I grew up in a small town. I remember reading the population sign saying “2,341” when I left and thinking “2,340.” And we had a pretty decent Main Street. Small Midwest town. River running through it. Couple of cool old buildings, including a clock tower that my dad got running some years ago. Typical red, white, and blue stuff.
I’ve lived in Korea now longer than I ever lived in my hometown. Still, I like the “small town” feel of any place in particular, and when you can be in a place surrounded by skyscrapers one minute, then in a small country town 30 minutes later, it makes me miss it even more.
That’s one of the things I love so much about biking in Korea. There’s so much variety that it’s never boring. I haven’t biked extensively in a lot of other places, but of all that I have, Korea definitely tops the list by far. I mean, where else can you find a restaurant whose specialty apparently involves a cow riding on a fish?
Or where they paint incredible murals of chickens?
But also where you can see history plopped down right in the middle of nowhere?
Korea’s got all of this and more on just about every ride you take if you do it right. You just have to lift your eyes up off the road. I kind of feel sorry for the guys who don’t. Heads down, pumping away at the pedals. Like they have something to prove. And I suppose they do, but I’m so far beyond that (if I ever did).
What then about “Main Street R.O.K.?” Well, this is about the simplest place you can see something interesting. It’s really not like Omro, Wisconsin (you can see from the first picture how they’ve packed so much more into the space they have). The small towns I pass through today remind me a lot of the Korea I knew in the ’80s, and maybe there’s the connection. I left my hometown in the ’80s, so when I see these places, I remember what it was like not being surrounded by today’s brand of modernity.
I think I’ll make it a point to see more of Korea’s Main Streets this summer. They’re not too hard to find. Just stay away from the big cities and I’ll be pretty successful. Stay tuned.