Day 1 – Septmber 6th – Tokyo to Shimonoseki. Total distance – 1021 kms
Purpose of the trip - explore the supposedly awesome Korean roads, Korean countryside and enjoy Korean local food. No big cities, fancy hotels or restaurants!
I left at around 11 PM on September 6th as I had to reach Shimonoseki port by 3:00PM latest the following day.
I had been checking Japan and South Korea weather every day since I had booked the ferry to Korea. Suddenly tenki.jp started saying it will rain on Saturday night between Tokyo and Osaka. This bothered me first but then not much. Every awesome ride I had always had rain god pouring on me at the start so I took this as a good sign! It indeed rained a bit between Tokyo and Osaka but nothing my rain gear couldn’t handle.
Remembering Chugoku Expressway from my 2008 Iron Butt ride, I wanted to ride it during the day so I was throttling my speed and rest steps. Finally had a blast on Chugoku express. I think bikers in Japan should initiate a movement to get Chugoku expressway declared a national heritage. Did a big breakfast right before firing off on the Chugoku expressway!
All is not good though. I realised one of the PIAA lights had blown up. Also the Zumo couldn’t draw power from battery for a while but fixed itself somehow later on.
Day 2 – September 7th – Shimonoseki to Busan
Some unfortunate people at the Shimonoseki exit, apparently there was speed camera nearby and they were hand picking the cars to ticket….
Reached Shimonoseki much ahead of the 3:00PM deadline but found that ferry counter won’t open before 1:00PM so I decided to take a trip to Haedomari port but soon pretty ominous clouds rolled over and then it started raining so I headed over to the ferry terminal.
The whole process is quite inefficient actually. Ferry leaves it 8:00PM but you need to check in the bike at 3:00PM and then return back at 6:00PM again for the inspection.
Loading up
Video – Loading up the bike on ferry
Finally checked in at 6:30PM and the ferry rolled out at 8:00PM. Going to Busan was Japanese ship Humayuun. Unlike the Korean ship Songhee, this ship travels fast and then anchors at the sea for a while. Got a whole cabin 1st class cabin for myself, not bad!
Chizimi dinner and a sleep later it was Busan already!
Day 3 – September 8th – Busan to Gyeongsang – total distance – 308 kms
Morning view of Busan from the ship and a brilliant sunrise!
If this was sign of things to come!
Immigration and motorcycle customs took almost 90 minutes, mostly because of language issue. The customs officer assigned to me didn’t speak English and my Korean was mute. Luckily the guy was smart and after some 45 minutes of hassle asked if I speak Japanese. Everything was breeze after that.
Once out I had to remind myself to ride on the wrong side of the road. Pink band on the right hand to remind driving on the right side plus the promise to return back safely to my daughters!
Quickly realised that here you don’t need to wait for green signal to turn right, look for the traffic and turn right. Roads here were much wider and traffic was scary. Seems like everyone speeds. I was trying to head over to the first countryside road I had chosen but I just didn’t know how to turn left!! Also the navi took me to a highway and then later on expressway entrance where a yelling toll booth operator told me motorcycles are not allowed on expressway. I know dude! my Navi does not understand it !!! Much later I found that with the free maps Zumo didn’t differentiate between highway and toll roads so unless avoidance was ticked for both, it kept routing to expressway.
Anyway, found a person at 7-11 who could speak some english and I realised I was on the wrong side of river. Taking directions from here I managed to get out of the city but still things were not good. I was unable to find my start point. Outside city the second realisation dawned – every had dogs here, big and aggressive ones. These were not pets but more of guards so it was not matter of just walking in somewhere to ask for directions. By this time I had already driven on left for three times, horns honked by oncoming cars…
And to make matters worse I ran over a small snake who was trying to cross the road in middle of day and made a U turn at last and unfortunate moment. A Korean snake getting run over by a Indian guy on a Japanese bike in Korean countryside. Snake must ack in afterlife that world is getting smaller…
Somehow I managed to the first start point which looked like a big achievement at that time. Starting out ran in to a cemetery first.
Within 15 mins of leaving city put the first smile on my face, I had chosen my day 1 route wisely. Twisties! Google maps satellite view rocks.
Video – Korean road first impression – Awesome!
A typical Korean house ?
By now I was feeling hungry and one of the to do in Korea was to eat in a road side tent. Found one that was open and stopped by.
