The West Commences: Eat, Bike, Hike

This visit in Korea could be entitled, Eat, Bike, Hike . It’s 8:00pm on Monday, September 9, and I’ve just returned from 3 hours of biking and a total of 3 hours on the subway, plus an hour or so of aimless wandering. Jay and May helped me plan the subway route that I had to take to bike on the path along the Han River in Seoul. I had been going to take the girls’ bike because the minister I met on the weekend told me that was possible, but Jay found a site on his i-Phone that showed where and how cheaply bikes could be rented on the bike path. Fortunately, I took his suggestion and rented a bike for $7.00 for 3 hours.

The subway was packed to the doors when I got on at 5:40 to go home and the trip takes about one hour and 40 minutes. Being a woman of my age makes it easier because I am almost always offered a seat, and this time was no exception, but with a bike!!!!! I don’t know what I would have done because I was tired. I rode as fast as I could for the first 45 min. and as I did so, I realized that a man about my age I think but it was hard to tell because he was wearing full Korean biking gear was ahead of me at first, then passed me on my gearless urban beater and then I passed him again and he stayed behind. When I finally stopped to turn around, he stopped too and asked me the usual question about my age. When I told him, he mumbled something in Korean that I didn’t understand and then said, ‘fast’, and biked on. Buoyed by that reluctant compliment, if that’s what it was, I spent the rest of the time going slowly and taking some pictures. The ride was very easy, as flat as the river.

Jay, Min and I had a good ride on their much superior bike on Saturday. We spent most of the day taking turns riding and walking on the path that follows the canal that borders Song do. There’s good workout equipment all along that path, so we would stop at various points and do some exercises. We had coffee and really sweet smoothies while sitting watching the people out to see and be seen at a new open air, upscale mall that’s just being finished in Song do. On Sunday, Jay and I returned to his old neighborhood for a hike on the mountain there and lunch, so my legs are staying in shape, and the stomach is developing too.

The last time I was here, Jay was on a Korean barbeque kick, so when we went out for dinner, that’s what we ate. But this time he’s introducing me to some of his other favorites. On Friday evening when he and May had finished work, we all went to a restaurant that specializes in ‘jok bal,’ a meal that is based on pork hocks, but it’s more like the whole leg because there’s lots of meat in slices to satisfy Jay and those who like that but there are also bits and bones, the parts that Pip was given and said that the creature was least proud of when alive, but which I love. It reminded me of eating chicken feet with Tilly and Caroline. Delicious. On Saturday we went out with May’s brother and his fiancé for another pork based meal, ‘kamjattang’, this time the backbone in a wonderful broth with kimchee and potatoes. Again, bits to satisfy all tastes, discriminating and less so. It’s my favorite meal of the trip so far.