Cartoonist reveals love for biking, hiking

Ko Pil-hun, 37, and his wife Yun Hey-young, 34, enjoy bike riding. So much so that the couple opted for a cross-Korea bike ride for their honeymoon in April 2007.

But the two-month bike trip was marked by squabbling, extreme fatigue, and pain in parts not fit to mention. Not surprising for a newly-wed couple whose professional expertise lay not in bikes but in illustration.

Ko is a Web cartoonist, better known as "Megashocking." His wife Yun is equally widely known thanks to Ko`s serialized cartoons on Naver.com, where she is lovingly called "Gumbo," a comic take on her hairstyle, which reminds people of Hong Kong actor Sammo Hung.

Their topsy-turvy travelogue in the form of hilarious cartoons and lively photos has been transformed into two-volume series (Anibooks; 320 pages; 12,000 won). Ko`s almost magical use of wordplay spices up the comic drama, but the trip was no easy ride in the park.



They were often threatened by merciless trucks whose drivers did not care about bike riders. In Jeju Island, they had to fight with a sense of disappointment due to the heavy rain. Yun, a bride who had wanted to enjoy a not-so-demanding honeymoon, also expressed her displeasure about the trip -- a crisis that was quickly resolved when the couple settled in a restaurant and had a hearty dinner.

"I was surprised to know that many people went to Jeju for a bike trip after reading my cartoons," Ko said in an interview with The Korea Herald. "Although the books depict our trip as entertaining, the reality was somewhat different."

Yun agreed: "We were often riding our way to different destinations, while crying out loud, because it was so hard and difficult."

The couple has now progressed from biking to hiking. Ko and Yu temporarily stowed their bicycles at their house, one of which was later stolen, and embarked on three walking trips to Jeju, Switzerland and Japan.

"At first, we tried easy trails near our home and some well-known trekking courses, and we planned to try the famous Santiago trail," Ko said. But they were not ready for that 800-kilometer walking route called the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James), so instead chose to complete the Jeju Olle trails as part of their training.

"Jeju Olle trail was very nice, particularly because we came to know and appreciate the beautiful details of the island," Ko said. The couple walked 12 walking routes for two weeks in May and returned to Jeju in August for two more courses to complete the remaining two routes.

Ko and Yun had a chance to upgrade their walking experiences in June, when they made it to a special tour program offered by the Switzerland tourism bureau. "The program was designed for giving inspirations to artists, and we asked for a plan that focused on walking and trekking," Ko said.

"I was very impressed by all the friendly signs and details along the walking routes in Switzerland," Yun said. "If the course is colored in yellow, it`s a normal route, but if it`s in red, it means a challenging course for hikers."

As Switzerland is renowned for its stunning mountains, foreign hikers could have the preconception that trekking requires some out-and-out climbing. Ko said the country has a great network of cable cars scaling key points in mountains, allowing hikers to save time and energy. "We reached the top of a mountain by the cable car, and walked down for four or five hours, which was very efficient," Ko said.

Whereas Switzerland was a pleasant surprise, their trip to Shikoku Island in Japan was nothing but torture. First, their timing was wrong: in the middle of August when the heat was almost unbearable.

The world-renowned trail of Shikoku Pilgrimage involves highly demanding walking routes that cover 88 temples on the island of Shikoku. "When we first talked about our plan to complete the Shikoku Pilgrimage courses in the summer, all of our friends said it was a reckless plan, but we did not listen to their advice, which turned out to be a big mistake," Ko said.

"Because of so many mosquitoes and the extreme summer heat, we completed only 23 temples in two weeks," Yun said, adding that the Japanese trail was not intended for casual walkers in search of some pleasant relaxation.

Ko said that slow-paced walking is what the couple enjoys the most. "I want to tell people interested in walking that we should walk slowly, perhaps together with friends or loved ones. That`s one way to make the experience of walking more memorable and even healing," Ko said.

Ko said he plans to serialize the couple`s three walking trips to Jeju, Switzerland and Japan in the form of an online cartoon soon.

(insight@heraldm.com)







By Yang Sung-jin