Communication was not possible because the lady running the show didn’t speak a word of english. I told her by gestures I am hungry and a paper which said no pork or beed in Korean. She wasn’t amused but started cooking nonetheless. Having no idea what was coming I was a bit nervous. Got the noodles served, deep breath and one bite, hmm this thing tasted good. The owners mood changed immediately when I gave her a thumbs up and she decided to join the lunch. Things changed back to original though as soon as I told her I am full and can’t eat anymore. I showed her the money I had and she picked up 5000 won.
I walked out feeling I got ripped .. but hold on, that was 500 JPY for a big lunch! Need to adjust…. still I remembered the frown on her face.
Scenary was good though.
Schools are more colourful in Korea!
These reminded of Indian villages!
First fuel stop. Will the S10 sputter and die ? Luckily it didn’t happen. Here in Korea you need to tell how much Won worth of fuel you need. My FULL sounded FOUR to the gas station attendent but eventually he understood.
Scenary was good but the inability to communicate was coming down heavily on me. Scenary was good and roads were twisty but I was not able to open up throttle for the fear of crashing. I was alone, in a foreign country, far away from home and unable to talk to anybody. My Oregon was showing still some 2 hours worth of daylight left but around 5 I decided to check in to a hotel. Found a Love motel and having read about them in advance I had no issues signing up in one of these. It was quite clean, had hidden parking and the dude at reception was alright. They had hidden parking but I took all my stuff upstairs plus activated the theft alarm.
Not expecting a restaurant in this area I walked out to a 7-11 but the guy there gave directions to a mall nearby which had quite a few options. One had Korean food with menu in English, they got my Business. First good dinner in Korea is Jimtap!
Realization – most restaurants in Korea serve food for atlesast 2 people. You order and pay for it even if you are alone and can’t finish it.
Food made me feell better but still I was wondering why did I sign up for this trip and am in this place. Nonetheless I kept telling myself tomorrow will be better. Somehow….
Day 4 – September 9th. Gyeongsang to Gangwon. Total distance – 398 kms
I had my Day 2 route planned and it was all about twisties. Woke up at 4 and was ready to rollout by 5:30 AM. Went to the bike to load the luggage. Returning back to the room for second round I realised the door was auto locked and I had off course locked the key inside! Cursing myself I went to the counter and could see the lady in charge sleeping on futon behind the counter. Having no other option I had to bang the counter to wake her up. Without opening her eyes she handed me keys to another room and demanded money. Took some effort to explain why I was there. For the next 5 minutes I had one of the most upset person telling me I was an idiot for leaving keys inside, didn’t need to know the language to understand it.
So much for today being a better day…
Anyway after apologising to her more times then she wanted to hear (because she wanted to go back to bed) i quietly left the keys at the counter and rolled out at 6:00AM.
This day started foggy and a bit chilly but I had good routes planned. Morning Korean countryside was really beautiful, my camera couldn’t do justice to it..
Here too everybody had guard dogs, at least one. These dogs didn’t like motorcycle and motorcyclists and went crazy when they saw one stopping nearby, literally barking their lungs out and trying to snap the leash. I felt more lonely in Korea… 
But the good scenery and roads continued and kept my spirits up.
I was hungry and wanted to find some combini but this was countryside and there was none. Remembering my first two Korean experiences I really didnt feel like stopping at some small place but finally the hunger got better of me. Stopped at a small place and explained to the people I wanted to eat something by gestures and word restaurant. No restaurant but there is shittan. Hold on, one of the objectives was to eat at small Korean eateries! went in this place and said the only food I knew – bibimpa! Big chatter and laughter among the people there but the owner was nice and obliged. I showed her the paper which said no pork or beef. She couldnt read and another guest lady helped.
Food was as simple as it gets but good! and then I realised it came with chilled but most probably tap water. And I had forgotten my mineral water at the bike.
I had the option to go get water and Korea tour guide and Korean friends back home advised not to drink tap water, courtesy demanded I don’t offend the lady by refusing the water. I don’t want to get sick here…. screw it! I drank up and took refill later on.
Scooped up all the food which made the owner very happy and there was chatter and laughter amongst other guests. Took her picture and came out moe positive. I had just ticked off another to do item and also made someone happy.
Scenary and roads suddenly felt better, I told myself I was beginning to like this.
