Wombats get lost

hej all and sundry. Another Sunday, beautiful weather for biking and biking was done. It wasn’t the most successful cruise I have ever attempted, not by any standard but it was interesting none the less. I am determined to find a road from Gimhae to Changwon. The 2.4kms of tunnel that has been dug under the mountain has been declared “motorway” and therefore motorcycles are forbidden to enter it. There are 2 other options and they involve driving north around the mountain and adding about 45 minutes to a 15 minute journey, or driving south around the mountain and adding about 1 hour to the otherwise 15 minute journey. And just quietly I think both options are a bit shit. I have driven through the tunnel, twice, and the punishment both times was to be told that motorcycles are not allowed through the tunnel. Not a killer punishment by any means, but I’m just not sure how far I want to push the tunnel thing. Being a weiguk has gotten me out of trouble in the past, and again at the tunnel tollgate, but it also puts me in a position of being easily recognisable as a repeat offender. I don’t know what the punishment should be though, I must ask, then do a quickie cost/benefit evaluation, and then factor in the repeat offender factor, and then promise myself that regardless of what I chose I will not take this fucking road again.

It was kind of fun though. The map says that there is a road that runs parallel to the Changwon bloody Tunnel road for a short distance, breaks away and then goes up over the mountain, down the other side and into Changwon. It does have a short unsealed section according to the map but basically it looks pretty good. That’s what the map says. In actual fact it has a very long unsealed section, when you get to the top you meet a Y junction if you go left you end up here (i can't remember if that look on my face is "Not Happy Jan" because the road ended, or if it is "oh shit, i hope they don't see me photographing a military base, i'll be 4 years in guantanamo before anyone knows i'm there". maybe i was just being especially vigilant for landmines)
looking at this what a barstard of a place to be stationed in winter

If you go right you end up here

Regardless of where you go you will end up going down the way you came because that is the only way down the mountain and you will eventually end up at the entrance to the Changwon Tunnel because that is where you started for the exact purpose of not going through the barstard. There has to be a trick. Some kind of platform 9 and three quarters type trick. That’s the only way to explain it. And that’s the only way to explain seeing the copper on a motorcycle coming out of the tunnel when I got to the end of my journey, ‘cause surely if it was illegal the coppers wouldn’t be doing it. I mean this is not just booting some hobo from Imgae up the arse, this is riding your motorcycle on an expressway. It’s really bad (apparently).

Wombats in Daegu (nearly)

hej all and sundry. Quick ride was had this morning. I’ve placed an add on www.pusanweb.com looking for likeminded bike loving people. I never guessed in my wildest dreams that I would find some guys who not only love to ride, but also enjoy starting at ludicrously early hours just like me. I got a call from a Canadian named claude last week. He said that him and a couple of mates were going to ride to Daegu on Sunday. I thought ‘nice’ and then he said that they would be starting at 6:30am. I couldn’t believe it.


People in the land of the morning calm that get up before noon, amazing. Upshot of the story is that we met in Yangsan at 7:40am and proceeded to ride to Daegu. It was a wild day. Great blokes, great weather, great roads, you couldn’t ask for more. You will see claude in the piccies riding a 750 yamaha and his mate shaun (or sean, I’m not sure) riding none other than a 750 honda magna. We barrelled on to Daegu. I ran more red lights in one morning this morning than I have ever run in my entire life collectively.

Mind you there were some pretty stupid pedestrian crossings out in the middle of the donga that run on timers, so that they turn red every 5 minutes or so, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And these kind of crossings deserve about as much attention as they get.

This next sign however got a lot more attention than it deserves. For the life of me I can only think it must mean don’t throw cigarette butts out of the window of your car. It is lacking any reference to a cigarette butt, but what else could it mean? ‘don’t drive if your car is on fire’ ‘extinguish and naked flame coming from your roof before you drive’ ‘don’t set your car alight while you are driving’'WARNING: CAR ROOFS MAY SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST'. Please let me know if you can make any sense of it at all.

