We’re turning around and heading back to Busan

Hotels in Korea are always interesting. They may or may not be Love Hotels but the common denominators are excellent value, spacious rooms and comfort with many perks like, a frig, kettle, microwave, a proper sitting area with a couch or chairs, a a huge TV (LG or Samsung of course) and many amenities which set the standard high. Of course there are some grotty ones, but we do our best to steer clear of them. Best of all, the highest price we have paid in Korea is $50 per night including taxes.
Our accommodation last night, Hotel Khan was another step up in comfort and quality. It doesn’t fit into the Love Hotel category, but perhaps to compete, they have added a large round jetted tub to the room.A simple breakfast is included, but we were so tired from the monster hills that we rode yesterday, we opted out as breakfast was from 7-8. We preferred a bit more sleep and we self cater most of the time anyway.

Today we turn around and will make our way back to Busan along the wonderful Nakdong River over the next 4 or 5 days. We have loved our time here. Our plan is to ride the remaining days in Korea with a distance of 50 km or less. This will give us time to explore and give Mary Ellen’s knees a break. We have learned much in a short time about Korean culture, their customs and the food.

Our room was very comfortable. You could have a small dance part in it at the other end. Van Gogh is featured throughout the hotel.

It may seem like an odd thing to mention, but we rarely have bedside lamps here. Usually the lighting is very bright with lots of LED lights in the ceiling.

Forgot to mention…see the small black panel on the wall above the kleenex box with red and white lights? This is a standard feature in hotels here. The panel is a touch screen and it controls all the lights in the room. We have never been able to remember which button corresponds to which light, but that’s just us. We have grown accustomed to this but in the middle of the night you have to wander across the room to turn on a light. No light switches at all.

The dining room is quite lovely. Leather chairs, marble tables with solid stone bases and of course Van Gogh.

One wall of the dining room features shelves of Korean books as well as old movie posters.

This old movie projector is interesting. We suspect that movies used to be shown in the dining room. A different era.

Our trikes have many interesting places where they are parked for the night. Usually the hotel lobby is not an option, but our host was very happy to accommodate them here.

Barry met these pups last evening when he walked to the store. We are heading out and need a few things at the 7-Eleven…the puppies remembered him and they came running.

This 7-Eleven with its size and available food offerings is an exception from what we have seen in Korea. It is more like what we are used to in Japan with seating inside and out, lots of food options and a bigger store. Most convenience store here are small and have limited options for meals. We find it more expensive to eat in Korea generally as Japan has a better infrastructure for finding food a an affordable price.

We love black coffee, but Mary Ellen has been struggling with some discomfort. As part of a solution we are drinking lattes and less coffee….1 or 2 if it is a good day. . A quirk: to get a latte at a convenience store, you buy a black coffee and pay for this pouch to add to your coffee. It works but it is more expensive.

Loving fall here …lots of colour and brisk clean air.

I know that this may be repetitive, but the routing is superb and we love how it is integrated into the surroundings.But the climbs on this part of the route are brutal.

You can do it Barry! The bike route through this town hugs the shoreline and the frequent steep ups and down are formidable. Using a low gear, some motor assist and still it takes everything we’ve got. The good thing is they are relatively short, yet brutal…13 to 20+ % gradients. Our fear was if we had to get off and push.

Korea has impressive hills and we are getting to experience them today. We both had times when we were almost motionless, yet pedalling to crawl up the gradient. Descents were challenging for our bikes at time. We have drum brakes and at the bottom, we would pour cold water from our bottles to cool them down.

A trail side bike mechanic has a pop up repair station on the trail.

The vegetation is so lush and pervasive, it enshrouds trees and bushes. It creates an eerie and otherworldly effect.

We can imagine that if we returned here that the cables and poles would be fully covered.

We are riding to see the Musimsa Temple. We have heard amazing things about this incredibly beautiful temple set in the mountains. It is located at the top of a hill in a secluded, beautiful location. We have talked with cyclists we have met about the route when we leave the temple to head south and they all agree that the gradients are unridable, so we have found a better way to proceed when we leave there.
As we rode along the trail at the foot of the hill, approaching the Temple, we could hear chanting before we could see it. It created a magical spell. Gradually we could see a glimpse of a rooftop through the trees.

Our first glimpse of the temple’s surroundings is this Buddha located in a crevice on the cliff above us.

And up we go. Note the blue sign with an arrow….this is the type of signage for the route we see throughout our rides. The bicycle route proceeds alongside the temple but we will come back down and ride a less challenging route.

Halfway up the hill, we are greeted and welcomed by this sight.

We are in a magical place, with this historic temple situated in the forest atop a hill.

We couldn’t believe our eyes as we watched this cyclist make her way slowly down an exceptionally steep gradient on her bike through the Temple grounds. Her name is Dorothy, she is from Freiburg, Germany and she writes an online Women’s Cycling Guide. Barry has read her blog.

Dorothy is an experienced tough rider. She travels solo and camps wild. Respect. We had a great visit with her. She admitted that the gradients she had just ridden through were the toughest she has ever seen.