Jerry Conner: August 2022

Kaffe Kiwa: The most beautiful coffee shop in the world?

If not the most beautiful, Kaffe Kiwa is at least one of the most beautiful coffee shops in the world. And the coffee is good too.

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Getting ready to flow north along the ridgeline. Or to get lost again, more likely...

Employing my pigeon-like navigation skills, I have targeted a natural topography route from Gangneung Station to the Gangneung Olympic Park. My plan is to float north up the ridgeline, following the natural contours of the land. I scoped out the first part of the journey today, limping five kilometers in the rain to and from the point where a small road parallels a mountain. This small road will be the ultimate shortcut--I hope.

I'll admit that a few things didn't quite match up when I examined the details in Google Earth. But those are just trifles, right? Surely there is no way that this will turn into yet another misadventure. At any rate, there is more time for planning. If the rain continues as it has all day and night, I won't be walking anywhere. I'll need to row a boat.

According to my calculations...

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Wolhwa Walking Street: Keep going south across the Namdaecheon River.

To explain about Wolhwa Walking Street, north of the Namdaecheon River, it's a tourist walking street with some good food, drinks, and music. But don't stop at the Namdaecheon. Keep going south across the bridge to enjoy Wolhwa Walking Path. This is the way of Nature Boy and Nature Girl. If you're like OCD Jerry (let's hope you're not...), you can even keep going after the path ends, into the hills and dales of real old school Kangwon Province. The actual path ends just at the edge of the mountains to the south of the city.

"What's that you heard? An old, bald foreigner was sighted wandering in the fields and country lanes of 청량동? 학동? He didn't know where he was? He didn't care? He just wanted to walk around in old school Korea? Preposterous!!!"