Imagery
Jeju Island Trip: Fall 2005
On our way from Mt. Halla to the airport we took a detour to see this “mystery road,” also known as a gravity hill. From where this photograph was taken, the road appears to decline—but in fact it inclines. The blue sign on the left that you can see down the road tells you to put your car into neutral at that point. We did so, and were amazed when it seemed that the car was being pulled up the hill.
We stopped at the shops/restaurant you can see on the right. The have liter bottles filled with water for people to put in the street and watch as they roll “uphill.” It’s actually downhill, of course, as the woman in the restaurant explained. The road runs downhill at a steeper grade further toward Mt. Halla, but when it gets to around the blue sign it levels out just enough for the surrounding visual cues to make you think that it’s going back uphill again.
I realized that the photograph itself is not that exciting, but it was pretty neat to experience in person. Plus, it’s a picture of a road, and I like pictures of roads, as we have already discussed.