Trenton, NJ!

I'm in Trenton, just 100 miles away from NYC!

I'm so excited about spending Christmas in Manhattan.

To save some bucks on lodging, I'll be at my friend Junho's house until Sunday. (He's celebrating his birthday on Saturday!) I'm looking for nice motels in NYC which seems impossible.

There are either big expensive hotels or cheap youth hostels.

Junho told me there are some cheap motels in Jersey City, which is right next to NYC.

I'm wondering what it's going to feel like to stand in Time Square with my bicycle, after this 4 months- pedaling.

Wish me good luck!

Toll

I'm in Philadelphia, in the UPENN area. My body is full of beer now. Haha.

I just don't want to go to New York City. I should have stopped in Washington DC.
I should have been modest and realized my limit. I've been pushing to the limit and it's making me ill physically and mentally.

I just checked all the possible roads that lead to Manhattan.
New York City is surounded by tolls. It seems like there's no way to get in there.

Damn..


Cuba was a lot more worth traveling by bike. There was no such thing as toll. There was no sign saying "cars only". Cars, trucks, bicycles, coaches, horses, cows and people shared same roads.


Maybe I might have to take a train to enter NYC after all this ordeal with bicycle...

I don't know why, but I have bad feeling about this last route. I fell, I got arrested, and still have cold. Maybe it's my obsession of karma; I've done so many bad things in my life. I feel like I'm getting it back on this one trip!


The weather forecast said it will be warm for the whole week. Is it some kind of trick from God?

DUI

(24miles, freezing)

I had lunch at Burgerking along with a small bottle of bacardi.
I had to keep myself warm.

I felt so warm inside (which is good)
but I was depressed after I rode bike for about 5 miles.

I'm stuck in a lousy motel in a town where there's nothing. Even no Chinese restaurant.

I was thinking why I started this.

Maybe bacardi made me wiser.

Fallin' into mud

(50 miles, sunny, 35 F)

I saw that big Chevy truck coming right behind me in the rear view morror. But the truck didn’t slow down. It’s either 1) the driver didn’t see me or 2) he didn’t care whether he hits a stupid foreign bike rider. I didn’t know what to do. I shifted the handle to the sideroad. It was muddy, my bike trembled and fell.

I didn’t bleed. It didn’t hurt much, I just got a bruise on the side of my right knee. But I was covered wih mud. I laid down on the mud, bitching about my life and destiny looking at the sky.

It was a beautiful,sunny day.

150 dollar fine ticket

(47miles, cloudy, 39-48F)

It was a very cold day. It wasn’t a good day to be arrested by a cop. I was crossing a bridge from Maryland to Delaware. This bridge was on highway 440. There were two bridges that connect Maryland and Delaware. The other one was on Interstate 95 which was marked green- that means there is a toll.

The bridge was 4 lane road, about 1mile long. There was no sidewalk, the fence was very low, so it scared me to death to cycle next to the vehicles which don’t take cyclists into their consideration.

At the end of the bridge, there were tolls where drivers paid 5 dollars, and a cop was standing, looking tough, waving at me. I didn’t know why.
“Are you blind or fxxking stupid?!”
He said there was a sign saying that no bikes were allowed. I said I didn’t see it.

“then you must be fxxking stupid”
He took my passport and went into the police office. I couldn’t move because he didn’t tell me not to move. Sweats on my body started cooling down. I stood outside, 39 F, shivering for 20 minutes.

He came out with another officer. He asked me questions where I stayed, where I got my money from etc.

I said “I get money from a fried chicken company. I stay at hotels”

He asked me if I’m from North or South Korea. He didn’t know “Republic of Korea” means South Korea, which means, in his mind, I couldn have been a North Korean terrorist who attempted to enter Delaware by bicycle without paying for the toll.
He wrote me a ticket, 90 dollars for ignoring a road sign and 60 dollars for causing disturbance on the road.

