After 9 hours on a 747, I land in the Land of Morning Calm. The scene at Incheon Airport near Seoul is strange. Everyone‚ flight attendants, security guards and customs officers‚ is wearing a mask. H1N1 has circumnavigated the globe. If I cough while passing the screening officer, I could be quarantined in the airport jail! Besides the big time difference, there's an oppressive heat outside‚"It's always like that here", explains Seyong Jung, who has come to get me. The prevailing westerly winds bring sea air and pollution, resulting in leaden skies and stifling air. Seyong has been a paraglider test pilot for 20 years. Though he initially trained as a pilot in the Korean armed forces, today he prefers to work with Gin Gliders Inc.. Every year, he compares prototypes, performs maneuvers for certification and refines the trimming of the wings with his boss, the "great designer Gin Seok Song".
We set course for Yongin, home of Gin Gliders.
Across the Han River the city of Seoul stretches out, a sprawling cosmopolitan metropolis lined with skyscrapers and motorway flyovers. 20 million inhabitants, half of the Korean population, live nearby. We're good for a two hour traffic jam, the price to pay for venturing into such a motorway junction on a Saturday afternoon. It did not take me long to nod off.
I wake in the middle of a forest of buildings. "This is almost the countryside" welcomes Seyong. In fact, what remains of the countryside is soon absorbed by some fantastic urban land planning. Here, a cultivated plot in the middle of an industrial zone; there, a big hotel in the middle of a wasteland. We are approaching Yongin. Buildings, each more than twenty storeys, are planted in parallel alongside each other. Everything seems to have sprung from the earth at the same time and from the imagination of the same architect. It is ironic to see that in a country where everything is hi-tech, where all the handheld devices are the "latest fashion" and where cars talk, that garlands of bare electric cables decorate the road junctions. Reality hits me: "Yes, I am in Asia."
At the entrance to a narrow street, between a service station and a red light, a sign says "Gin Gliders Inc.. 400m."After 10 years of existence, the Korean manufacturer moved into new premises at Yongin, south east of Seoul. A large asphalt parking lot dominates the surroundings; 2 large grey buildings with aluminum and glass facades comprise the heart of the company. Thirty people work there. ¬† The administrative building is connected to the design studio through a walkway in which one can enjoy a coffee with colleagues, looking at the sky. This week, everybody is there. The boss, Gin Seok, has returned from Europe after the Super Final of the World Cup in Italy and the "great mass"‚the annual free flight festival in St Hilaire du Touvet, France. This week, Gin and his pilots are back at work focusing on a performance wing, the Grand Touring range, a wing less racy than its big sister the Boomerang. 3 protos are already flying. They have the same shape, only some details in the sail differ. The experience of the first few hours of flight and new calculations allow the manufacture of a fourth wing to work on. The preparation starts today. I discovered the workshop, with its sewing machines and strange tools that ensure the accuracy that is required for the production of sails, risers and lines. No less than 4 persons are working to cut and sort the 600 pieces that make up the sail. Through the expertise and speed of Gilje, Myung, Dea, Jonghee and Hwa, sewing for 10 years, the wing will be ready to fly tomorrow morning before the team of pilots leave to go flying.
Lake Jeacheon
One and a half hour's drive east of Yongin, a flying site is under construction. In a peaceful valley swamped by a new artificial lake, the local government is developing outdoor tourism. The summit of a hill has been cleared to build a take-off; nothing remarkable. But the launch is actually a huge ramp, perched at tree top height. A steel structure supports a 30ft by 20ft sloping ramp, which faces the prevailing wind. Access to the site Jeacheon is via a "mono-rail", which can accommodate 4 passengers and their large bags. This miniature train climbs 300 meters through the forest and drops paragliders at the foot of the take-off ramp. The last few planks of the ramp are not yet fixed and it still lacks the security gates at the side. We thus christened the new take-off with screwdrivers and a hammer. Immediately greeted by the house thermal, one is struck by an absolutely magnificent landscape. The troubled banks of Lake Jeacheon, effectively encircle the mountain. Today, without cumulus in the sky, it seems difficult to envisage a cross country; the lake and forest dominate the landscape. But the local flight on the plain in front of take-off is already a pure delight. Surrounded by small mountain ranges, the site seems fairly well protected, which makes it relatively warm even in winter. For Gin this is a godsend; Jeacheon is an ideal site to trim and test the wings.
