Getting lost (Haenghae-eup)

It's good sometimes to take stock of what you assume to be correct way of getting around in the world. Somewhere in childhood we learn how people live together, develop culture, and use structures like maps and symbols.  For example, in Map Reading 101, we are taught that each road in a given area has a unique name (WOE to areas that re-use road names). We learn that each house or store is numbered, in order, to help visitors and firefighters easily find them. And, we learn to trust maps to correctly guide us. Then we assume the whole world works this way, that these same social arrangements (should) allow newcomers to explore new places without great fear of getting irretrievably lost.  

Let's just say that someone changed the rules, at least in this part of the world. I have learned new place names (areas ending with -si are cities; -eup means large town, and -ri means tiny village; -dong means neighborhood).  Now.  Look at this map from Google. We live in the darkened blotch (Handong University) just northeast of the map's center (near the IC highway). The city (si) of Pohang begins just southeast of us, but the map labels the neighborhoods (-dong) and nearby villages (-ri).  So far, so good. 

Nearby town (eup) of Heunghae

We've been to Pohang-si a lot already, so yesterday Sam and I wanted to explore the small town of Heunghae (10 minutes west).  It seemed easy - take the highway to Namsong-ri and drive northwest to Hanghae-eup; find a coffee shop for some rolls or breakfast and head back.

Short (and highly misleading) summary: We drove there, found a coffee shop/bakery, and came home with yummy almond cookies.

Longer and more accurate version: We drove nearly an hour before heaving the local map in the backseat with all its (USELESS) landmarks like "Kia Motor Service" or "Middle School" and its largely unlabeled roads  Those landmarks did not actually exist on the roads we traveled, but several roads (ro) and rice paddy lanes and villages (ri) kept appearing out of nowhere. Remember, all the spaces on the map are filled with forested mountains and rice paddies - not many distinguishing landmarks, or signs in English, or roads that align with any compass I've ever used. After accidentally traveling to the beach (northeast of campus), we finally got back to Haenghae, found a coffee/bakery (more on THAT strange experience on another post) and found our way home with a careful look at road signs so we could return someday.  A 30-minute trip took nearly 2 hours.

Well, today, believing that we're quick learners, we wanted to go back to Heunghae to explore E-Mart, which is reputed to be a smaller version of Walmart and was located "near" the bakery we found (you don't go by street addresses here, we knew, because the numbers more often reflect the order in which the building was built rather than an identification system). So, we set out, correctly took the highway to town, turned down Handong-ro, and then... that's where reality ended.  

Check out this partial map.  Perhaps you'll notice HOW MANY DUPLICATE ROAD NAMES THERE ARE. And perhaps my capital letters suggest a certain degree of frustration.  And perhaps you are not surprised that we drove down MANY Handong roads (and Heunghae roads), looking nearly in vain for the bakery and E-Mart. 

A tiny ajeema, bent at a 90 degree angle.
Not uncommon.

This is a nice house for this area.
Located on Handong-ro, I believe.

To make matters even more exciting (or worse, depending on your level of hunger or need for reason), some "roads" are tiny, one-way alleys between tiny houses with garbage, rice tractors (think elongated moped), pedestrians, and badly-parked vehicles flung about. Further keep in mind that all traffic lanes, signs and signals are mere suggestions; the American stereotype of bad Asian drivers is based on a place where offensive driving is the norm - defensive or hesitant drivers get honked at and driven around, even if it means driving on the sidewalk, blasting through red lights, etc. One must deftly evade age-crippled ajeemas, men on bikes with garden/farm tools sticking out the back, trucks that barrel down the street, roads that end without warning, and other obstacles akin to rally racing. Maybe some pictures will give you a taste.

This bridge ends without warning.

Truck.  Carrying... lathe?

Could we have asked directions of someone?  Probably - but we wouldn't be able to understand their response.  We passed through some intersections 3 or 4 times (hard to forget the ajeemas amidst the road-side mannequins).... and finally, an HOUR later, we finally found E-Mart. We explored, bought some snacks, and drove home, exhausted.  Un-learning and re-learning is hard, hard work...