Then he let me go.
I took some pictures of the bridge because I really wanted toremeber the bridge which cost me 150dollars. The cop came out of the office, howling “take the fxxking film out! Now!”
“But officer, I can’t”
“Do it, now!”
“But this is a digital camera”
He stared me in my eyes, looking scary, and screamed.

“I don’t’ care. Do it!”

I thought he was kidding, but unfortuenatley, he was not.

This is the first impression of Delaware.
I need beer desperately.

Leave some comments, please

Now anyone can leave some comments on this blog.

When I started this blog two years ago, I couldn't stand criticism from irresponsible browsers. That's why didn't allow any comment.

But now, I want to hear what other people have to say.

I'm about 250 miles away from the finish line.

Some might say what I did was just stupid.

But I just want to hear one person saying that this trip was worth doing it.

Thanks for watching.

Bad Karma

It’s raining. This is because of my bad Karma.

It took such a long time to have the courage again to cycle 300 more miles to NYC.I said goodbye to everybody so everybody thought I was gone. I didn’t go outside.

I checked weather on the weather.com. The temperature will drop drastically after this rain – it’s going to be 30~40 degrees.

Maybe this is not a bad karma but a test given by the God. Either way, I will suffer. And I will learn. Hopefully.

AFKN and I

[We're almost there!]


[what is this sign supposed to mean?]

( sunny, 53-61F)


When I don’t cycle, I watch TV. Most of the stuff are boring, rude and covered with commercials.
But it just came to me, that there was time I loved American TV.
It was about 20 years ago. I used to watch the channel two, the AFKN-American Forces Network Korea. Korea had 3 Korean channels, but AFKN was my favorite.

AFKN used to air cartoons in the morning. I didn’t speak English but enjoyed watching it.

I don’t remember the names of the most characters, except for Bugs Bunny.
I remember a ostrich which made some funny noise and fooled a wolf.
There were a black duck, a piggy.
I think the broadcast was called Loony Tunes. Back then, America seemed to very far far away somewhere in the galaxy. It was like a fairly land.

Now I’m in the middle of Ameirca, literally. But I don’t know how close I got to America.

I don’t watch the Loony Tunes no more, but I watch Oprah Winfrey Show instead.

I still feel estranged.
America seems to be running away from me. This country is very strange to me. But I like Oprah. She’s "awesome".





[Izaka, almost got attacked by a small red car but escaped using an ancient Asian trick - photo by Choi J. W.]

Pictures of "My Great America"

some folks have sent me emails regarding various subjects.
One of the most frequently asked question was about the photography.
("How the hell did you take pictures like that?", "What kind of camera are you using?" "is there a photographer following you?")



1. I've been using Canon 5D and 17-40mm Lens for the entire trip. I use canon G5 as a sub-camera. I carry Lomo-AC for special pictures.


(17-40mm is ideal for taking wide pictures likes this; a biker and a nice blond lady on a same picture!)




Sometimes I put my camera on something and set in on timer.
I have to make sure that people around it don't notice the camera so that I can get very natural pictures)


You don't have to put your camera on a tripod to get a self-portait.
I use various tools to take self-portraits. My favorite is - simply putting it on the ground.

Taking pictures of Diana has never been easy.

She's so cocky (is that a right word to use?)

....

..... because she's a woman... (just kidding)

I think everybody has to find something to enjoy while they on a bike tour.
Since I don't like riding bicycle (that's so true) I devoted lots of my time taking pictures when I take rest.

The problem is, I hate riding bicycle, And also, taking pictures.

Thank God I don't have to do them anymore!!

thanksgiving

I was invited by SFC Taylor, who replaced SFC Miller and became my supervisor for the following year.

This is my second Thanksgiving I celebrate in Washington DC. It was as good as the first Thanksgiving here. 12-pound turkey and mashed potatoes. I love Mrs. Taylor’s gravy. It’s fabulous. 6- year old Alea blessed the meal this time (last time it was SFC Taylor)

I used to hate the gravy sauce. The first day I spent on the military base as a fresh private, I thought the gravy was a soup. I put some salt and pepper in it. It still tasted awful. I wept that night thinkin’ about all the terrible food I had to deal with the next two years.
It was good to see him again and his family.