The flight today was one to savour, because we had been waiting for this weather window for the past 4 days! The autumn had been slow to arrive. When it was not the north wind that was unleashed, it was a series of typhoons crossing the coast of Japan that sent forecasts awry. Today is the day not to miss. In paragliding, the important thing is to be be ready to take your chance whenever it arises. As if the reward of being in the right place at the right time is not enough, I have the honour to have the first flight on a beautiful machine. Hundreds of pieces of fabric that were yesterday on the cutting tables and then in the hands of the seamstresses are now above my head‚in the right order‚it apparently flies! I expect to fly not on a small bicycle, but on a souped-up 500cc bike. But it is nothing of the sort‚this is a nice comfortable saloon car with a few extra horses under the hood. I soon appreciate the natural performance of the wing that allows me to maintain an advantage while thermalling with some top pilots. What a treat to capture the images of the day without having to leave the comfort of the train! I am already looking forward flying this wing again after it has passed through the hands of the local witchdoctor!
After a hearty mushroom soup at the local restaurant, relieved, we take the road to the south. We have an appointment with blue thermals, sushi and rice fields with trimmed golden hair. |
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Goheung, South Coast
Speeding is prohibited on Korean highways radars and radars blossom everywhere. There is actually one every 5 kilometers! Some drivers sleep in the left lane and as the Koreans have a reputation of being the Latins of Asia, they undertake to the right! The flow of traffic resembles a giant Hollywood car chase! Tonight, half the population is on the road. It is the holiday of Chuseok, 4 days traditionally dedicated to the family. The country is flushed by a stream of cars leaving Seoul in a southerly direction. The South is precisely where we went, to a peninsula right at the end of Korea, near the town of Goheung.
The choice of the mountain near Goheung Mamok is pure coincidence. In an exchange of emails with Soyeon Han, executive secretary at Gin Gliders, a collection of aerial images of Korea appears on the screen. Some of the landscapes make my eyes pop out. The guy who took the pictures must have been perched at 2000 m‚strings of islands, vast paddy fields and small mountains covered with forest are visible. The colors are striking. I answer Soyeon "Waouhh! I have to take photos there". Eventually the appointment is made for October. The idea is to fly over this tiny piece of land where the rice fields are golden. That's how we found ourselves stuck in holiday traffic on the way to Goheung! The problem is that it is raining cats and dogs. The guys ask me why we are going towards the rain when it's fine up north. For me, it makes more sense to move while it rains than when the weather is nice so as not to let slip a flyable window! I've not convinced anyone, but the main thing is to be on the way...
After 7 hours of torrential rain, we are finally there. Gin Seok is welcomed like a priest by the local pilots. Fortunately, the "grandiose greetings" do not last too long and we go up to the take-off. Mount Mamok forms a ridge several miles along the coast dotted with strings of islands. From the top of the main ridge, between 300 and 400 meters high, the landscape is striking. On one side, the vast rice fields of Goheung spread their palette of ochres and yellows. On the other, blues and greens squabble on the coastal strip. Both sides of the mountain provide a good thermal ramp and a comfortable support when the wind sock is horizontal.
J. Day
We know the day will be good, so we decamp early from the hotel. Fortunately, the previous night we had gone easy on the "soju". This morning, all the lights are green. Even the boss is ready. It is barely 9 am, we have probably awakened the forest with the minibus tearing up the tracks. A little path leads up from the final track. For a few minutes, we walk through the woods, seeing nothing around. We just hear the rustle of wind in the branches. This is it‚a simple cut in the forest, which straddles the ridge. The path ends at the foot of a pole surmounted by the national flag .It looks odd, usually on take-offs, there is a windsock. On the ground, the grass has grown through a large mesh, where the carpet has gone. We listen to the wind a few moments, OK! Now is no time to daydream or to bla-bla. A bank of cirrus clouds veil the sun for a few minutes, but the wind is good. A simple exchange of glances is enough to trigger general enthusiasm and smiles.
