An early morning-goodbye to my friends in Korea. I hop on the bus to Sokcho, get into the terminal and go to the usual cycles of waiting. Once I’m admitted to the rusty vessel (you should have seen the cardeck) I’m so tired that I crash my berth right away. The berth: they just put some dividers in one of the ship’s chambers, much like office cubicles – a very economical way to offer individual sleeping comfort to the tourist that demands such. I don’t care about anything and sleep most of the day. Sometimes I creep out of the confinement of my berth to watch the sea, to spot a North Korean fisherboat and have instant noodles for lunch. The other passengers don’t seem very talkative and I assume most of them are workers or children of workers who make the trip out of economical necessity. I start exploring the ship and take one intersting photograph. But it is my berth and the lectures I am listening to on my mp3-player that are the most exciting part of the trip.
July 17. The ferry to Vladivostok.
