Yesterday's walk took me from my place at Daecheong Station all the way down the Tan Creek to Seongnam City and the Bundang district—specifically, to Jeongja Station (Jeongja yeok/정자역/亭子驛). I incessantly joke that jeongja/정자 is also the Sino-Korean term for semen or spermatozoa, but that's actually from a totally different pair of Chinese characters: 精子/정자/jeongja. So no, Jeongja Station is not drenched in cum. Sorry, ladies.
The walk was cool and cloudy—too cool, in fact: my fingertips were freezing for most of the walk. The starting daytime temperature at 3 p.m. was around 4.6ºC, or about 40ºF. Had the sun been able to shine through, the cold wouldn't have been so bad. As it was, I regretted not taking along gloves and/or chemical hand-warmers.
I walked from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at my slow pace. For 18 kilometers, that's exactly 4 kph, which is about the best I can expect from myself on flat ground. No angina to speak of (more thanks to my meds than to diet/exercise). My feet were achy by the end, but that's not a tragedy. Except for one sit-down to rest, it was a good, steady walk.
Shutterbugging became a compulsion: once I started, I couldn't stop. Many details along that path, which I hadn't walked in a while, had changed. Much of the construction along the creek has been completed, but there's one little bit close to the end of my route that remains to be finished off. A couple new buildings seem to have sprung up, too, including a major building on the air base that I pass by.
Below are pics from the walk—a bit over 200. Enjoy.
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| As I said: 18K. |
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| Ignore the distance shown. The step count is disappointing. |
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| Lotte World Tower in the distance (Jamshil district) |
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| a warning that wild animals roam here |
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| With all the dead and living snakes I've shown over the years, you know this sign isn't kidding. |
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| "Walk right"—a sign that's routinely ignored |
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| Danger Guy! |
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| Tan Creek east-side road under construction |
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| crossing to the east side |
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| looking south |
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| They've covered the space between the bike and pedestrian bridges. |
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| Danger Guy again! Even if you don't read Korean, you know this is warning about bumps on the road. |
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| about how my toilet looked the other day |
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| Songpa Loop, 21 km—I did a segment of this and found it boring and lame. |
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| a new certification center, and the only one I saw along my route |
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| Sutnae Plaza |
Sutnae (charcoal creek) may be a reference to the creek's name: Tancheon. The word tan means "coal," "carbon," etc.; and cheon means "creek." Sut also means "charcoal"; nae means "creek." Tancheon is Sino-Korean; I assume Sutnae (spelled Sunae on maps) is pure Korean. There are often pure-Korean equivalents of Sino-Korean terms.
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| a Tan Creek story |
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| stairs, restroom, bridge |
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| Jangji Creek, a tributary of the Tan, where the Songpa Loop goes. This is the stretch I'd done. Lame. |
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| sign for Jangji Creek |
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| heavy bird, leaving footprints in stone |
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| Daegok Bridge |
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| record water (flood) height: 6.74 m in 2009 during intense downpour |
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| Daewang Bridge (Great King Bridge) |
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| Thus begins a stretch of relatively new park-golf courses. Sigh... |
Empty real estate almost always ends up getting developed. I have mixed feelings.
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| Lots of older people kicking my ass, walking briskly. |
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| magpie nest |
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| (right-side up sign) Seongnam City, starting point |
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| an old man brushes by me |
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| Danger Guy demonstrating "Don't lean! You could fall!" |
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| course info for one of the enclosed park-golf courses: hole number, distance, par |
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| more magpie (ggachi/까치) nests |
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| I was happy my camera captured the sun. |
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| With my balance shot, I wouldn't cross without the help of a trekking pole. |
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| The extra stones are for standing aside to let people pass. |
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| a sign about the building of a footbridge in the park-golf area |
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| stairs to mystery (or at least up to street level) |
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| The magpie nests lend character to the bare trees. |
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| The air base I'm walking beside goes on for several kilometers. |
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| sign for Tan Creek eco wetland, with freshwater fish |
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| same sign, but closer |
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| more ggachi nests |
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| restroom and shwimteo |
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| The relentless stretch of wall defining the edge of the air base; it runs for kilometers. |
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| fascinated by the light streaming through the clouds |
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| a congregation of female mallards, gathering to complain about their husbands |
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| fairly recent construction: tennis courts |
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| almost looks like a stone table for sacrifices |
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| coming up on the shallow swimming pool (not open yet) |
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| coming up on the area where I can turn left into the city and head to Taepyeong Station |
I've stopped my walk short and headed to Taepyeong Station only once or twice over the years.
