Sunday, September 01, 2019

new 2019 Kevin's Walk tee shirt with front and back designs!

Show your solidarity by heading over to my Teespring shop and buying a spanking-new 2019 Kevin's Walk tee shirt! It features a map of my route on the front, along with total distance, projected travel dates, and the names of cities that will be passed along the way. Note how the front is mostly in Korean, with only a tiny bit of English, while the back is vice versa.

The Korean letters on the back of the tee shirt are done up in a currently popular design, in which each letter represents the beginning of a word, as with an initialism. Inside the box are four rows of four characters each:

2 0 1 9
G T J J
4 D G G
D B Y H

(Technically, the "Y" in the last row is the "y" sound, as there is no actual letter "Y" in Korean, but the "y" sound can be created through the use of other letters.)

The rows spell out:

2019 = the year 2019, obviously
GTJJ = Gukto Jongju (national end-to-end path)
4DGG = Sadaegang-gil (4 Great Rivers Path)
DBYH = Dobo Yeohaeng (walking trek)

Front:


Back:


Treks like this do pack a financial punch, so if you're willing to support the walk by purchasing a tee or three, I would very much appreciate your contribution to the cause. Every dollar counts. Thank you in advance.



4 comments:

daeguowl said...

Let me be an arsehole and tell you that walk technically only covers two of the four great rivers; namely the Nakdonggang and the Hangang. The other two of the four are the Geumgang and the Yeongsangang.

Kevin Kim said...

Yeah, I talked about this in 2017 because I, too, didn't think there were actually four rivers along this path. But my breakdown was, starting at Incheon:

1. Ara Canal (not a "great river" at all)
2. Han River (OK, maybe a "great river")
3. Namhan River (maybe also a "great river," and arguably just an extension of the Han)
4. Saejae Path (no major river thru the Baekdu Daegan, but there are minor watercourses)
5. Nakdong River (finally, a "great river")

So while my analysis is a bit different from yours, I agree the label "Four Great Rivers" is a misnomer.

daeguowl said...

Many cyclists get confused. To qualify for a Four Rivers completion medal, you need to have completed the four rivers I mentioned. Doing your route qualifies you for a cross-country medal. 2MB's project was called the Four Rivers Project, so that's what most people refer to.

Kevin Kim said...

And it doesn't help matters that, for the entire length of my 2017 walk, the bike-route signs said "사대강길." Some relabeling is in order.