Picture One (Top Left)
A pretty gritty part of town down by the water. The large building to the right was abandoned about half way through construction. This is suppossed to be picture three on the walk

Picture Two (Top Right)
Crossing the bridge very near school. Note the mountains looking west. That is part of Sorak-san Park. Picture four of the walk.

Middle Left
The building my school is in, note A.P. English sticker on the third floor. Our chicken place is at the lower right with the red sign. This is the fifth picture of the walk

Middle Right
The main street in Sokcho the Brits have got me started calling it the "High Street". In Britian this means the main commericial street in town. This is where all the cool stuff (such as it is) is and happens in Sokcho. Picture two in the series

Bottom
Just leaving Dongjin (my building) one of our two bus stations in town is just to the right. From here you can take busses to anywhere in Korea. Straight ahead is the ferry terminal and naval base where I saw five South Korean frigates and two destroyers this morning.

Sokcho Diary-

17 September 2006

Walking to School-

Its twenty after twelve, time for you to come with me on my little walk to work. It will take us about forty minutes and I can show you a bit of my town on the way.

Down the elevator to the first floor and out the revolving door. Do you see the little guard shack to the right? Wave to the guy, he is good to have on your side as that is the man who can unlock your door if you come home drunk and have lost your keys. When I make cookies I always take a few down to him.

Past the gate, lets make a left and walk past the tennis courts, church, and cultural center on the other side of the road. On our right is the Dok-do singing room that has very peculiar sounds coming from it late at night as drunken Korean ashojis caterwaul into the wee hours of the morning here.

At the corner we go left again, towards the sea. See the bus station across the road? You can take a bus from here to anywhere on the peninsula for, at the most, thirty bucks.

Lets keep going, past the butchers and the gas station. On this street you can see Yeogwans (small hotels) restaurants and other cheap shops selling a few essentials, nothing big,

At the reunification statue, a stone monument of a mother and child looking longingly at their homes in the communist north that they had to abandon, we turn left. The ferry terminal is just behind the statue. From hear you can go to Russia and Japan. This is also where the Korean navy keeps a squadron of five frigates that are currently tied side by side to a pier across from the ferry terminal.

This street that we are on now is the high street. The main commercial heart of Sokcho. Here we can see a lot of brand name shops and their Korean knockoff alternatives. To the left is the administrative heart of the city. The courthouse, city hall, it is all here in this one big complex.

Do you see the two little restaurants just down from the gun shop that only sells b.b. guns? The ones with all the deep fried goodness out front? Lets stop and grab some squid and sweet potatoes for a couple of bucks, a good quick lunch. If we eat standing up at the counter we can dip our stuff in the soy sauce flavored with ginger, scallions, onions, and chilies.

At Mr. Pizza we turn left, off the high street. Above Mr. Pizza do you see Dari International School? That is where my friends Helen and Kelsey work. That school does not only English but also Chinese and Japanese.
Down this little side street, past a couple of restaurants and some love motels is a dirt road, we take a right here.

See that uncompleted building? The one that is about ten stories of bare cement and unfinished room completely open to the elements? What a waste. Millions of dollars spent and there it sits, never to be finished, slowly sinking into the muck.

Further we go down the road, past the recycling center where the handicapped and disadvantaged scrape out a few won, enough to buy some kimchi and rice, working ten hours a day sorting through the debris of a society that has swept them to the curb to fend for themselves with no help from the state.

After about a quarter mile we see Yongin Lake and the park around the west shore. See the football fields and trees, the bike paths around the lake. It’s a pleasant place to while away an afternoon. I wish I could sit here with you awhile but I have to run to work.

Across the bridge we go. To the left is Yongin Lake and to the right, the west, are the mountains of Sorak-san Park. If it was a little clearer we could see Ulzimbowi, the Old Man, a ragged set of limestone teeth that look over Sokcho.

Over there is Tire Pro. See it, the green building? We have to cross the main road here and take a quick jog left. Quick look up to the third floor of the building with the Koreana chicken sign on the bottom of the building. See the A.P. logo on the third floor? That’s my work. I have to go in now, so why don’t you head down to Gimpap Click for some donkas and I will meet you around eight at Koreana for some chicken and beer.