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| beyond the trees, a new building on base |
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| This must have been built only within the past year or so. |
I did worry about whether it would be legal to photograph the building. I swear I'm not a spy!
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| This is where I cross despite the signs warning against entry. Hey, it's a rule-ignoring culture. |
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| on the creek's west side now, still going south |
This bare area, above, is normally full of equipment and activity. It often serves as a combination parking lot for trucks and storage area for unfathomable equipment.
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| the ol' fish ladder (eodo/어도/魚道, lit. "fish-way," pronounced "aw-dough") |
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| swinging right and picking up the bike path again |
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| Moshi Footbridge (sounds vaguely Jewish) |
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| "Absolutely no motorbikes!" |
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| Dunjeon Bridge ("doon-juhn," not "dungeon") |
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| the split: pedestrians left, bikes right |
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| asshole |
The asshole above was biking on the pedestrian side when I started swearing in English. He crossed over to the bikers' side, and I have no idea whether that was the result of my swearing or his intention all along. If I'm charitable, he had made a mistake and blundered onto the pedestrian side. But I'm not inclined to be charitable. This sort of intrusion happens way too often in my experience.
Don't worry: I photographed at least one example of pedestrians in bike lanes. That happened a few times during this walk as well.
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| I sat here and rested for five minutes. |
Under-the-bridge benches might not seem like much, but on sunny days, they're a welcome respite from the light and heat; and on rainy days, they're a place where you can rest and stay out of the rain.
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| We've been in Seongnam for a while now, but we're heading into downtown, a few km from Bundang. |
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| I remember when I suddenly noticed this building a few years back. |
The above building has always been hard to take seriously because it reminds me of this.
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| Sasong Bridge |
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| another jinggeom dari (stone footbridge) |
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| tennis, not jokgu |
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| an interesting-looking modern shwimteo |
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| I only just noticed how the painting of the bench is right by the real bench. |
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| Lots of these quaint little footbridges cross over the Tan Creek in this area. It's a nice walk, made for walkers. |
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| sun's gettin' real low |
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| "Let the old people take over these gyms and pump the iron," rumbled the king. |
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| Bang-ah Bridge |
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| Maesong Bridge |
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| Tan Creek Underground Walkway #3 |
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| It's not East Asia without something's being painfully, cornily cute. |
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| You may have noticed it's now dark enough for the walk lights to have come on. |
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| Up ahead is a little rise that marks an important point on the walk for me. |
When I reach the little rise up ahead and look forward into the distance, I see, faintly, a huge apartment-building sign that says PARK VIEW. When I'm standing on that rise and looking at PARK VIEW, I know I have only 3.5 km left for this walk. So I allow myself to feel a sense of relief. It's all downhill from here. So to speak. (The walk is actually flat.)
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| what I see, digitally zoomed |
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| Imae High School, never photographed before |
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| This short stretch is the last bit of creekside construction after years of blighting the creek. |
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| flood detour |
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I think the green sign is saying, "Pedestrians left; bikers right," but it could also just be saying, "This passage is for both pedestrians and bikers." Sometimes, it's hard to know. |
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| Here, though, the signs are clearer. Walkers left, bikes right. |
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| a small jinggeom dari |
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| a closer view of PARK VIEW |
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| This was a rotating projection of flowers. Right after this were cherry blossoms. |
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| Annoyed by PARK VIEW yet? |
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| Well, suck it. |
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| Baekhyeon Bridge. |
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| almost at the final stretch |
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| one last view as I pass by |
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Baekgung Footbridge, which used to be called Baekgung Bridge. Baek means "white," and gung means "castle," which always evokes burgers for me and makes this my favorite bridge. |
A bit less than a kilometer to go.
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| aeration over rough stones |
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| Gungnae Bridge (Castle Interior Bridge?) |
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| Gungnae Bridge sign up close |
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| Here's a rude bitch running along the bike path. |
I saw three different pedestrians being rude in this way. Only one biker.
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| See her off to the right? |
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| Spermatozoa Bridge (Jeongja gyo) |
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| I went up these steps, but they were the wrong steps. |
In theory, I could ascend to street level at any point along this part of the path, but there's a particular staircase that I usually go for, and the one pictured above wasn't it—my staircase was farther down. Just goes to show that I hadn't been by this way in a long while.
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| the final bit to the subway-station entrance |
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| Shin Bundang Line |
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| ...and we end on Entrance 6 |
So that was my 18K Friday walk. I might've gone faster had I not stopped to take over 200 pictures, but it was a good walk all the same.
