Hey I just came back from my morning ride. I have been living in Korea for about 10 months now and I have really been enjoying the biking. There is a vibrant and rapidly expanding mountain biking scene here. The terrain is awesome for biking. The trails are all open. Although they are sometimes crowded with hikers there are no trails where access is restricted which makes it really nice that no one will tell you to get off the trails. You never even get a dirty look from hikers as you pass by them. They actually cheer you on. It is very nice. I will really miss the biking when I leave here.

I've become a much better rider since arriving here. I guess that is what the hills will do for you. I am from the prairies so I was not used to the climbing. I would say that was the hardest part of the whole experience. The year round biking season helped a lot. If you ever come to Asia check out South Korea for some awesome biking opportunities.

sounds good! when i went to china, in my hometown nobody has really heard of mtn biking. the bike stores are mainly focused on commuters (main source of transportation) and the mtn bikes they did have are the walmart style ones.

Where in korea are you biking? What area?

Good to hear you're enjoying the sport in S. Korea! I too enjoyed many many great "Road" miles in and around the Kunsan, Suwon City and Songtong areas. In 1998 I racked up over 3,000 miles! The people for the most part were friendly and I enjoyed getting out and around places where we "Ugly Americans" never go.

Where abouts are you?

I am living in Busan on the south eastern tip of the peninsula. I am here teaching English. My wife is Korean so it makes living here a little easier. My schedule is pretty tight so I do not have a lot of time to go to other places but I am lucky in that I just a ten minute ride away from some nice trails. Our year here is almost up. we will be going home at the beginning of August. The work situation has not been all that great here. Long hours and little time off.

Are you teaching with DODDs? I have had some interest in teaching through them. I was curious if it is hard to get into it?

No I teach ESL in a private language institute. It is okay but there are some long hours involved. I was here the first time in 1996. There was money to be made teaching then. There still is I guess but you have to be willing to put up with some hassles. It has been a nice leave of absence for me though. I am a teacher back home and I was starting to kind of need a rest from that so this has been nice. Check out these links. The first one is my homepage. Mostly just stuff about Korea and some biking photos. The other one is a really good discussion forum on teaching English in Korea.

https://fortier.byus.net/

https://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/index.php

Hey! I lived at Camp Hialeah in Pusan for a couple years, the mountains do make for some great riding!
Watch out for the taxi drivers!

Yeah I have been past Hialeah a few times. I've never been inside though. You need a friend who is in the military. They say it is like a little piece of America though. That camp Hialeah is prime real estate. The Koreans are hungry to get that land back. Speaking of which did you ever frequent the Dallas club or the Legion club when you were here. I have been there a couple of times but I do not make a habit of going down there. It is a bit rough for my taste.

Yeah, and the U.N. club., T-street, etc. I didn't think it was too rough, but I was a teenager back then, 88-90.
When I was there the blackmarket problem was huge, the base commanders Korean wife would take literally truckloads of merchandise from the PX / Commissary straight off base.
Therefore all the other Korean wives would too!

Hialeah was a nice little base, real lawns, baseball fields, houses, A really nice O'club that the Japanese built during the most "recent" occupation. It's built with a round main dining area, with the original painted rising sun on the ceiling. I lived on the north west corner of the base, my backyard ended at the north perimeter wall.

I really liked the food some of the small store fronts had, especially that pounded sweet rice gooey stuff on a stick. I forget the name of it but it was great!.
Of course, the cheap leather and brass products were nice! (And $8 Nikes right from the factory!) All the pirated software you could handle. Cool fireworks for sale.
I really got along well with the older Koreans, but the younger ones tend to fall for the N.K. Propaganda they teach in the universities there.
N.K. can't feed their own people, but they spend millions in the South's schools. Oh Well.
I had a pretty good Korean friend, ran a hobby shop north of Hialeah, about 1/3 up to the park. He was an airplane nut, so I managed to get him into the USAF Kimhae facility. When I picked him up, he was wearing a suit! Really nice guy, made my day to make him so happy!
Overall I liked Korea, I wouldn't mind going back.

I have heard of people getting busted now for the black market stuff. I have not been able to find any 8.00 Nikes either. I think you would probably find things have changed a lot since you were in 88-90. I was here the first time in 96. I met my wife on that trip. Anyway the economic crisis back then and now the high rate of unemployment and lots of other social problems. I bet you could have made a lot of cash on the side teaching English back then. I have heard stories of people making a lot of cash pretty easily. It is a bit tougher these days but there are still people here slogging it out. It is not my kind of work actually I am happy I only have 3 more months to go then we go home. I wouldn't mind staying longer if I did not have to work. I haven't had much of a chance to see the country and I would really like to take the trip to the DMZ. Actually it is possible to take trip to North Kroea now through a tour company they bring you to this resort called Mount Keumgang. I don't know if Americans are allowed to go though.