Friday's 18K walk to Bundang

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.

As I said: 18K.

Ignore the distance shown. The step count is disappointing.

Lotte World Tower in the distance (Jamshil district)

a warning that wild animals roam here

With all the dead and living snakes I've shown over the years, you know this sign isn't kidding.

"Walk right"—a sign that's routinely ignored

Danger Guy!

Tan Creek east-side road under construction

crossing to the east side

looking south

They've covered the space between the bike and pedestrian bridges.

Danger Guy again! Even if you don't read Korean, you know this is warning about bumps on the road.

about how my toilet looked the other day

Songpa Loop, 21 km—I did a segment of this and found it boring and lame.

a new certification center, and the only one I saw along my route

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.

a Tan Creek story

stairs, restroom, bridge

Jangji Creek, a tributary of the Tan, where the Songpa Loop goes. This is the stretch I'd done. Lame.

sign for Jangji Creek

heavy bird, leaving footprints in stone

Daegok Bridge

record water (flood) height: 6.74 m in 2009 during intense downpour

Daewang Bridge (Great King Bridge)

Thus begins a stretch of relatively new park-golf courses. Sigh...

Empty real estate almost always ends up getting developed. I have mixed feelings.

Lots of older people kicking my ass, walking briskly.

magpie nest

(right-side up sign) Seongnam City, starting point

an old man brushes by me

Danger Guy demonstrating "Don't lean! You could fall!"

course info for one of the enclosed park-golf courses: hole number, distance, par

more magpie (ggachi/까치) nests

I was happy my camera captured the sun.

With my balance shot, I wouldn't cross without the help of a trekking pole.

The extra stones are for standing aside to let people pass.

a sign about the building of a footbridge in the park-golf area

stairs to mystery (or at least up to street level)

The magpie nests lend character to the bare trees.

The air base I'm walking beside goes on for several kilometers.

sign for Tan Creek eco wetland, with freshwater fish

same sign, but closer

more ggachi nests

restroom and shwimteo

The relentless stretch of wall defining the edge of the air base; it runs for kilometers.

fascinated by the light streaming through the clouds

a congregation of female mallards, gathering to complain about their husbands

fairly recent construction: tennis courts

almost looks like a stone table for sacrifices

coming up on the shallow swimming pool (not open yet)

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.

beyond the trees, a new building on base

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!

This is where I cross despite the signs warning against entry. Hey, it's a rule-ignoring culture.

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.

the ol' fish ladder (eodo/어도/魚道, lit. "fish-way," pronounced "aw-dough")

swinging right and picking up the bike path again

Moshi Footbridge (sounds vaguely Jewish)

"Absolutely no motorbikes!"

Dunjeon Bridge ("doon-juhn," not "dungeon")

the split: pedestrians left, bikes right

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.

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.

We've been in Seongnam for a while now, but we're heading into downtown, a few km from Bundang.

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.

Sasong Bridge

another jinggeom dari (stone footbridge)

tennis, not jokgu

an interesting-looking modern shwimteo

I only just noticed how the painting of the bench is right by the real bench.

Lots of these quaint little footbridges cross over the Tan Creek in this area. It's a nice walk, made for walkers.

sun's gettin' real low

"Let the old people take over these gyms and pump the iron," rumbled the king.

Bang-ah Bridge

Maesong Bridge

Tan Creek Underground Walkway #3

It's not East Asia without something's being painfully, cornily cute.

You may have noticed it's now dark enough for the walk lights to have come on.

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.)

what I see, digitally zoomed

Imae High School, never photographed before

This short stretch is the last bit of creekside construction after years of blighting the creek.

flood detour

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.

Here, though, the signs are clearer. Walkers left, bikes right.

a small jinggeom dari

a closer view of PARK VIEW

This was a rotating projection of flowers. Right after this were cherry blossoms.

Annoyed by PARK VIEW yet?

Well, suck it.

Baekhyeon Bridge.

almost at the final stretch

one last view as I pass by

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.

aeration over rough stones

Gungnae Bridge (Castle Interior Bridge?)

Gungnae Bridge sign up close

Here's a rude bitch running along the bike path.

I saw three different pedestrians being rude in this way. Only one biker.

See her off to the right?

Spermatozoa Bridge (Jeongja gyo)

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.

the final bit to the subway-station entrance

Shin Bundang Line

...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.