Day 0, Leg 0: in Busan, up at 3 a.m.

It was an uncomfortable ride on the SRT down to Busan. I gave up my seat to an older couple about 40 minutes into the trip and rode in between the cars in the "cattle" section with all the overbooked passengers. Long story as to what happened and why. Tonight, I just want to get four hours' sleep so I can walk to the station and cab over to my walk's starting point. First stop: Yangsan. It's a straight shot north, mostly along the river before I need to use my brains to navigate inland toward Mulgeum Station in Yangsan and my usual motel, Bliss. (Is that tacky enough of a name for you?) I think Naver Map had listed the trip as 30K, but I think it's closer to 28 or maybe 29K. So no two-night break going north even though two nights at the Bliss is my usual m.o. when going south. 

Lots of homeless people setting up camp at Busan Station for the night, and it's definitely hotter here. I look forward to the coming coolness as I lumber north and east. I think 3 a.m. is going to be my new wake-up time this walk, given how slowly I now move. I'll need the extra time to cover the same distances. 

Naver Map went crazy when I tried to find my usual motel, the Gwangjang, which is right by one of the station's exits (#4—remember it's #4!). The dot representing me kept jumping all over the place, and the damn thing was leading me in circles. I ended up walking all over the place. Earlier in the day, my T-Money Go app was also not working. Is there a problem with my phone? If there is, then I'll have to rely on old-school, commonsense navigation, and regular blogging might not be possible. We'll see. 

I was tempted to take pics of the homeless folks, but I didn't want to get yelled at. Because Korea is ethnically less diverse, it's not like Paris where the Gypsies (excuse me—Romani) infest the major train stations with their begging. These people I saw tonight simply planted themselves singly or in groups under the station's projecting edges to protect themselves from the occasional rain. (The ground was wet when I arrived, but there was no precipitation.) There was no begging that I could see. 

At the office, before leaving, I got into a stupid argument with my boss about carrying insulin with me. I don't want it in my pack when there's direct sunlight plus my body heat; my boss quickly did 30 seconds of research and argued, with his newfound expertise, that insulin can be carried for weeks at up to 25°C, and with temps coming down everywhere at this time of year, there was no problem with overheating. He also seemed fixated on the idea that I would die without insulin. I don't know why (ego), but I countered that walking will take the place of insulin in terms of effectively lowering my blood sugar... as long as I really behave myself this time. Plus the rest of my meds, the pills (which I did take along), already do at least 80% of the heavy lifting, medically speaking, and the only reason I'm on meds is that I haven't had the self-discipline to regulate my food consumption up to now. But after a stroke and now a heart attack, I think the time has come to heed the voice of the cosmos, so I'll be doing my best not to go off the chain during this walk. If I eat the way I did when I was in France in 2018, healthily, I'm guaranteed to lose at least 12 kg, lower my blood sugar and blood pressure, and get generally healthier. All without insulin, which the experts I watch think is the devil, anyway. (Insulin is also a fat-storing hormone; it makes you gain weight.)

The argument kind of spoiled the beginning of this year's walk, the uncomfortable SRT ride didn't help, and tramping around Busan Station in search of my motel was just the icing on this shit cake. I'd wanted to start fresh and happy, and instead, this is how things have begun. 

I'm at a motel called Idea (pronounced "ee-DEY-uh," according to the Korean spelling), not far from Busan Station. I had given up on finding the Gwangjang. But this motel has a friendly, middle-aged woman staffing the front, and a spacious, 2-bed room on a Tuesday night is W60,000. We talked about my tee shirt, and she told me to just grab a cab in the morning at the station. Easy enough. Cabs are there all day and all night. 

Tomorrow, I'll do my best to shed the bullshit from today and just have a good time walking up to Yangsan. One day at a time, one step at a time. 

The one pic from today:

my stick and pack at Suseo Station as I await my SRT