Jamie made some very delicious gravy. The 15 pound turkey was so big that we could eat the half of it even though SFC Taylor brought some of the neighbors who couldn't leave the base for the Thanksgiving.

It was great!

thanksgiving in Korea

I’m at Taylor’s again.
Thanksgiving on military base was very hectic. It wasn’t a holiday for soldiers. It was all about “looking happy”. 4 star generals used to come to our unit’s dining room. Low ranking soldiers like me had to clean up the area thoroughly. When it comes to Thanksgivng, we used to have lots of fallen leaves, so it was no use cleaning up the area a week prior. But the First Sergeant didn’t care.

On the Thanksgiving day, the commander and other high ranking officers came in special uniforms- the calvary style. They cut the turkey for us. We had something special like a lobster, shrimp cocktail, ice cream with banana and whip cream. The KATUSA soldiers didn’t care about the food much. All we cared about was the 4-day weekend starting from Thursday. We didn’t understand why we had to celebrate and spent some of our precious time on pass for the historical event where Native Americans saved 107 starving pilgrims by feeding them with 107 10-poundturkey. (I don’t know if it’s really the reason Americans celebrate Thanksgiving but I’m sure it involves some pilgrims and Native Americans and some turkeys.)

SFC Roesh

Today, I’m in the mood of wrting about SFC Roesh. He was a combat medic but was sent to South Korea as the Equal Opportunity adviser. He was my supervisor and my boss.
When I first met him, he was 31 years old, not too tall,not too small but he was a tough soldier. He had been to combat zone in 1989.
Since our Equal opportunity office was not a busy place and me and SFC Roesh was the only soldiers in the office, we spent time talking.
When I was a private, SFC Roesh brought something in the office and hung on the wall. It was the map of United States. He told me that I should know the regions of USA in order to understand America. I learned all the names of the States by heart, I like to tell me stories of the Civil War and the differences and tensions between the South and the North.
“PV2 Lee, you have to come and travel in America to understand the culture.”
“But how should I travel such a huge place. USA is 50 times bigger than Korea. And you told me the public transportation system in USA is bad.”
“Most people travel in the States by car”
Then I told him that I didn’t have a driver’s license. He didn’t even believe me that I had never been behind the wheel. I was 21 years old.
“Lee, You told me you cycled across Europe, right?”
“That’s right, Sarge”
“How long did you travel?”
“About 2000miles”
“ From East to West, it’s about 3000miles. I think you can do it”
“But it’s going to take forever. I don’t think there’s anyone who does a stuff like that”
“I know a guy who did it within 8days.”
“You must be shitting me, right,Sarge?”

But he wasn’t lying. I met a guy in North Carolina who really cycled across USA within 8days. Twice.

Hidden Hero

A hidden hero.

Korea

(53miles, Sunny, 50-67F, moderate)

I can see my hometown Seoul over the mountains.

I miss you.

Crimes commited by US soldiers in South Korea

Here is something that might help you understand why I didn't like United States so much.



Understanding the United States through the Crimes Committed by its Troops in Korea

- Lee Sohee (us@usacrime.or.kr) Secretary-General, National Campaign for Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea (Written January, 2004)