The next gas station stop was pleasant. This dude spoke english and was a biker himself. He had a Honda but wanted Yamaha. Gave me some directions and wished me good luck. I felt better!
Stopped at the next gas station and I wanted to use the toilet but I just couldn’t explained it to the attendant. I felt helpless. LIGHTBULB! asked the attendent to wait, opened up google translate on iPhone, typed in english and translated to Korean. Bingo I was in restroom 30 secs later. I could speak Korean!
Did some more twisties
Finally landed in to a hotel. View from the 7th floor window
Found a nice restaurant nearby which advertised sea food. Ordered fresh water sashimi but what came looked nothing like sashimi in Japan. Basically you mix the red spicy paste with the contents in big bowl and eat it up, Nice!
End of the day - I am confident I can find place to stay, food to eat and had the communication problem solved! Life is good! Tomorrow will be even better!
Day 5 – September 10th – Gangwon to Chuncheon – total distance 484 kms
Woke up at 4 and rolled out at 6:00AM. Scenary was equally nice today but I realised later that I took most of the photos at ISO6400 this day. Apparantly the touch screen on camera did this by accident.
Foggy and cold start at about 14 degrees
Dog does seem integral part of life in the countryside!
Hit the first tourist place, a waterfall
Housing society in countryside or just a big family ?
Endless twisties and good views
Not sure these blobs on high tension wires are for. They were everywhere at high altitude
River rafting seemed pretty popular here. There were public announcement systems all along the river to control the rafting traffic
Found many of these, not sure these meant something special or simply indicated pottery was an established art in this region. Also not sure what the stone towers mean.
These pagoda style places were everywhere, just open place to sit and enjoy lunch etc. Saw many Korean families using them. Wonder who funds these..!
Getting closer to the DMZ very soon the first sign of military installations appeared
And then these. Small explosive charges at the base of cubes placed on the platform. Idea is to explode it such that the heavy metal cubes fall on the road blocking the oncoming military.
Here I saw the sign to 4th tunnel and headed immediately towards it, but got stopped by the guards who told me I need to go and buy a permit first.
Video clip – DMZ checkpost for 4th Tunnel
Permit center was a huge disappointment. Yes you could buy your way all the way up to 4th tunnel entry in your vehicle but only 4 wheelers! Motorcycles were not allowed and there was no other option like bus!
So I had to give up 4th tunnel and continue on my original route. The peace park which is on top of a huge dam and has the peace bell.
Continuing to Cherowon I ran in to military again who told me quite strictly the route I was planning to take was off limits to civilians. So I took a detour back.
These Honda’s seemed pretty popular
Some more fantastic scenery and I checked in to another Love motel
Riding today was so much fun that I had skipped the lunch. Walking around I found a nice Dak Ghalbi restaurant. Highly recommend this place to anybody who happens to be in the area.
Very nice service
And free goodies!
I was subject of curiosity among the countryside people but ignoring I eat like a wild boar and wrapped up Dak Ghalbi meant for 2 people plus the extra service.
“Honey lets go for a dinner and have a nice talk. Yup, you talk to your friends I I chat with mine!” I signed off for the day and went to bed!
Day 6 – September 11th – Chuncheon-DMZ-Gangwon – Total distance 281 kms
6:00 AM start today as well. Stopped at a combine for breakfast. All combini’s seem to have these seating places and there always seem to be people occupying these. Like this Korean couple having a loud argument at 6:00 AM in the morning. I am amongst humans 
Not sure what to make out of this one
Nice roads planned for today too heading over to DMZ. Pretty soon I hit these again. Took out the tripod to take a selfie this time.
Heading over to DMZ
Nice hump in the middle to let small boats pass.
Soon starting running in to military installations
Got turned back Military once
Video – Military area, turned back by the soldiers
But was let go second time, surprised given how close this road goes to the border
Video – Thru military check post
A war memorial ? tanks were at display here
Layers upon layers of mountains, my camera just couldn’t do any justice to the scenery.
Finally reached Baengmagoji station from where I could take a bus to DMZ. I was worried about leaving all my stuff on bike out in the open but this nice dude working at the train station insisted I put all my stuff in the office for safekeeping.
Cherowon peace observatory inside the DMZ
North Korea is just around there. You can actually see their military post
Soldiers on patrol taken with 400mm zoom
White roads leading to military outposts.
