Busan to Sokcho

25 May Busan to Sokcho

7am. First time in a week we are and running early. By 9.30 we are boarding a bus bound for Sokcho. The bus trip took six hours although we hardly noticed the time, both of us lost in thought, dozing or enjoying the view of the coast and towns we past.
Reading other travellers blogs often takes the guess work out where to go, stay and what to do when you arrive in a new place. Within 30 minutes of arriving we had our accomodation and directions to find the ferry terminal. Our accomodation is a backpackers by the name of 'The House'. The owners are perfect hosts and speak english relatively well. WIth a place to sleep all sorted we grab our papers and head for the Dongchun Ferry terminal. The attendants at the ferry terminal are very helpful and not without a sense of humour - albeit a bit dry! With bookings in place and a time to return the following day to uncrate the bikes we leave in search of food - anything but noodles!!

26 May Sokcho Bike uncrating

It still amazes us how helpful and friendly the Korean people are. Sokcho is a place under construction, the city centre is all relativey new and ther is neww apartments and motels popping up all over the place but dig a little deeper and take a few of the back streets and allies and you find a place a little lost in time and possibly struggling to keep up.
With breakfast of cornflakes and toast out of the way we eagerly head out the door in the direction of of bikes. Upon arrival we are escorted to a warehouse and ther sitting side by side are our 2 crated bikes. Both J'ean and I are relieved and happy to see them. It seems finally something had gone right and to plan. For the next five hours we unpack and assemble the bikes and gear. At 2.30pm we leave and return to 'The House', to make a quick list of the groceries we will need for our ferry crossing and a day or so on the road in Russia. Finding the local E Mart (large supermarket) was an adventure all of its own, involving alot of walking, map reading, a hand pull ferry and backtracking. With the shopping completed ther was no way we where going to return the sam way we came and so opted for a taxi. After a few minutes of the standard arm gestures of pointing and trying to show on the map (our being in english - duh!) were we wanted to go, the driver got the idea and we headed back.
The people you meet at backpacker places are always interesting. We meet another american, two germans and a czech guy. Guess what? The Czech knew where Napier/Hastings is and had worked in Hastings for Hopkins Joinery for 2 years. We have all heard it before 'the world is a small place'
Tomorrow ferry day :))))

27 May Sokcho - Dongchun Ferry

With another good breakfast in us we head back to finalise our passage to Zarubino, Russia. We have to be back at the terminal to load our bikes onto the ferry at 3.00pm. In the mean time I need a coffee, J'ean thinks I'm addicated to the stuff. If you are a coffee drinker you will know that the world just does not rotate the same way until you have had your morning cup.
Returning to the terminal at 2pm so we are not late, we are happy to sit and people watch. At 3pm we are lead to our to our bikes and at which point we can ride them onto the ferry. Returning to the terminal we again wait until boarding time at 5pm.
About four hours into the trip a friendly, maybe a little intoxicated Russian makes idle conversation with us, non of which we understand. With many arm gestures and limited language skills we manage to communicate on a basic level. Now we are friends Sergey, his name, wants to hold a toast and proceeds to pour the contents of his cup equally into ours. J'eans first taste of Russian vodka and I dont think anything could have prepared him for the shock to to his taste buds that he experienced. If only I could have got a photo! Declining any further drinking we head for ours bunks. Russian hospitality is not so easily declined as he finds us and brings with him 3 bottles of rice wine. A few more small toasts and Sergey is happy and leaves up to sleep - whew!

The Beach and the Food

You will never go hungry in Korea. There is more food places than any other shop, its amazing they can all stay in business. Food is also very cheap.
J'ean and I are not so good at waiting around and by early afternoon we had had enough. We needed to get some food and do a little shopping. Lotte - is large department store and hotel. It seems women love the department store - Why?
Because they seem to make up 80% of the people in the stores and restuarants. It would seem they get to shop and do coffee with their friends while husbands and fathers work to support their life style. On a side note, Korea does have one of the highest suicide rates in males and there divorce rate is amoungst the highest in the world...... I wonder why?
Ordering food is done with alot of pointing and smiles. Your meal comes with 2 or 3 small side dishes, usaully spicy and mild. J'ean did eat one of those small green chillies - he was unaware of what it was - his face turned red, eyes watered and started fumbling for a glass of water. Me being the good mate, I was having problems suppressing my laughter.
Moving from the food floor down to the fashion floor we shopped for jeans for me a shirt for J'ean.......lets leave it at that!
Back at Junes place some new guests had arrived and we introduced ourselves and asked the normal questions, where you from, where are you going?
June gave us a small piece of good news, our bike paperwork has now been processed and the crates are awaiting transport to Sokcho. I will be very happy when this actually happens, fingers crossed for Monday.
Early evening saw us going out for Korean BBQ with 2 of the other guests, Chisato from Japan and Brandon from the States.
None of us can speak Korean although Chisato and Brandon can read it a little, the Korean BBQ place did not have pics of there menu just words in Korean and a price. In these situations the only thing to do is first ask for beer and then look like you know what you want and point at it and keep your fingers crossed that it will be pallitable. J'ean and I got our introduction to Korean Rice Wine. Chisato poured it into 4 small shot glasses and we all toasted each other and down the hatch it went.
Not the way I was taught to drink wine but none the less it tasted good. The food we ordered arrived and for want of a better desciption it is similar to stone grill except the stone in Korea is on fire and there is a grill above it. With a few chop stik skills and a pair of scissors we cut our food up into bite size potions and cook it. To eat the cooked food you place it on an open lettuce leaf and add various other garnishments. Above the grill is a hanging tube this the exhaust to extract the smoke from your burning food - something we did well at, as the waitress changed our grill plate 3 times. I think the rice wine shots had something to do with this. Walking the streets of Busan at night is something to be experienced, the place is complete transformation from its daytime appearence. If ever you find yourself here, go and buy icecream at Cold Stone, it is a show to watch and a delight to eat :)))

