Day 7: Starvation & Salvation

Course: Baegunsan--Yuksipryeong 

Distance walked: 16 km 

Rob

After yesterday's 25km slog we were well spent and the plan was to eat at a small roadside stand on a pass 4km down the trail. Strolling down the ridge all thoughts were of the sizzling pajeon파전 (Korean pancake) we would be feasting on for breakfast. Alas, probably because it is still early summer the place was deserted. The cold wind blowing up the pass led to a pretty quick consensus to move on, but now we had a real challenge as the next food was 15km away.

We split the last 3 spoons of rice and Kathleen generously divided her remaining cookie into thirds. Why am I having flashbacks to last time haha. With no other option than to keep walking we ground back up to the trail. Luckily the weather had cleared into the first sunny day since Jirisan. We wafted along amongst the birch trees on a beautiful section of ridge, dipping down into overgrown thickets of bamboo then back up onto the rocky granite outcrops. This is the Daegan! I started to feel nostalgic as this was a familiar scene from my last attempt. That would be slightly dizzy from exhaustion and lack of food but feeding on the energy of the day and the challenge of making it to the next stop.

After about 10km we heard a commotion ahead. Now to a ravenous and ill-prepared waygookin walking the baekdudaegan this is a sound which always causes the heart to skip a beat, as the chance for a spot of gwaja exchange is suddenly on the cards. This time our timing was superb as we rounded the corner and walked straight into a working party of cheery ajuma's and ajoshi's who had just sat down to lunch! Needless to say the 정 was flowing and we had no other option than to sit (gratefully) down and eat what was put in front of us - bap, kimchi and various san namul washed down with coffee and even water drawn from a birch tree. 

Moments like this are what the Daegan is all about and sometimes words cannot describe the immense gratitude I feel towards the Korean people as they unquestioningly share whatever they have with whoever happens to come along the path. It was also great to see so many older people out socialising and working together, in this case clearing up the local mountain trails after winter. I think we definitely lack this dynamic in NZ anyway.

Our day was now much less dramatic and we casually walked the remaining distance to another pass, this time with an open restaurant and a pleasant spot to camp by the road. Just when we thought life couldn't get much better we were beckoned over by a group of guys outside the 식당 who were pretty surprised to see 3 foreigners in such a random spot. We shared some ramyeon and beer together for half an hour, They were caddies and managers on the Korean LPGA golf tour, which is quite a unique job for Korea. Spun some yarns and we parted ways best of mates. Just another example of the open and friendly-natured people you will find on this peninsula.