9 April 2026
The unlit sky road
Daejeon station area
Still raining, needed to go somewhere undercover, so the underground shopping street and world famous sky road at the Daejeon station area in the old down town dong of Eunhaeng was an easy decision. Getting to the subway however, was a 1km run through the rain, which had onlookers very concerned about my mental stability, however long term readers (this is my favourite joke) know that I despise umbrellas.
Once at the station area I checked out the far side, still nothing there, then headed underground, back above ground, underground, through the rain, back on the train, running again... and eventually had malatang - Korean style (apparently).
This is the inside of the Daejeon station, bigger than I remember, but I am still not sure if it is new or not since I was last here.
Out the back of the station there were, puddles, and not much else.
The underground shopping street here is long, but closes quite early.
I headed back above ground to the huge Jungang market, also closing at this time, but still very interesting.
Some parts were still more open than others.
These are all actual sit down eating areas. Generally deep fried food that gets re deep fried to kill the flies that have been on it all day. I do not know what many of those deep fried things are.
The underground shopping street has a gap where this river is, however it was not raining too badly when I needed to cross the river. Possibly it qualifies as a drain. Actually it is a drain, its too straight.
Now for the nightlife and restaurant area near the station, site of the famous sky road...
The sky road is turned off! The roof of this structure is normally a giant long LED screen, I have previously shown photos of people playing tetris on it. If you go to google image search and type Daejeon, you will see mainly the sky road. I am not sure if it is off permanently, or part of the fuel saving initiatives I keep hearing about that is forcing them to dim outdoor displays across the country.
Great damp road reflections.
It started raining more, so back to the underground shopping street, which has many attractions such as this forest with fountains.
Right at the end where only fortune teller shops are located, a scary teddy bear and a couple of homeless guys.
The mascots are guarding the indoor below ground theatre. There is no show, but people are sitting and waiting anyway.
And finally after a subway ride back to my hotel area, malatang, advertised as Korean style but I am not sure what made it Korean style, surprisingly plenty of ma not just la.
Tomorrow should be a hiking day, I may need to start a bit later than normal to wait for the rain to pass. It will probably be muddy as it is a red clay trail.