Yong Pyeong Bicycle Extravaganza III
5 Jun
Sweat was dripping. The hill was totally intense. We passed by familiar sights: shadeville, poop mountain, the lady with the dog, the rickety bridge, the babbling brook, and finally stopped for a break at the Daegwaiyung Museum.
Exhausted, we laid on rocks and rested for a bit.
My energy was down, so I pepped back up with some OJ laced with ice cold mountain water.
The museum curator approached us as we were ready to set off for the forest. She explained, in excellent English, that we would not make it to the forest on this day. It is entirely too far. Instead she suggested we head to Pyeong Chang (candidate for the 2012 Olympics) and take a gondola to the top of the mountain. The normally 20 minute car ride should take “about an hour” on our bikes. The road is known for being straight uphill and extremely curvy. Some call it the road with 99 curves. I call it the road of death. California Amy, or shall I say ‘steroids,’ rode the whole effing way up the mountain. Oregon Amy and I opted to live a few more days, and walked our bikes up the winding curvy road.
There were big trucks going very fast. I was afraid.
It was super foggy/cloudy. We couldn’t see the supposed ‘windmills’ that would mark the end of the road. It seemed the road would last forever.
Exhausted, and watching the sun slowly decend, we ditched the bikes behind a fence and succumbed to thumbing a ride to the nearest town.
We cabbed from the town to the ski resort with the gondola. As nightfall approached we came to the realization that there was no way we’d make it back to our bikes and down 99 curve death road that evening. We schmoozed the hotel clerk, who was fortunately from our town, into giving us a 75% discount on a korean-style room. The beautiful room was equipped with a bathtub, a TV, and a big window with a view of the mountains in the distance. We are so lucky.
We got up early to take the gondola to the top of the mountain.
The 10 minute ride felt long, but was well worth it. Atop the mountain there were no sounds except Korean tourists calling ‘kimchi!’ and the shutters of their cameras. Emotional landscapes surrounded me. I was overwhelmed, the colors, the air, the light, almost too much to take in.
The ladies and I took photos and meandered around.
We came down and headed back to the bikes, walking. We passed the site of the set from this movie:
I rented this movie over a year ago, not knowing it was Korean, and totally loved it. This is the temple from the film, that was on the lake. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should totally check it out.
Daisy beside my ear, we headed back to the road to thumb another ride to our bikes.
We found our bikes the midst of cloud soup.
The flashlight Bubbs gave me as a going away present FINALLY came in handy! It deifnately saved us from head-on collisions.
We rode into the abyss…
… and somehow lived to tell.
What a weekend. Triple Threat, more to come 🙂
MRumianowski
Melissa,
You are so effin cool. I want to be you when I grow up!! (oh, wait, waaay too late for that)
If I were your mother, I would insist on no more ‘cloud soup’ bike rides.
I am so glad you are livin’ and lovin’ this life you have created for yourself.
miss your beautiful energy.
Patti and family
Hey Melissa!!! Its the McD’s!!!! How has korea been and how have you been. It looks amazing, like right out of a magazine. we miss seeing you and we hope you have the time of your life. All is well
~us
Wow melissa, looks gorgeous! And it looks like your hair is getting kinda long too.
Miss you!
Lis,
My adventurous daughter who pushes the limits!
OMG –I wouldn’t have made it up that hill either!! Cloud soup and hitchin’ rides– someone is looking out for you up there. Or maybe it’s all those prayers from Oma…
Your hair is longer. I want to see it without the head scarves; although you always look beautiful whatever you do with your hair.
I love that movie–spring,summer, fall winter, spring…