Every time people embarked or disembarked the bus there was a huge argument, mostly initiated and driven by the bus driver. Good, we are definitely in Asia!
From there we went in to the second tunnel. I clicked one pic inside but was told later on not to take any photos. Guards here were pretty cool about pics though.
Last stop was swan park but definitely not worth it, you only get to see stuffed birds and not the real deal. Star attraction of this spot was this soldier though, walked around, took out the magazine, inspected and reloaded the AK57, khchak tchak! you could hear it clearly 50 meters away. Good job! All heads turned instantly
Back on the road I ran in to this. Phantom memorial ?
A little bit of off road adventure to a dam which really wasn’t worth it.
More beautilful scenary
Nice idea. Apparently you catch the fish and take it straight to the table!
Yup, definitely in Asia!
Finally found a pension in Gangwon which was another checkbox to tick. Did I accidentally stepped in to same place James and Justin stopped earlier in the golden week ? looks like it. I was quite worried here about leaving my bike in open but the owner insured me he had two CCTV camera pointed on my bike and that he will be watching her. View from the window
Found another Dak Ghalbi restaurant!
And some riders after dinner. These guys were riding motorcycle without any plates, meaning no registration!
End of day, nice ride, DMZ and pension ticked off, nice food, nice people! Life is good!
Day 7 – September 12th – Gangwon to Gyeongsang – Total distance 473 kms
Today was the day to head back south and reach as close to Busan as possible. 6:00 AM start today as well. Loaded up all my gear on the bike and fired up the bike thinking the owner must be dead asleep instead of watching my bike. No way! he was out within 30 seconds! Handshake, nod, a wave in the rear view mirror later I was on the road. Quite foggy today as well.
Yes there is a bridge there and yes, it is under construction!
It started opening up as a beautiful day pretty soon though!
Soon I found a sign which said a big waterfall a few ams way. Being in no rush I took a detour only to find that road disappeared with about a km still to go to the waterfall. In any case I continued on. About 400 meters later the trail started climbing up steeply. Conituned about another 200 meters until I concluded there is no way I can go on. I don’t have any off-road skills, there was no way I could control a fully loaded S10 on the slope plus there was not a single person on this track at this early time in case I needed help. Turning the bike back on the slope was a very very hair raising experience, one that I would not want to experience again. Going on this track was the most stupid thing I have done during riding so far I think.
Video clip – offroad to the waterfall
Another military installation. This time I couldn’t resist!
The limited dynamic range of my camera just didn’t do justice
Nice, you don’t always whack off a tree
And NICE!
Video – More awesome Korean twisties
Simply beautiful!
Did some white roads too.
Today both the roads and scenary were so awesome that I kept riding almost till 3:00 PM. By now I started getting desperately hungry plus it was hot but there were no restaurants to find. Stopped at a gas station and after filling up was going to ask the owner directions to the restarunt. But before I could do so, he invited me inside. His wife made a coffee and he asked to take rest on sofa by gestures. Neither of them spoke much English but then they didn’t need to.
The guy asked me where I am from. Then put his finger on the middle of forehead, both fingers in cheeks and pinched his nose to indicate Bindi, dimples and high nose which makes Indian women beautiful. Got it, they really don’t need to speak English.
Handshake, nod and waves later I left the gas station thinking I am drawing too much kindness from Korea. I need to get out of the country before I run out of credit.
Somehow ended up in a industrial area but soon I was out in the nice countryside.
On the way I saw a sign to rock. Not being in any rush I decided to stop by but couldn’t find any directions as the trail to the rock ended pretty soon. Apparently you walk some 150 meters on rock along the river to see this rock. There was no way I was going to find this in the absence of directions in english but yet again Korean kindness came to help. This guy dumped his fishing and escorted me to the rock.
Handshake and a hug later I left reminding myself I need to get out of the country before I overdraw…..
More beautiful scenery. By now I had decided that I am going to dump my EOS M and find something better for next trip.
Service with smile and lot of curiosity about the foreign dude in the countryside.
Today being my last evening in Korea I wanted to stay in a nice hotel and eat some more nice Korean dinner but as luck would have it, both seemed elusive. In the small town of Gangwon I kept running in to love hotels. Finally I found a hotel which was alright but didn’t had any restaurants around. Nonethless I was tired so checked in. Asked the kid at the counter about some good Korean restaurant around but he couldn’t help much.