Busan and the waiting game

May 18 - 19 Incheon and Busan

We wake to a foggy rainy day in Incheon Korea. I thought we had left winter behind - at least its not cold!
From Busan airport we caught a bus to our backpacker accomodation. With the language barrier we had no idea how we are supposed to pay for the bus or for that matter when we where suposed to get off. There was just enough english on our tourist map to figure out when to get off. We all ready knew that the taxi fare would have cost us between 15000 and 40000 won ($20 - 45 NZD). The bus driver seemed content to charge us 2000won (2.50 NZD), we didnt argue!
With a short walk in the rain and some finger pointing from the locals we found Zen Backpackers and meet June, the guy that runs the place. Located on the 15th floor of an apartment building it is not the easiest place to find. Contrary to its location the place absolutely buzz's with guests coming and going.
With having been feed and accomodated we proceeded to get on with the task of getting our bikes. June was rescuing knight here, he did alot of ringing around and organinising payments on our behalf. With an address in our hand we headed for the subway and what we hope is the location of our bikes. Even with the language barrier, Koreans on the whole are very helpful and often go out of their way to help.
Arriving at the GTC yard and a few introductions we go looking for the crates. We are happy to see they have arrived in one piece and are keen to get on with the task of uncrating them....... Whoa there boys, not so fast!!!
Customs have not yet cleared them. Damn. After a few more phone calls and some explaining we head back to Junes place without the bikes. All we can do is wait for a phone call when customs have released them. We spent the afternoon relaxing at the Backpackers.
The following morning...... "What can I say.......still no bikes"
Apparently Koreans do not like imported goods with out all the correct paper work. From our point of view we are not importing them into Korea but only using it as a transit zone. We are given the option of having the bikes shipped to Sokcho where we can board the ferry for Russia. Unfortunately for us it is now a public holiday here as they celebrate Buddas birthday, nothing will happen until Monday 24 May and even then we have to wait for a phone call from a transport company.
I am going to practice my yoga.....ooommmmm!!!!!

An Adventure Underway

Quite has a lot has happened since I last wrote in this blog. I find I have to be somewhat in the mood to do updates. The past 8 months have been alot of things least of all relaxing.

Late October 2009 saw me and a friend - Mike - heading off to Aussie for a couple of weeks for some back road riding from Brisbane to Melbourne.

Ok lets get upto date with my current adventure.... Busan Korea to Paris France, riding across Russia and Europe. It all started 2 years ago with a question from J'ean (John) - south African - "Do you want ro ride across Russia?"

May 16 2010, Sunday 6.40pm, saw us farewelling friends and family at the Napier airport. We are flying to Korea to collect our bikes, which we had crated and sent a month earlier.

Our flight has a stop over in Singapore for 2 hours. For most travellers this is a chance to stretch the legs, get a real coffee, read a magazine...... not us!!...Nooo! We or should I say J'ean has arranged to meet a guy to buy a charger for his helmet cam. Being in a transit lounge you are not supposed to leave this area. J'ean manages to con the immigration officer, got out, meet the guy and got his charger, jumped a 200 meter long cue of departing passengers at immigration and got back to the transit lounge with time to spare - only J'ean! We made to Korea with no further excitement.

