Feels good, man.

Busan, Korea, July 11, 2011.

EDIT: I bought this bike, fell in love with it, and then left it chained outside the train station overnight.  Someone stole it.  I was heartbroken, but I'm over it now.  I actually saw a high school boy riding this bike in my neighborhood almost a year later!  I started running, tried to chase him down... but he was faster.

Oh, man. What a night. Forgive me for not posting anything recently. I decided to give myself a little time to settle in here. I've been working on post ideas as well as some ideas that might turn into short essays.

One of the thoughts I have been working on over the last month is the idea that "the best way to experience a big city is as a pedestrian with easy access to a subway". I became more and more frustrated with my life as a car owner over the last couple of years--who knows how many hours I have spent in traffic in Dallas and Austin?--and eventually decided that I don't want to own a car again, ever. I think there is still a lot of truth to the pedestrian mindset, but after tonight I can say without a doubt that the best way to experience a big city is on the back of a fixed-gear bicycle.



I found this bicycle through an ad on KoreaBridge (an English-language website). I met the guy who is selling it last week (he's leaving Korea after 2 years to go mountain climbing in Nepal, move back to Minnesota, and get married? Or something like that.) and the bike was a really good deal, so I had to buy it. But my only access to cash has been through the ATM, w300,000 at a time (about $275). Anyway, after three transactions this weekend, I had enough cash, so he met me at the subway stop by my apartment tonight at 8:45pm and gave me the bike.

After a quick trip to the apartment to change clothes, I was ready for a ride. I decided to take the subway to Gwangalli beach (about a 15 minute ride). I had texted a friend of mine, Sung, who has a fixie, that I was going to the beach. I saw him there and we talked for a few minutes. He gave me directions for how to ride to Haeundae beach, and he went home to sleep (he works at 7AM).

I rode out to Haeundae Beach by myself, a nice little ride, and at a decent pace. I went to this bar I know, Drunken Shrimp, and the owner made me her specialty, called.... that's right, drunken shrimp. With a late dinner under my belt, I decided to go to for a relaxing ride on the boardwalk. I saw a couple of guys with their fixed gear bikes, and they said something as I rode past them. After a few minutes I went down to the subway station.

And got there about 3 minutes after the last subway left. Burn. Not knowing what else to do, I bought a bottle of Makkali (Korean rice wine) and went back to the beach. I spent about a half hour listening to a group of guys with guitars and drums playing what I think was traditional Korean music. It definitely got a great response from the crowd, especially when an old man gave them each a can of Hite beer when they finished a song everyone seemed to know.

I decided to have a look around, and I saw the two guys on fixies from before, looking like they were getting ready to go. "Where are you going?" "Uhh..." The universal response of a Korean who doesn't speak English very well. We figured out that they were going back to Gwangalli Beach, so I said, "I ride with you."

These dudes are fast. On the boardwalk, on the bike trails, and on the road, we rode as fast as we could from there to the other beach. We were whooping and hollering, it was so much fun! Then we stopped to catch our breath. I drank a bottle of water. They each drank an OP beer. Their names are Moon and Hyun. Moon is a graphic designer, and lives in Muncheon (on the way to my apartment). Hyun is a barber and lives in Danggam-Dong, which is actually the same neighborhood where my school is! Really great guys. We talked for a few minutes, took these pictures, and then rode the rest of the way back. Moon found out I was from Texas so he started shouting "Yee-Haw" when he was riding really fast. He pointed at his bicycle and said, "It is a horse!"



Hyun rode me all the way back to my apartment. There's no way I would have found my way home tonight without him. I was prepared to pay for a motel room. Something better than that happened, though. It was a great time. I have never had this much fun on a bicycle before. I plan to do it again really soon, hopefully Friday, if the weather is nice. I'm not even sure how many kilometers I rode tonight... 20? 30? Dunno. I got on the bike around 10pm and got back to the house a little after 2am. Feels good, man.