A Walk Around the Lake
23.11.06
I am so sorry to everyone reading this that I have not been blogging with the regularity that I was earlier in the year but man I have been busy. With this trip to Bohol that I am going on this Christmas, booking airfares and hotels, work, a social life, well, busy, busy, busy! I am cooking for nine, a little Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment this Sunday, but I will try to get out four or five entries next week, I have about a thousand pictures and an equal number of stories that I want to tell!
A Walk Around the Lake
Outside of my window there is a lake, a saltwater lagoon really, that dominates my view. I wake up every morning and throw my drapes back and gaze upon the gray surface that usually has a crowd of ducks and geese upon it and is, almost everyday know, a slate of ruffling whitecaps.
So I have been looking at this lake for almost three months, at the bike path that winds around it, the people taking their morning strolls, and believe it or not, I have never, not once, been to it. Sure I have been saying that I will “go around the lake”, almost everyday, but I just have never had the time to do it, to enjoy a little piece of serenity that is smack in the middle of Sokcho.
Sunday was the big day. After going out and having a few drinks on Saturday night I really did not feel much like going on a grand hike or doing anything really constructive, after I woke up at the crack of noon, o.k. maybe it was a little later, and then, as I stood naked in the window, showing my all to my neighbors, I decided that the best cure for my raging headache was to finally, after all this time, walk around the lake.
I threw on a pair of cargos and my ever filthy and faithful B.S.U. hoody, and away I went, down the elevator and out the revolving door of the Dungeon and into a crisp, clear, fall day.
With the sun shining bright against a clear, cobalt blue, fall sky I headed first east, towards the sea, and then, when I hit the Family Mart, past the last gingko trees, I headed left, to the path that winds its way around the lake.
The lake itself is called Yoengan Lake, and it is, for you Bemidji residents out there, about half the size of Lake Irvine. Unlike almost any other body of water that I have seen in Korea, I have never seen people fishing, swimming, or doing any other type of water sports other than windsurfing on it. It just seems to basically sit there in all of its glory, a blue gray oval surrounded by hills and trees.
The total circumference, according to the signs on the bike path is about ten kilometers and I set out with the goal of speed walking the entire thing in two hours. Not really a daunting goal considering how fast I walk, but a good way to get the heart rate up a little bit.
Going along the path I first passed what must have been an old age home by the shear numbers of elderly Koreans out and about in wheelchairs and pajamas, some with I.V. stands connected to their shriveled veins.
This finally answered a question that I had been asking myself for quite some time now. You see, almost every night an ambulance or two goes screaming by my apartment building, their sirens and lights rending the night’s silence with the screech of alarms and chaos. I always thought that they were heading towards route seven, the main road, to some tragic accident filled with broken bodies and blood, but know I realized that they were just heading off to rush another aged member of society to the hospital. Another mystery of Korea solved!
After passing by the old folks home, keeping the lake to the right, I continued on through a growing quiet. It was amazing, here I was, not really far from the main drag yet the only sounds I could hear were the occasional yells of kids playing, birds, and sometimes, the pitter patter of a runner as they came up behind me, or the gentle hum of bike tires as couples enjoyed the day by riding around the lake. All around me were fallen leaves, browns and reds, carpeting the path and small rode that winds around the lake, and occasionally, ever so quietly a magpie would appear, suddenly, quietly, on the path or just off into the edge of the brush, eating their daily worms.
Off in the distance I could see a huge rock formation that looked like a tiger lying down. This is where the gods of old Korea came and sat after they were tired of Sorak-san and just wanted to soak up a nice view, at least that is what the sign says.
According to my co-workers, the Korean ones, the rocks serve a much more sinister purpose than a quaint place for gods to chill out. Because they are about five stories tall and easy to get to in the dark of night, they are the prime spot for suicides in Sokcho, (a little known fact, Korea has the highest rate of suicide in the OEDC), and people are regularly found splattered on the rocks, maybe the ambulances are not going to the olds folks home after all.
Past the rocks I came to the local country club, brown and drab at this time of year but still filled with golfers. A fairly nice looking course, it is the one nine holer in the city limits, and neatest of all, they have woman caddies!
This golf course is actually quite considerate as well. Along the part of the path that parallels what I think is the eighth hole, there is a net above the trail that is there to catch the occasional wayward shot, sparing those walking below from a plunking!
Passing the golf course I came to a bridge over a dirty stream that came down from the mountains and happened on a pretty neat site. There in the water were hundreds, maybe thousands of crap, right in the inlet. Why there? Maybe to get at the fresh water before the salt of the sea diluted it farther in the lake? Who knows, but it was cool to see this huge mass of fish moving and shimmering in the water, pushing each other out of the way, jumping, the dull brown bodies interspersed with a few that were orange, white, and one huge red monster!
The other side of the lake was far duller, no trees, a few grave mounds on small hills overlooking the scenery, pretty much nothing but some building sites and small villas for the city folk to rent, that’s about it.
I finished my walk early; I made it around in an hour and a half. After walking along the sea wall on the other side of the outlet of the lake, I headed home to rest my head and have some soup!
Pictures
1. The "stress relief walk". You find these all over Korea, by walking over the differant textured stones you can relieve stress. To answer your questions, yes it does work, at least for me.
2. The "suicide rock"
3. Another view of the "suicide rock" from the other side of the lake.
4. Almost a full shot of the lake. Just in front of the building at the far left is the Pacific Ocean. My building is the one on the far right.
5. The bike path.