So today was going to be combini food…. but hold on, its the Korean counter dude with a mobile phone in hand and asks me to talk. Not sure the lady on the other hand is his girlfriend or sister of friend but whoever she is, she speaks perfect english!. After a few mobile switching back and forth between myself and the guy I get a slip with address for the restaurant plus another slip telling “take me to this hotel”. And then a taxi is called.
I tell myself this is getting scary, I need to GET OUT of the country before I overdraw.
And this turns out to be a nice Dak Ghalbi restaurant. My last evening in this trip to Korea just became much more beautiful.
Here too I was given a buch of extra free foodies which don’t normally come with Dak Ghalbi. The owner kept serving me more and more Chizimi calling it Korean Pizza. After dinner I asked where to find a taxi ? No problem, take another chizimi for home, wait while it is getting packed.
Hand shake and wave later I feel grateful for the whole experience and remind myself – its a GOOD thing I am LEAVING Korea tomorrow. All good things come to an end and I should get the hell out of here before I run out of nice people
Back at the hotel I wrote a letter of appreciation to the Korean guy at counter and his friend and went to the counter to hand-over. This time there is a women there. I should her the google translate message which tells her to hand over my letter to the guy who was sitting at the counter earlier. She read it and asked me WHY ? Well she seems to speak perfect english…. Quite suspicious (perhaps she was the mother of the girl I spoke with earlier ?) but nonetheless she called the dude. Plus I got to talk to the lady pin phone again. Exchanged contacts, I will return the courtesy when they land in Japan or India someday.
Day 8 – September 13th – Yongcheon to Busan, Busan Ferry to Tokyo – total distance 165 kms
Yongcheon is not that far away and I was sour from the long ride yesterday so I decided to take it easy today. Woke up quite late at 6:30AM and didn’t leave the hotel till 8:00AM. Dude from the counter was out drinking coffee. Handshake, good bye wave and I was on my way!
A pic with the bike and yet another awesome Korean road for memory lane.
Some more awesome countryside.
I still had some ride left in me. What better then to stop by at a Korean temple and thank god for the awesome experience! Stopped by Sukama-Sa temple.
I was wary of Busan traffic and the Navi issues with avoiding expressways so after this I decided to head over to the port. Once back in Busan I found I was easy with the traffic, by now I was flying thru Busan traffic, lane splitting, lane changing criss-crossing and terrorising the Korean drivers. Only issues was avoiding Expressways.
I was ready to head back but Korea was not done with me yet, somehow I managed to find a Nikko dogenzaka style twisties cutting right through the city! Twisties were fun but bikes low oil light was coming up ever time bike climbed up on this route.
Eventually I reached the port and took a huge sigh of relief. I had made my way back out of Korea safely! Going out of Korea was also not very efficient. I had to check in my bike before 3:00PM even though the ferry left at 9:00PM.
I was not done with Korea yet ! found a restaurant in Ferry terminal which was serving Bibimba
Anyway, Korea was not done with me yet either ! remember the customs dude ? he was back and this time he was in a suit. Helped me check in my bike. I then wanted to head out for shopping some soveigners for my family. I was told there was a mall nearby, asked the directions and was told it was about 25 mins walk. Can I get a taxi ? no problem, customs dude (Hee Kwang) spoke to someone on cell (I assumed he was calling Taxi), then asked me to walk with him. Took out his BMW (he is still single so I guess he can afford the BMW?!) and lets go! dropped me at the Mall. We exchanged cards and will hopefully met in Tokyo next March.
Given the bike oil lamp was coming in frequently I topped the oil with the can that I had brought from Tokyo. Amazingly bike took almost 1 litter but I realised late I had overfilled.
Did some shopping, checked in, head dinner and went to bed. Going back was Korean Ferry Songhee.
Day 8 – September 13th – Shimonoseki to Tokyo, total distance – 1062 kms
Immigration was quick but reimporting the bike took some time. Finally I could leave the port at 10:00 AM. Immediately hopped on to Chugoku expressway. Going via Sanyo was quicker but it was brilliant weather and I didn’t want to miss the twists so I went back all the way via Chugoku. Apart from the missing a junction which took my on Meishin expressway instead of Shin-Meishin to Nagoya, it was pretty much smooth ride back and I was home at 7:30PM just in time for dinner.
Lucky this dude had penniers on his bike, else ….
Statistics (not including Ferry)
Complete GPS Track
