8 April 2026
The mirror universe
Changwon to Daejeon on the KTX
Now for the third time in my life, I am in Daejeon.
First of all, the bus let me on to take me to the train station in Changwon, the mystery as to why I was denied boarding previously continues. I left plenty of time in case there were bus troubles, which meant I got to the station just in time for TACO Tuesday, possibly reducing the likelihood Korea will run out of jet fuel before it is time for me to depart.
Congratulations Iran.
My train ride was about 2 hours, in first class! I strolled on confidently in clean socks, sat in my standalone luxury seat, only to realise the guy across from me boarded with tissues stuffed up his nose and a wet towel on his forehead. Great. He proceeded to die for the entire journey. I stood between carriages for most of the journey to stay away from him.
I arrived in Daejeon too early to check in, so it was time for a coin laundry expedition. There were 3 on google maps (should have used naver), the first one had long since been demolished, the 2nd was manned and more like a dry cleaner, and the third was just right. So after a few tribulations, I got to terrify the other patrons by taking laundry straight from my roller bag and putting it into the machine, one woman felt the need to go and stand outside to give me some privacy.
Finally, it was time to check in, to a hotel room an exact mirror of the room I had just left a few hours prior, same furniture, bathroom, bed, desk, wifi settings, fridge, air conditioner, just a mirror opposite. And let me tell you, according to my web stats, my hotel room photos in Seoul have been accessed a few thousand times already, the next highest is 12 views.
The view from Changwon Jungang station is interesting, a new city area on the left, a new University on the right, plastic covered farm land in the middle.
It is quite a small station, but does have a convenience store.
I was the only person on the platform. I walked up and down the entire length.
Here is my fancy first class train seat. I am on my own, the other side of the aisle has 2 seats. Due to the sick guy nearby I spent about 8 minutes enjoying the first class experience, before standing near the toilets between carriages.
Arriving at Daejeon station and there is a political rally and or cult meeting going on. The station looks newer than I remember, perhaps they have replaced it since I was last here. I will do detective work comparing to my previous pics.
I was excited to go down to the metro through the crashed huge train. Actually it is an very long underground shopping centre too, I used it as a thoroughfare to the coin laundry.
The bridge is still the same, behind it appears to be an entirely new suburb, I will come back and do a full investigation later.
The coin laundry was small, but modern. I sat at that desk at the end of this photo and attended a work meeting on my laptop.
Now for 3 hotel room photos, behold the bed.
The desk is the same, the lamp is different to last time.
And the bathroom, exactly the same, but mirrored.
Final terrible pic of the day, my window view, of a garden in the government office building area. Tinted window, I did what I could to un-tint it.