22-Jun-2001 -- I have only come to know the Degree Confluence Project very recently, but it sparked my interest. The most disappointing fact was that no one in Korea seems to have taken interest in it, as I saw no previous submission. Knowing from the map that my dorm is virtually on the 127.0E, I decided to visit the closest confluence, 37.0N 127.0E, which was about 30km due south.
MapQuest and MapBlast had provided very accurate coordinates of the place I would be visiting, but had provided virtually no way of telling me how to get there. Then there was FreeMap, which provides very accurate (up to 1:5000) maps of Korea, but lacks coordinate search. So I superimposed the landmarks of the former two maps over the FreeMap map, and I got the approximate coordinate for the confluence. After finishing the local transportation research and printing out the maps, I set out after eating lunch. The sky was cloudy with occasional showers, which was quite excellent for me, as the summer heat might have knocked me out.
The confluence is located in Gyopo-1-ri, Oseong-myeon, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do. The city of Pyeongtaek, except for the central area, is mostly covered in rice field, as the region is a notable producer of rice, Korean's main food. I was expecting the confluence would be right in the middle of the field, and I was right. I took a local bus to get near the point, and as my map and my GPS receiver was noting that I was as close as I could get with the bus (which was 1.4 km). I got off at the next stop and went on foot.
Miles of green rice field was upon me, and I could see some sparsely spaced network of small roads weaving through the field. This made the search rather easy. I just had to move sufficiently on one direction until one of the coordinates match, then I took the road intersecting the current one to match the other coordinate. After about half an hour of getting my feet muddy, I stood upon the closest point I could get to the confluence: 37 00.000'N, 127 00.008'E (picture #2).
The actual confluence was inside the rice field itself, which is filled with water to promote the growth of crops, so I was standing on the road closest to it. As it is evident in the picture #1, large rice barn and rice processing plant was not far away. Except for that barn, however, the area is pretty much featureless, completely covered in green, as seen in picture #3, 4, and 5.