From 'liberator', 'ally', and 'blood brother' to 'occupying force' and 'source of all evil'could Korean public opinion be split so differently on the issue of the United States? This inevitably means that there must be a concealed and distorted history.
A History of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea
In modern Korean history, the U.S. troops first stepped on Korean soil on September 8, 1945 at the port of Incheon. Many Koreans welcomed the 'liberators' that had saved Korea from the Japanese occupation. Soon that welcome faded, however, when Koreans realized that the US military was to be stationed in Korea as an occupier as well.
Afraid of possible interruptions to the landing operation, American forces arranged for the remnants of the Japanese military and police to keep Koreans indoors. When some Koreans gathered at Incheon port to welcome the U.S. troops, Japanese police shot two Koreans to death and ten were injured for trespassing. Against the protest of Koreans, the U.S. authorities ruled in favor of the Japanese police, saying the incident happened in the interests of public order. This is recorded today by advocacy groups as the first crime by U.S. troops in Korea. The charge level is 'aiding and abetting homicide.'In the intervening fifty-six years, many other crimes have been committed by U.S. troops. According to official Korean government statistics, roughly 52,000 crimes were committed by the U.S. troops and civilians related to the U.S. military from 1967 to 2002. Some 59,000 U.S. servicemen were involved in these crimes. When one considers that not all crimes are reported to the police, it is not difficult to imagine that there are in fact more crimes. Based on the statistic above, it is estimated that there would be more than 100,000 crimes by U.S. troops in Korea since their stationing in 1945. U.S. troops in Korea have committed about 700 crimes every year. In a word, they usually commit 2 or 3 crimes everyday.
The types of crimes are indeed diverse. They include people being shot to death, bitten by intentionally unleashed military dogs, poked in the eyes with a fork, strangled to death with a bra, cut in the throat with a razor blade, put into a water pool naked in the middle of winter and burned after killing. Records show that Koreans were killed without any particular reason, for not obeying the order to stop, for intervening in a quarrel, for waking up, for eating too much jam, for smoking too much, etc. Each and every case cannot be listed in detail.
It was only in 1992, after a half-century since US troops entered Korea, when the crimes by U.S. troops in Korea became widely publicized. The landmark case of Ms. Yoon Geumy , which involved a certain. Kenneth Lee Markle, still remains as a shocking picture for many Koreans until today.
In the evening of the day before the crime, October 27, 1992, drunk after barhopping, Ms. Yoon Geumy (26 years old at that time) was heading her home in Dongdoochon with Pvt. Markle (20 years old at that time), after agreeing to spend the night with him. On the way, the two came across with U.S. Cpl. Jason Ramburt in front of her house. They got involved in a quarrel for quite long time. Ms. Yoon, who had slept with him the night before, was now in another soldier's arms. Ramburt, who was already in a bad mood from negotiating for cost at another military camp town bar, picked on these two people. Pvt. Markle got mad, took Ms. Yoon by the hair, brought her into her room, and started to beat her up. He hit her forehead several times with a cola bottle.
When blood poured out from her forehead and she stopped resisting, he poked in her anus with an umbrella he found in the room. The tip of the umbrella reached her rectum, 27 cm from the anus. This did not satisfy him. He stuffed two beer bottles into
her vagina. When she was found dead, she was naked and a half of the cola bottle was still poked in her anus. He tried to cover up the evidence by putting broken matchsticks in her mouth and sprinkling white detergent powder all over her dead body. The autopsy reported the cause of death to be physical trauma and bleeding from the forehead.
As the truth of this incident was revealed, civil, social, and religious organizations got together and formed the Taskforce Committee against the Murder of Ms. Yoon Geumy by U.S. Troops in Korea. The committee fought for more than a year, requesting fair punishment of the U.S. soldier. In the end, the Korean Supreme Court sentenced Pvt. Markle to 15 years imprisonment.
Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea and National Security
The main reason that prevented crimes by U.S. troops from being discussed in Korean society was the special position the U.S. occupied in the Korean national security framework.
In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, the U.S. was called our 'blood brother' because it dispatched troops into the war and sacrificed its young men to keep Koreans safe from the communist invasion. Since then, however, as U.S. troops remained stationed in Korea, their role changed to one of augmenting South Korean national security against an attack from the north. As a result, many of the crimes committed by U.S. troops in Korea were either justified or concealed in the name of 'national security.'