Mags or Blogs

Many of us subscribe to a variety of magazines on the topics we love to read and learn about. Me I subscribe to just one! A monthly issue of a local motorcycle magazine - you would never have guessed that - Kiwi Rider. When a new issue arrives in my post box I am a bit like a kid with a new toy. I rip off the plactic cover and flick through the pages checking out whats new in the motorcycle world. Thats my first read, over the course of the next couple of weeks the mag gets picked up and put down a dozen or more times and each time I find something else interesting that I didnt find the previous times. It takes me a month to finish with the magazine and by this time the next issue is due. Thats what I love about printed material, you can read it, leave it, put it down and come back a few days later and there it is right where you left it.
I also subscribe to a couple of Blogs - no, not just on motorcycles, I do have other interests! These Blogs have great reading and the information on them is up to the minute stuff, as you would expect these days from our great online communities. What they dont have is that lingering effect. Once you click off, its gone, only to come back when you decide to next visit the site again. In many cases I never do, I skim read over all the relavent stuff - like I do when I first rip open the magazine - but dont go back to it, until something jogs my memory. Why? It's not sitting there in front of me while I eat my breakfast or laying on the floor beside the bed to flick through one more time before I turn the lights out. Sure laptops are portable but it's just not the same. If you have a hobby or are passionate about a particular interest you cant beat good old print for great information and worthwhile reading.

Well.....daylight savings is about to start here in New Zealand. I have always wondered why we want more daylight at the end of the day? To get the lawns mowed? To do more around the house after work? To socialise longer and get less sleep so we can wake up in a crappier mood! For some it means we can ride longer into the evening. Daylight Savings for me always indicates the beginning of summer, albeit a few weeks early. The days may get longer but time certainly goes by quicker. I have a trip coming up in October that has me and a friend flying over to Australia for a few days to ride from Brisbane to Melbourne via Canberra and Adelaide. We are hiring a couple of BMW F650s and taking to the roads less travelled. Armed with an Australian motorcycle atlas, a tent and keen sense for adventure we really have no set plans, just 2 dates, the day we pick up the bikes and the day we return them. We hope to ride a couple of the top 100 roads listed in the atlas especially the Great Ocean Road past the 12 Apostles. I will also be experimenting with my new POV 1.5 helmet camera and all things going well I should get some good footage and stills of the Aussie landscape and hospitality. By the time we are done I should have the whole setup sorted and it will be all go for the trip across Russia and Europe. If interested you can find these cameras at Launch Helmet Cams or DirtVideo if you are in NZ. Keith at Dirtvideo is a great guy and is only to willing to help with setup and tips for getting the best from your camera.

Hmmm...seems I forgot to post the last blog entry (above)...oh well I shall continue it then!
Its been a week since daylight light savings has started and it has taken me all week just to get used to it - especially the gym days, those early mornings are killers.
Sunday is always a good day to catch up on a little sleep or get up early and do something I love to do like dirt bike riding. Unforntunately this morning the planned trail ride got cancelled due to the heavy rain we have presently - wimps! A six hour cross country event was held on the same location yesterday and the riders managed. Although from the calls I got this morning it was very slippery and some large bog holes have been created.
While it may have been wet out west it was a beautiful sunny day here (I did say was!) and I got to play on the streets for awhile on the DR. All the bitching I do about this bike is often forgotten when lane spliting down the motorway or hooking U turns in the middle of conjested inner city streets to get to a park on the other side - can't do that in a cage!
The new screen works a treat, gave it a good test on the open road and for such a small item it is very effective. Supplied by Screens For Bikes in Australia, Peter is very helpful and I will be geeting a new screen for the Ducati from him in the near future.

Start of the Renovations

Isn't it pretty in white??
Well looks dont account for much (wonder where I have heard that before!) This bike would not pull the morning skin off a rice pudding in its current dress. Talk about disappointment.....this bike is supposed to be a 650! The engine is drastically strangled to meet emissions, the suspension is so soft you darent take it off road and the brakes are a reflection of the suspension.
Ok so why did I buy it if I dont like it? As I have mentioned it is simple and because of this it has potential. There is also what I call a cult following on these bikes. There is forums and websites solely dedicated to these DR650's - people out there love 'em!
The photo was taken the day after I picked it up - 16/05/09.
Over the past 3 or so months I have been slowly changing things so the bike will do the job I bought it to do. I have to remind myself, often, the DR is a Tool, not a Toy. Pity really I could have alot more fun if it was a toy. With this being the case the modifications are for practical purposes. The first thing to go on was a alloy bash plate by B&B Engineering in Aussie. I did look into building one myself, but unless you work in an alloy shop, just buy one. B&B's plate also looks great and is easy to fit.



Currently I still have not put many k's on the clock, still less than 1000. With the mods done to date I still have not touched the engine - yet! The biggest improvements have been rising the bars 25mm ( I used a set of Triumph Speed Triple bar clamps I had lying around) and the fitment of a screen. Never would I have thought that a screen fitted to a dirt bike would make so much difference to rider comfort when at cruising speeds. And for those who know me - No! I am not fitting one to my WR450.