Tag Archives: biking

Night Ride

Tuesday, September 29. Gangjeong Goryeongbo to Jaesong, Busan. About 200 kms.

path-DSC_9403

goryeong-gun-rice-DSC_9394Goryeong-gun.

goryeong-gun-jangseung-DSC_9387Not a lot of time to take pictures.

nakdong-last-kms-DSC_9455The sun sets again.

changneyong-hammanbo-moon-DSC_9413The moon is rising over Hammanbo and I’m still about 70 or 80 kilometers from Busan.

changnyeong-bike-path-DSC_9448The bike path is lit by green lights for a few kilometers. Sometimes I pass bikers going the other way. Then is just me, my bike, the moon, the river and the eerie Korean countryside.   changnyeong-hammanbo-DSC_9423Hours later I reach Yangsan and buy water at the first vending machine I find. The city looks abandoned except for predatory taxis.  I leave the river path and head towards Nopo at the northern end of Busan. Near PNU I get on the Oncheoncheon creek bike path. Elly meets me in Dongrae with a cupcake and candles to celebrate. I keep biking southeast to Suyong and cross the river at Gwajeong gyo. I arrive in Jaesong at 2 or 2:30am the night of my fourth day.

The Sun Sets On The Nakdong 洛東江

Monday, September 28. Sangjubo to Gangjeong Goryeongbo.  ~100km.

bridge-DSC_9248Unfinished bridge pillar or brutalist Jangseung.

nakdanbo-DSC_9262Nakdanbo.

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nakdanbo-DSC_9252Fish ladders.

nakdanbo-songpyeon-DSC_9275The breakfast of songpyeon that Elly packed for me.

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gumibo-fish-water-DSC_9292

gumibo-DSC_9303Gumibo.

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toy-cars-gumi-lg-plant-DSC_9326Remote control cars in Gumi.

nakdong-near-daegu-DSC_9342Sundown as I near Daegu.

nakdong-near-daegu-DSC_9357A distant peak.

nakdong-DSC_9373The Nakdong from Gangjeong Goryeongbo.

gangjeong-daegu-DSC_9364 Gangjeong Goryeongbo and the end of my third day.

Cities on the Han

Saturday, September 26. Seoul to Chunju along the Namhangang bike path.

I take the night Mugunghwa train to Seoul. I arrive at 4:30 am and begin biking south towards the Han. I pass the high walls of the American military base, and the Dragon Hill neighborhood.

jangseung-stone-seoul_DSC_8673I reach the river sometime after 5am.

haetae_seoul-DSC_8694A Haetae 獬豸near Hangang Bridge.
As I cross the bridge, I hear a siren and look back. A small convoy of emergency vehicles enter the bridge behind me. They drive slowly. I dismount my bike and walk to the edge of the bridge. The water below is an empty field of darkness framed by a constellation of hovering window lights kept on by an army of hardworking Koreans.
From around an island, an emergency response speedboat floats quickly in my direction. It scans the water with a searchlight. They seem to be looking for someone.
speedboat_DSC_8711I travel east. The sun begins to uncover the city.
seoul-morning-DSC_8737Twenty seven bridges cross the Han in Seoul.
seoul-lotte-tower_DSC_8743Up ahead the unfinished Lotte World Tower rises in the morning haze.
monsters_on_the_banks_of_the_hanDSC_8758Kilometers beyond the capital, camouflaged creatures meet me at the banks of the Han.
han-river_DSC_8776A city on the Han.
han-river-DSC_8782Gun emplacements guarding the waterway against possible northern aggression.
han-bike-path-DSC_8789bridge_han-river-DSC_8798bridge-iron-train-han-DSC_8803
cat-at-cafe_hanriver_DSC_8813Lunch time. A cat and bikers outside a cafe near Paldang Bridge 八堂大橋.
fliers-on-the-road-DSC_8836Plenty of small roadkill along the path.
tunnel_han_DSC_8845Railroad tunnels turned into bike tunnels.
camels_han-river_DSC_8851Camels in the Korean wilderness.
korean-flag-tree-DSC_8855Nationalist trees.
branch-han-river-DSC_8862Trees with tiny purple pumpkins.
sotdae-jangseung-han-river-DSC_8866Jangseung 長承 and Sotdae at Ipobo weir.

hill-river-DSC_8879
jangseung-DSC_8888Jangseung in twisted anguish doing their best to keep demons at bay.
Jangseung-DSC_8905jangseung-DSC_8912
jangseung-DSC_8925

river-tree-island-DSC_8938The day ends at Chungju Tangeumdae, about 120 km from Paldang Bridge.

nara奈良 and the roaming deer

DSC_7225 복사본we rent bikes and ride around the city where the deer roam free.

DSC_7250 복사본we lunch on things leaf-wrapped and raw. DSC_7236 복사본

DSC_7268 복사본we eat while a gang of panhandling, god-sent, japanese deer encircle our position.

DSC_7304 복사본we visit todai-ji 東大寺,  a buddhist temple built in 752 AD.

DSC_7335 복사본we meet the shadowy komokuten 廣目天/광목천. one of the four heavenly kings and ruler of the west.

DSC_7371 복사본outside the great buddha hall 大仏殿 we find pindola 賓頭盧 but we refrain from trying his healing powers. from the late edo period.

