Potato in Seoul - 4 Hours in Daegu/대구

Mountainous view on the way to Daegu/대구

Just last week, I left Seoul for the first time since I arrived almost four months ago. Three friends and I took the bus from Seoul to one of South Korea's other cities on a one-day trip. Actually, we missed our first bus and had to change our tickets to a bus that left 45 minutes after our original bus. After paying to switch tickets, we were off. It's only about a 4 hour bus ride from the Express Bus Terminal to Daegu's main  bus terminal.

 The views on the way to Daegu are quite stunning. So many mountains and giant hills. It's all so green. Escaping the city once in a while is always good, even for a city-lover like myself. The peacefulness of rural South Korea is peaceful and calming. Watching rice fields pass by and the small towns reminded me a bit of road trips at home: passing all those corn fields and the 1000 people towns.

Korean BBQ is generally cooked right at your table either by the customers themselves or a server, if you're lucky like we were

The walk to our accommodation

Once arriving in Daegu, we first went to eat a late lunch before meeting up with a friend of mine. We first went to our AirBNB rented one-room apartment before heading out to enjoy the evening. And enjoy we did. Our first stop was the Suseong/수성구 "lake". It's really more like a giant pond. But it's still beautiful. The large pond is surrounded by green-covered mountains, and the beginning of the sunset was a perfect addition.

 

 

 

Our next stop was unfortunately not open because of renovations/construction, however it's worth noting for when it re-opens someday. Someone had the marvelous idea of taking an old airplane and renovating it into a restaurant. It's called Snow Factory and they sell a popular Korean dessert called bingsu/빙수.  Bingsu is sort of like a shaved ice dessert that you top with things like ice cream, fruit, candy, etc. It's glorious on a hot day.

Snow Factory

Since Snow Factory was closed, I settled for cotton candy, which often comes in fun shapes or colors, or both. As seen in this beautiful duck-shaped cotton candy I indulged in. After eating our cotton candy, we made a pit stop at a cafe to get cold drinks and churros and ice cream, then made our way back to the AirBNB for a little bit of rest before heading out for dinner

 

Man-made (?) waterfall on the walk back to the AirBNB

Beatles-esque crosswalking

Rain clouds coming in strong

 

 

Cheesin with cheese

Day 2:
Our second day there, it rained. We all slept in a little (I slept in the longest, as per usual) then headed out to check out a traditional market (서문 market) that's quite famous in the city.

 

While the main above-ground areas are filled with food vendors (think fresh spices, dried squid, fish, and some fruit), the market is more famous for its fabrics. There are dozens of vendors selling traditional Korean outfits, known as hanboks (한복). This type of dress is still common in many Korean weddings and for special events like the birth of a child or traditional ceremonies.

After walking through as much of the market we had time for, we decided to make a quick stop at a cafe to eat and drink something before going to the bus station and going back to Seoul.

Tired but happy campers

 And back to reality we went...

The End

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