Some birds are already hovering at the tops of tall trees, which confirms our expectations. With this sustained wind, the takeoff is instantaneous, a slight tug on the risers and and wing is already above my head. In turn, we take the wave. There is nothing to do, just let ourselves go and wait for the first thermals to continue the tour together. Gin and Seyong are quick to identify the best areas of lift. They remain alert, ready to take advantage of stronger and longer thermal cycles. The thermals are weak, but their narrow cores require precise piloting to be exploited. As the first bullets cross the sector, the flight comes to life and it becomes difficult to fly in a group. 500 meters above the terrain, the true dimension of the place is revealed. There are dozens of islands as far as the eye can see. The rice fields, so close that we want to fly over them, are not easily approached as a wind of 30 km/h is blowing against us. Unaccustomed to flying in strong winds, I found the game quite worrying when my GPS screen shows only 2 km/h! Between 2 thermal cycles, I breathe more easily. This flight is like a surf session. With each cycle, you have to take the best wave or else go underwater! Impatience put Gin Seok down prematurely near some large rice fields, but fortunately, Taru and Seyong survived. The cores of their thermals join the large thermal that I have been patiently working. At about 1000 m, we work the thermal together, before pushing the bar to reach the plains. The rice paddies are like boilers generating a grid of thermals; it is impossible to miss the lift. Long confluences form an aerial mattress that we walk on without losing a foot. At this time of year, the rice paddies are drying. Their sediment-laden waters drift out to sea and are diluted. The paddies turn from green to yellow. When everything is dry and tan, it's time to harvest. Currently, each plot is still a real paddling pool. At the end of our aerial ballet, everyone chooses the narrow strips between rice paddies in order to land with dry feet. The Koreans don't remain hungry for long‚after that good flight we share a big meal of sushi. Finally, we can say that the day was good. The weather deteriorates again over the following days. On the way back up north, we make the most of a short window of flight on the site of Hapcheon, just ahead of a new depression. At least it was something! |
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Flying Sites visited during the trip:
Jeacheon: Bibong mountain
Goheung: Mabok mountain
Hapcheon: Daeam mountain
Travel Tips
Cuisine and specialties
Koreans like to eat‚ in quantity! The traditional table is low and you sit on the floor, a custom not always adapted to Westerners and tiring during long meals. But the table is well suited if you appreciate the "banchan", the multitude of small side dishes and soup offered to accompany the main course. There is no meal without vegetables: pickled cabbage, turnips, radishes, cucumber...spicy, fermented Chinese cabbage is the most common type of "kimchee". Kimchee is appreciated in Korea like a good Camembert is in France! You pick up food from the side dishes with metal chopsticks and eat soup and rice with a spoon. Take care not to leave the cutlery in the dish, it's rude. Note that the red in Korea is rarely associated with the tomato, but with chilli pepper! If you prefer something more special, a reliable option is Kalguksu, noodles served in a meat broth. The Bulgogi or Korean barbecue consists of thin slices of marinated beef on a grill which is often embedded in the table. No meal is complete without rice, you can either put it in your soup or not according to your taste. Seafood and fresh fish are another Korean speciality. You'll eat everything.
A little geography
In the North-East Asia, the Korean peninsula stretches about 1,000 km from north to south. A long portion of its northern border runs alongside China and touches Russia. The coast of South Korea is separated from Japan by the South Sea. The Sea of Japan borders the east and the Yellow Sea borders the west coast. In 1948, Korea was divided. A "demilitarized" zone (called DMZ), which is actually the most heavily militarized area in the world, separates the Republic of Korea (South Korea) from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Age: the Confucian tradition still defines social structures. Age is of great importance and the young are expected to respond without question to their elders.
Time Difference: + 8 hours + in winter and 7 hours in summer compared to CET.
Money: The official currency is the won (KRW). 1€ = 1750 won.
Catering: Outside of major cities, local food is often available at reasonable prices. You can fill your belly for 10 euros(!), but all other cuisines (Japanese, Western) are expensive.
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