1964 was a year of particular note in the history of crimes committed by U.S. troops. On February 4, 1964, while picking up cans near a U.S. base, Ms. Suh Myungja was shot to death by a U.S. soldier. She was nine months pregnant at the time. On the 6th of the same month, a 16-year-old boy, Ahn Jaeseop, was catching rabbits with a friend when he approached wire entanglements of a U.S. base. Right away a U.S. guard shot the boy through the boy's throat, and he died. When Koreans demanded an accounting of the incident, the U.S. authority announced that throughout the day, the UN Forces need to perform maximum protection for our war munitions for there are continuing threats of infiltration by communist spies. They justified the shooting by saying that it occurred to prevent the theft of military resources.
Continued shootings in the 1960s and the resulting official stance of U.S. troops vividly showed us the frightening barbarity of how crimes can be justified in the name of 'security.' Above all, the fact that the 'beautiful country (美國 how the U.S. is translated into Korean)' commits crimes was intolerable for Korean society.
The blind pro-Americanism of Korean politics resulted in a corresponding blind anti-North sentiment. Talking about the negative image of the U.S. was taboo because it was easily connected with 'pro-Northern' sentiment. This oppressive atmosphere was reflected in the fact that civilian massacres during the Korean War, including Nogeunri incident, came up to the surface only after a half-century of silence. In addition, unlike other countries under the U.S. sphere of influence which all had anti-U.S. movements, anti-U.S. sentiment or slogans were seldom found in Korea for several decades during the stationing of U.S. troops. This in fact shows how much the existence of the U.S. in Korean society has been considered unquestionable.
As time passed, however, the Korean people started to raise critical voices against the U.S. The most significant change appeared in 2000 when two major incidents created great controversy: the Maehyangri explosion and the illegal disposal of toxic materials. The Maehyangri incident revealed the effects of life-threatening noise pollution and serious heavy metal contamination over 50 years. Disposal of formaldehyde, which causes cancer and miscarriages, raised concerns throughout the country. Influenced largely by improvement of the relations between South and North after the summit of
June 2002, anti-U.S. sentiment from various interests led to revision the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between Korea and the United States. The reconciliatory mood between South and North caused damage to the national security ideology rooted on the logic of confrontation between South and North. The changing atmosphere also affected the foundation of the U.S. troop presence in Korea because it was and is based on a possible attack from the North. There developed, therefore, some splits in Korean politics surrounding the existence and role of the U.S. troops in Korea.
What Will the U.S. Choose?
What is the U.S. and why are U.S. troops in Korea? Now it is the time for Koreans to ask themselves this question. How should Koreans interpret the reality that the ones who are supposed to be here for the security of our nation are in fact threatening our life and safety? Is this situation benefiting or hurting Korean national security?
There needs to be a clear line between the defense of national security and criminal acts. In particular, impunity on the recent schoolgirls incident was without a doubt unacceptable for Koreans, though it happened during official duties of U.S. troops. It is quite natural that the recent rise of anti-U.S. sentiment in Korea coincided with the transformation of the Koreans' view of the U.S. according to a reality which was romanticized for so long.
It is necessary to make clear that the fundamental reason for anti-U.S. sentiment was the arrogant attitude of the U.S. authorities towards the victims of the crimes by U.S. troops in Korea. The perception of unequal relations between Korea and the U.S. also was a contributing factor.
Just looking at the case of the schoolgirls, the U.S. authorities investigated the incident for the sake of formality that the truth is still not known. It refused the Korean government's request to turn over jurisdiction, and ended the trial with acquittal on the charge of negligence. After continuing requests for an apology, the president of the U.S. only delivered an indirect apology. This left a scar on Korean people's pride. This portrait stands in contrast to the image, which the U.S. projects, as being one of the best countries in protecting human rights. That the death of a few Koreans can be nothing serious to the U.S., and that the incident is treated differently because it happened to a foreign people, cause Koreans anguish. It is natural to raise doubts as to whether the U.S. is indeed an ally of Korea.
Now the U.S. is no longer an 'unconditional' benefactor to the Korean people. If the U.S., without accepting this clear fact, keeps insisting on the conventional relationship of the past, it could loose its blood brother. Only things left now is the choice of the U.S.