DSC_7405 복사본night falls and we head over to a restaurant for fishcake (오뎅 おでん). DSC_7500 복사본then tea and tiny japanese deserts.      DSC_7485 복사본

los andes to santiago on a bike

i wake up not particularly in the mood for a long bike ride. the only bike available had a diy basket attached to the handlebar. i shut up and get on the bike and leave my dad’s house. i head west on arturo prat.

DSC_1581i turn south on calle larga.

DSC_1588 DSC_1591i reach the tunnel of chacabuco in the late morning. near a fruit market i discover a shortcut.

DSC_1601it’s polite to say permiso before entering someone’s house, or when you have to squeeze through barbwire while trespassing.  i find an abandoned mud house.

DSC_1605 i push my bike through a small forest. near the enjoy casino on donkey kong mountain i find a gypsy cart.

DSC_1627 DSC_1615-old-circus-car DSC_1621 DSC_1616some pots and pans. shoes. a tea kettle.

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donkey kong mountain

i bike up the cuesta de chacabuco.

DSC_1634 DSC_1646i came here once with an old  school friend named geronimo. his dad brought a gun and they spent a half an hour shooting at cans with an automatic pistol.

DSC_1648-i find-a-friend DSC_1653at kilometro doce, i meet spongedick squarepants.

DSC_1658i bike down the last easy ride of the day. DSC_1659DSC_1661 DSC_1660i pass the place where the decisive battle of chacabuco was fought and won by army of the andes.

DSC_1665the old marker stands forgotten. grapevines cover the old battleground. my mom would later look at the picture and remember seeing the marker as a young girl on her way to the mountains.  most people skip the cuesta and take the tunnel, passing by a newer, more he-man marker erected in the 80s.

DSC_1675-capilla-de-chacabucocapilla de chacabuco.

DSC_1683i eat snacks at a copec. gummy bears, gatorade, hot dog. essentials. where there’s food y buena voluntad, the quiltros are never far.

i continue biking south on the autopista de los libertadores but i  worry that i will be pulled over by carabineros. i decide to cut to another, less traveled highway. i  get off the autopista before reaching colina.

i smell burning rubber. a dump truck appears screeching from around the corner, white-bluish smoke billowing from one of its tires. it comes to a stop near a vulcanizadora. its blinkers on.

i travel west down quilapilun road shaded by alamos. behind the alamos, the idyllic fields and dusty hills lies el tranque de las tortolas, an embalse relave of toxic, azure waters only seen by birds, descending planes and google. i  reach the western highway and realize it’s perhaps even more dangerous and narrower than the one i just avoided. up ahead i see the hill of polpaico near a big cement factory.

i merge into ruta cinco and bike up the hill. the road is lined with dessicated, mummified dogs and general roadkill. at the top of the hill i expect to see santiago or at least the cerro de renca but when i get there the land stretches far into the distance, disappearing behind a curtain of murky, ominous smog.

i enter the industrial parks in the environs of santiago. long distance transantiago buses appear.

i stop by the first quiosco in conchali and drink a bottle of soda and eat a super 8 chocolate bar. the tv is on and the german team is about to play against brazil for the semifinals of the fifa 2014 world cup.

i get to an avenue called baron de juras reales- the kind of name that made santiago a magical and mythical city to me as a kid. santiago is full of sweet, strange names drawn from ancient spanish treasure maps.

i bike up avenida dorsal.  i cut towards cerro san crisbal, which looks tiny and enveloped by the brownish, sticky smog of the late afternoon.

DSC_1685i arrive in recoleta. i travel up old streets, ‘dangerous’ streets. i walk and bike. my ass hurts. there’s a fat man with a mustache smiling outside a corner store. he’s got a funny secret to tell the world.

escuchaste lo de brasil weon? cuatro goles. cuatro a cero. lo estan cagando rico estos alemanes.  

he’s got glee in his eyes.  ten days ago brazil kicked chile out of the world cup. i doubt anybody can contain their joy as brazil is annihilated on its own soil.

DSC_1687recoleta is old and charming. i notice a few mansions built with a french flair long ago in some golden age. most buildings here have been left in disrepair for decades. graffiti crawls up the walls like  ivy. i pass el cementerio general. then at cerro blanco i look through a gate and see a bullet. i may indeed be entering the rough side of town.

DSC_1690a few minutes later the street is wet. long, white banners hang from rejas de colegio.

DSC_1691a guanaco is peacefully idling on the street. riot police are talking shop in a parking lot nearby. i’m late for whatever party they just had.

the neighborhood turns into patronato. i pass arab shops and start seeing the hangul and the bbq restaurants of the korean immigrants. the sun is about to set as i enter the bohemian barrio bellavista. as a kid i would imagine myself in my early 20s coming here and carreteando with art students.

DSC_1693the sun sets by the time i cross el mapocho for the first time. i follow el parque forestal keeping el cerro manquehue ahead.

DSC_1696i cross the mapocho again. i pass my grandpa’s house. i meet a highway and i’m forced to backtrack and cross the river for the last time. i enter a neighborhood with a sweet mapudungun name- tabancura. i keep pushing on until finally reaching avenida las condes. i walk up, following the silent mapocho to lo barnechea and home. by the time i park my bike is 8 or 9 and brazil has had a couple hours to sulk over their defeat.

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