivation to buy a motor bike.
~~
I am to go ATV driving today, in Yangpyeong. The bus will go nowhere in this traffic. I flag a taxi driver. He tells me in lots of Korean that we shouldn't take the direct route, and that he knows the backroads. Oddly I understand him. So we won't be dodging traffic. OK. Makes sense.
Instead, we'll be whipping 80kmph around farming country. Beautiful country. Unlike anywhere else. Trees, open spaces, hills, mountains, rivers, quasi-third world farmers~ peace and solitude, and not a lot of welath. It's crazy to think Seoul, the relentless metro, is just 40 minutes west of here. And in my taxi I sit obediently, palms sweating as my driver sideswipes bushes and drives in the middle of the street trying to pass the two cars ahead of us.
Destination is priority, and traffic laws are nil. Blind spots are around every corner and old farmers who may not have seen cars 10 years ago are wandering aimlessly about their property (which is now part of the street). We own the road, not hesitating before crossing one-lane bridges and passing strings of cars on winding mountain roads.
It's like a New York taxi doing the Appalacian Trail.
Destination is priority, and traffic laws are nil. Blind spots are around every corner and old farmers who may not have seen cars 10 years ago are wandering aimlessly about their property (which is now part of the street). We own the road, not hesitating before crossing one-lane bridges and passing strings of cars on winding mountain roads.
It's like a New York taxi doing the Appalacian Trail.
(I see a dot in the sky that is a man with a motorized parachute. I try to vicariously try to imagine how liberating his flight must be)
(And then I'm reminded were about to play our cards to see if we can pass these 2 stupid cars. At the bottom of the hill, we nearly blow through a red light at 100kmph but the driver has to yield ~~let off the gas for a sec~~ because the horn doesn't work)
~~
I finally meet up with the group at the ATV rental and the first thing we do is walk the track. Half of us begin to have second thoughts when we see that 30% of the terrain is flooded. Three cop out while the rest of us are ready to get dirty. I didn't make a crash course through the boondocks for nothing. Since I'm the rookie, I start with the mini bike. It's compact enough to manuever around the deep puddles. But I would not recommend riding straight through like this--
We killed two vehicles because of submerged driving. When the engines get wet there tends to be issues.
After managing fairly well on the mini bike I levelled up to a full-sized machine. This thing has horsepower. It wasn't difficult getting a feel for riding around the burms and sliding around the mud. I only make sure to move past an obstacle slowly before bolting through it. Once I circled the track a few times I can comfortably ride on the burms and over the bumps with speed. I felt ready for more of a challenge. I raced one of the workers but he was more interested in showing off his bag of tricks.
Afterwards my itinerary had me destined for Suwon but a few of the ATVers enticed me to go to a BBQ. For this we made our way further out into the country. Things were pretty flat out here. Five Americans cooking burgers and steaks at a quiet park surrounded by a large field. Ritually the cookout felt like anything in the states but my surroundings were out-of-synch. The park was normal (b-ball courts, badminton nets) but the things around us were unmistakenly Korean. Not to mention the place was DESOLATE. It was like going to a field to watch fireworks but there was no one else around and there weren't any fireworks. This made for a slightly off-kilter Independence Day feeling.
Nowhere, ROK.
o
Hmmm... So we're cooking on a thimble?
o
We played some sports and filled our tummies with calories. When things died down I wanted to play more. That night, I made my way to Suwon where the festivities picked up again. It is customary in Korea to call this i-cha, or second round, although it's usually much closer. My i-cha didn't account for much besides me losing a lot of sleep before the Folk Village the next day.
o
~~
o
Already finding myself in Suwon, I met up with L for a festive day in the folk village. There were a lot of vacationers and tourists here. Usually L and I are in Yangsu when we see each other, where we're 95% of the time the only English speaking people around. We had to suddenly be careful what we talked about because the people around us could actually listen in to our conversation!
o
The folk village was set up to feel like an old Korean farming village. The shows were certainly the best part of the whole thing: a farmers' dance, a tight rope acrobat, and a group of horse-riding tricksters.
o
This was the second time I saw traditional Korean dancing. It requires some constant head moving to keep the ribbon on the top of their head moving while the dancers run in circles and do side-flips while playing their instruments.
The horse-riding showmen played with swords, arrows, and whips.
o
Kimchi: old world and new world.
Pick you're poison.o
I always thought flogging involved flaming logs?! The next torture device should be feared most by the men. While the culprit sits on the chair the punishers place the sticks between his legs and pull them in each direction, making for an intense groinal workout.
o
Happy 4th.
