First things first: while I was asleep, President Yoon declared martial law in South Korea. I'm still trying to find out what this means practically for us residents. Expect this post to be updated. I literally didn't know any of this until I got my buddy Mike's text. Weird how information flows, eh? For now, I'm going back to sleep.
CORRECTION: Watch my main blog for updates. I generally try to keep politics off my walk blogs (and I admit I haven't always succeeded).
UPDATE, 8:30 a.m.: I woke up to the news that martial law has been un-declared by Yoon himself, so I at least don't have to worry about beating a curfew in the evenings. Any bets on whether Yoon resigns? I'll spend the rest of today lazing about, grabbing lunch from the meager convenience store, and preparing for tomorrow's walk. The forecast for today is sunny with a high of 8°C (it's freezing right now). Tomorrow will start off below freezing, then reach a high of 7°C. Cloudy all day, apparently. I would just ask the weather gods to please keep the precipitation away.
UPDATE 2, 4:15 p.m.: some pics from today's short stroll:
I walked a few minutes back downstream along the road that extends along the other side of the Nakdong (same side where the pension is), along the riverbank. Not much to see except for some family plots (myo) on hillsides. Had I walked farther, I'd have encountered a park-golf course. Joy. I then walked back over to the dam, hitting the Posco park along the way I crossed the dam's entire length (600-some meters), then doubled back and ambled over to the convenience store before returning to my pension and continuing the molasses-slow process of charging both my phone and my portable power pack. The data connection here is 5G and blazing fast, but the electricity for charging flows at such a trickle that I get a "slow charging" warning from my phone. The power pack is recharged; but the phone needs a few more hours.
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| looking down the short, steep road that leads up to the pension |
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| facing the river but looking left at the K-Water business office |
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| the strange tiger that guards the property |
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| see the myo on the hill? |
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| walking south along the west bank while looking right |
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| This is all eventually gonna get turned into park-golf courses, I know it. |
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| huge tracts of undeveloped land |
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| The sign on the side of the utility building says, "Gumi City Forest Fire Heli-team"—mountain rescue, basically. |
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| Here's the helicopter, nicknamed helgi in Korean and hélico in French. |
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| sour Hillary Clinton's list of "Do Not"s |
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| the weirdly retro-modern side of the K-Water business office |
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| sign(s) for the K-Water business office |
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| Posco Family Park (Posco's a big conglomerate in Korea) |
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| the back of a huge cauldron for molten steel on display in the park |
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| the cauldron's front (say "aaah") |
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| AI cybersharks programmed to swim through grass and kill you |
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| only three butt cheeks per small, stingy bench |
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| the tree and the abstract sculpture |
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| ingtae/잉태 apparently means conception |
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| explanation above if you read Korean (completion-ceremony stone for restoration project) |
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| Posco! |
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| Gumi Dam at a distance |
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| 649-meter span |
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| hydroelectric power-plant information |
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| the expanse |
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| west bank, looking north: some developed riverside property that isn't park golf |
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| west bank, looking south |
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| seating area on the dam, but no benches |
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| something hydroelectric, I imagine |
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| a rather long, tall fish ladder |
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| Oh, how I love leaning over the railing to get these shots. |
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| the wheel of life |
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| stairses |
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| east bank, looking right and south |
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| east bank, looking left and north |
It was warm when I was in the sun's glare, but it was windy on the dam, and colder in the shadows. Still, a nice stroll to burn off half a slice of cake.
23K stroll to the Nakdan Dam tomorrow, taking us to the southern edge of Sangju. The following day, a 25K stroll deeper into Sangju, then I turn directly east for the final portion of this year's walk: 36K, rest, then 30K, then finally 27K to Andong Dam. The route is slightly different this time; you may recall that, two years ago, I had plotted the route to crash at a downtown hotel, but when I got there, the snooty desk guy said I needed a reservation. Well, fuck that. So I re-plotted the route this year with motels only, and I'm kind of curious as to whether I'll hit that part of downtown again. I didn't like that hotel guy's attitude, but that downtown section of Andong was awesome. I have a feeling, though, that my new route will be closer to the river and therefore less urban. No matter: the final day along the river is equally awesome, and ending at the dam will be a grand moment.
Final note: in looking at distances and step counts from Sunday and Tuesday, I don't think the distances were all that different because the step counts themselves weren't all that different. On the original plot, Sunday's leg was 33K, and Tuesday's leg was 32K. When I confirmed the Tuesday distance Monday night, Naver changed the figure from 32K to 33K. But with the step counts being so similar (52,912 for Sunday; 53,438 for Tuesday, a difference of only 526 steps), I now think these were practically the same distance—either 32K or 33K for both segments. So I might tweak some of my original numbers at the end of this walk. Or I might not: those step counts also include random pauses, bathroom breaks, and little side trips to grab photos. Measuring distance has always been dicey, even as I've gained experience. I despair of ever doing it precisely; the ground itself is always moving and deforming.
Remind me to talk about laundry and body odor one of these days.
