The Delay

The day was off to a rough start. I was initially going to catch a bus with my bike about 2km from my apartment. Uphill cycle almost the whole 2km. Got to the bus station nice and early. Watched the sun come up. Bus pulled up and BOOM! NO BIKES ON THIS BUS!

Halfway there, just need to go to that Ferris wheel.

This meant I had to cycle to the main Ulsan bus terminal. Not that bad, but I know it's very up and down to get there. Urgh. Off I went! About 13km and 1 hour later (had to wait for a lot of traffic lights).

I get to the terminal. Relief. As I bought my ticket I point to my bike and ask: "Kenchana?" basically means is it ok. I get a nod and head to the bus. Had to wait a good 20 minutes jus tor a Korean driver to tell me nope. Not on this bus pal. Confused, I phoned my Korean friend to translate a bit... came down to the bus being too "small" and that I have to wait for another bus...

Waited another 30minutes and finally got to load my bike on the bus. Now I'm heading to Haeundae, Busan. From there it's another few kilometers that I have to cycle before I can get to the trail and actually start the trip. Honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Some drama and rough patches are what makes a trip great. If it's too easy then it's no fun.

Slow and slower...

Cycling through Busan to get to the trail was a pretty nice ride in the sense that there was a lot ot see. The traffic lights though, oh my the traffic lights... Ride 2 minutes, wait 30+ seconds, rinse and repeat. Took me forever to eventually get to the the trail.

Below are some pics of this slow but interesting ride.

Mr. Miyagi

The official trail starts on the other side of the bridge! Finally!

The Trail

Finally arrived after almost 4 hours of stop and go action in the traffic lights.

At the official center, I took some quick pictures, at lunch and set off to finally start the trail. A few hours delayed but still very motivated! Feeling like I was playing an RPG and I finally passed the tutorial.

The booth where you get your stamp, there will be a lot more of these.

Finally rested up and it's time to get on that trail! Need to make up some ground!

Makeshift bridge to cross some stream of water.

Clouds are rolling in., might rain soon...

Spot the booth, stamp time!

Right after getting this stamp it started to rain. Had to find a place to stop for a while...

Was under this bridge for about 30minutes and the rain was not going to stop anytime soon... Guess I just have to power through, it's getting dark and I don't want to cycle at night.

The Motel I was planning on sleeping, Google forgot to mention it's closed... pff...

Still raining and getting darker...

SNAKE! Geez, rode past a snake that was at least 1 meter long, first time ever seeing a snake in Korea. Pretty cool. Too wet and tired to take a picture! Follow the lights! Motel ahead!

Finally reached a motel... The interior was pretty nice, but I can't post pictures of that since I do not want to use the NSFW tag... Korean motels are also known as "Love Motels" so the art is normally rated 18+.

Here is a picture of the outside the next morning. Sadly this motel did not have a computer, no Steemit for me. Did the essentials from my phone.

Stick around for day 2! The posts are a little late, I have to find internet cafe's to do some work and they are quite scarce in the countryside.

Thank you for reading! Steem on Steemians!