10 March 2015
Last night in Daegu
Eating Jeonju style Bibimbap in Daegu
I am not about to go all sentimental here, but Daegu is an excellent place.
I enjoyed my 4 days here more than my entire trip to Seoul 3 or so years ago.
I could really have spent more time here, in this 2nd tier city most people wont have heard of, still a lot of mountains and missing buddha statues.
Right now I would have to put it right up there with Taipei as cool places to visit. Food isnt as good as Taiwan, or at least, its less varied, but thats applicable to all of Korea.
Of course you can eat any fast food you want, theres a strong USA influence across Korea, although I really havent seen any evidence of actual white people anywhere. I saw one couple on the train who I assume carried on to Busan (my next stop) and I assume all the air force jets today had white people in them.
It looks like, much like my first visit, most people from foreign lands never leave Seoul. I will report on this again when I am there in 9 days time.
The correct way to cope with the cold in Korea, is to run everywhere, screaming. When I was in Incheon the other night, and it was damn cold, hat purchasing cold, I saw people doing this. Literally sprinting from door to door, or to the subway entrance etc. They seem to scream, quietly, whilst doing it.
Then it got warmer, until tonight, when its again cold (but not as cold as Incheon). Now tonight I have seen people running and screaming everywhere. Its alarming at first until you realise what they are doing, then its hilarious, and then finally, its impressive, because I dont know a lot of people that can run very far at all. A good thing they dont live here.
Needless to say, when in Rome, I now run everywhere, screaming.
Karaoke supplies street. More like Karaoke supplies suburb, its many streets by many streets of cheap DJ and Karaoke gear. Every home needs a 4000 watt P.A. and LED lighting system.
I briefly considered Dos Tacos. Its a real brand that exists in the USA isnt it? Not some Korean knock off? I know they have taco bell in Seoul, I had it last time I was here, and it was terrible.
This, according to the internet, is the only decent hotel in town. The Novotel, and its enormous. You can read reviews by people that never bothered to stay anywhere else that its the only place to stay in all Daegu.
You can also read about how its the only 'safe' place to stay, whatever that means. I think a lot of this is written by Novotel staff.
Its working, becuase when I was booking accommodation, it was booked out. And its also more expensive than Sydney, in a city where most rooms are $50 or under.
I bet it doesnt have all the cool facilities my room has either!
I then considered eating in the train restaurant. However it was all overpriced burgers and chips. But I did want to eat in a train carriage, even though I go on trains every day. It was a tough choice, but I moved on.
Sexist. But not as sexist/racist as China, which has signs saying WHITE GIRLS DRINK FREE.
So I ended up being lured by a place advertising their bibimbap as different and special. Jeonju style.
Jeonju is where bibimbap comes from, and has something to do with it being the preferred dish of the something dynasty that lasted from 1300 until 1900 or there abouts.
The key differences are, the beef is raw, although I elected for the hot stone bowl which at least partially cooked it, and the rice is cooked in rich beef broth, which made a noticeable difference to flavour.
This was however, $10, but the restaurant was fancy, guys with bow ties, bowing a lot for no reason, and filling my tea. I dared to eat all my kimchi, so a huge amount was then provided to replace it, of which I ate none.
I couldnt resist the mixed lollies stand.
I nearly died when it cost almost $3.
I come to these places to buy cheap food, I make an exception for coffee only, and even that pains me! The moths in my wallet are appalled.
This is a cool store for all things girly and arty, called artbox. I liked their pens.
OK, I REALLY!!! like these shoes. Why cant we get the shoes Korea has in Australia. Theres so many brands I have never heard of.
Such flamboyance, so colorful, awesome.