We met tonnes of guys out riding today, probably 40 bikes in all. I can’t wait for wombat touring to start in earnest, although it’s probably a few years away yet. I guess the thing I’m most excited about is the disappointment I have felt since moving from Gangwon-do to Gyeongsangnam-do evaporated today. It was nice to meet a few locals to show that it has more than its fair share of highlights down south here too.

Sunday Afternoon Blogging

hej all and sundry, it’s Sunday and we have been out riding. Went up to Miryang this morning. It was a nice ride and a nice day, but it’s bloody windy here in April. It’s like October at home. Getting warmer, everyone can feel the summer around the corner but it’s blowing it’s head off and generally pissing everyone off a little bit. One thing that we have here that we don’t get at home though, is half the bloody Gobi dessert floating through the air sticking in your eyes and giving everyone a sore throat. Every april without fail it comes over. Sometimes more sometimes less, but every april. It makes everyone crook. It’s such a problem that Corea and Japan are investing tens of millions on irrigation and trying to plant something, anything, in the Gobi to keep the dust down. It’s only about 2 weeks a year but it plays merry hell with the populace.
Regardless of that it was nice. We took some video which I will attempt to post here on the site. I’m really looking forward to this summer.

This is us driving to miryang throught the blossom.

this is me posing. (let me pose a little bit, i'm still not over the new bike thrill)

Cherry Blossom

Here is a quick vid of parky and myself on the way down from her parent's house. We took it for the cherry blossom but they are blurry. also i have just realised that it is the first vid of the new bike on this site, so keep an ear you for the wubbada wubbada wubbada puuuuuuurrrrrrrr that warms the cockles of my heart every time i start it up. it's the very same wubbada wubbada wubbada puuuuuuurrrrrrrr that scared the pants off of this poor old bitty that was standing about 2 feet behing it when i started it up this morning in an underground car park. poor old dear nearly shit herself, i apologised profusely and tried to explain that it isn't that loud above ground, but she wasn't listening, she was petrified, rooted to the spot, i'm sure she thought that i was going to cook her and eat her.

Wombat Riding

Hej all and sundry

On the first day She said ‘let there be cruising’, and so it was done. And it was good.


Although on the first day (of April) it was pissing down, we went riding. I went out and bought a nice new jacket. Parky and I have been motorcycle-wear shopping and I now own the worlds warmest motorcycle jacket, completely weather-proof and suitable for at least 2 hours driving in sodding rain. I did one hour from gimhae to the german club meeting, passing through the “Forbidden Tunnel Of Changwon” underway.
The problem with the “Forbidden Tunnel Of Changwon” is that it is manned on one end only. If you are trying to drive from Changwon to Gimhae, you are in trouble right from the get-go. If on the other hand, you are driving from Gimhae to Changwon, the first time you are stopped is when you have been through the tunnel.

That said, if you are stopped, the only recourse available to the people stopping you is to inform you that you have done wrong and let you pass, or inform you have done wrong and make you go back. Unfortunately for the people who would like to make you go back (not many) is that there isn’t anywhere for you to turn around for 5km before the entrance to the tunnel or 1km after the tunnel (and that is a 4 way intersection, so you can do whatever the hell you chose by the time you get there, and go back through the “Forbidden Tunnel Of Changwon”, more than likely isn’t one of them).
I have passed the “Forbidden Tunnel Of Changwon” in both directions, on Saturday I did the easy way and got told off after the event, a few weeks ago we tried to pass the other way, got stopped at the front, told to piss off and did. We stopped by the nearest copper, asked him “what should we do?” he said, “Getting to Gimhae from here through the tunnel will take you 10 minutes, getting to Gimhae going around the mountain will take you about 2 hours, if I were you I’d make a run for it!” And we did. To the background of the screaming wench at the tollgate yelling at us that we “ARE NOT ALLOWED TO RIDE UNDER IT!” But we did.

Anyway, I’m not going to write a lot today.
Just that I did ride to Changwon.
I went to German club.
We went pistol shooting. (with this guy)
We shot 345 magnums.


We shot 9mm bertetta
We shot darts.
We drank a lot of beer.

It was a good night.

Changwon looked like this.

Tongyeong looked like this.

Lots of riding happened over the course of the weekend. I have to go to bed.