Visiting Mexico in Korea

This past weekend Annabelle and I took the trip of a life-time. I say that because we might never again be able to go off the island again as a result of the trip. I was invited by a couple of nice fellows that in addition to being nice, are very kindhearted. You might be saying those are the same things but the dictionary says otherwise. Regardless of that the destination for me was Masan. They had plans to go up the East coast as far as time would allow, but they were also riding a 650 and a 750.

We set off after work on Friday night with a plan to have supper 100 km away in Masan. While we were still in town we realized what a trek it would be. From one set of lights to the next Annabelle and I got up to 7000 rpm in fifth gear. I mentioned that to the others and they just groaned.

After some complaining from Annabelle, I decided it best to stay below 9000 rpm. Red line is at 10,000. That would mean the fastest that I would be able to go was 95 km/h. This was fine by me, but it bound the throttle hands of the others to a much lower pace than they would have liked to travel at. As I mentioned earlier they were both nice and kindhearted.

Navigating in Korea is fairly simple if your destination is large and you stick to the main roads. Both of which were the case on this leg of our trip. All of the major signs are in both Korean and English. The only issue comes when a signs for an upcoming turn off will appear right at the last minute, leaving you no time to react. This was the situation we found ourselves in just out side Masan as the road suddenly forked. Only after the fork did we see signs that we were headed for an expressway which on which motorcycles are not allowed.

We stopped at the toll booth and the lady came out put her arms in an X and said no over and over. She motioned us to go through, so we went forward and pulled over to discuss our options. After a few minutes of looking at maps we decided that it would be safest and easiest to continue on the expressway as there was no place to turn around. We turned off a few kilometers down the road and after a number of map checks we pulled over at our supper destination.

After a short gander down a walking street and a left down an alley we had made it to Mexico! The excitement comes from the fact that Mexican food is one of the least available foods in Korea and I have been craving it. We took a hold of the menus and started to drool in a fashion similar to a fire hose when pointed at a burning building. Everything on the menu looked so fantastically delicious that my dependant personality disorder was kicking in big time(I was going to have a hard time making a decision). Thankfully the others felt the same way and all of the dishes came in multiple sets so we ordered four dishes. We did not leave hungry. We all agreed that had we been back home the food would rate as mediocre, but then again we are a long home. For Mexican food in Korea, it was delicious.

After dinner, seeing as it was already after 11:00, we made our way to our sleeping accommodations. This involved riding out of the city, finding a small road, from there turning off on to a field road and following it until we found a patch of fallow ground big enough for our tent and bivy. We woke up to find that it was indeed an alright spot.

After a breakfast of Korean cool-aid and crackers we packed up and parted ways, they continued North East while I headed for home. Before starting out I had thought it a good idea to check the oil after that hard riding that had occurred the night before and was I ever glad that I did. Annabelle had been so thirsty no oil showed up on her gauge. I quickly emptied the remains of the quart of oil I carry in my bag but even with that her readings were below the low line.

This meant that the first order of business was to find something for Annabelle to drink. Through this I learned something, no gas stations in Korea(that I stopped at) carry oil, even the deceptively named Haeundae Oilbank. After a few while of riding I stopped again to ask and was directed to the next town where I found a great little shop that had Annabelle's second favorite beverage in stock.

Having drank her fill, we continued along our way looking for the 77, a piece of highway that, on a map, looked like a good road. The town we had ended up in happened to be the town where the 77 started, what a stroke of luck... We turned on and were greeted with a sign saying "Scenic Road of Korea" which meant that it had to be good. It did not disappoint. The winding road brought fantastic views of the coast. From riding right along side the sea to seeing glimpses of water while slicing through turns a couple hundred feet up, with only mirrors to show the sharpness of the curves.

This is the map of our journey, the yellow shows the way out, stopping just short of Masan and the pink shows the way home.

After this trip Annabelle and I have officially travelled over 1,000 km's together! If you can't tell, our relationship is getting pretty serious.