Seoul to Daegu on the KTX
Now I am in Daegu. No one has heard of Daegu. This is my third time in Daegu. Clearly I like it here.
It is a city of about 2 million people, and kind of the 3rd but actually the 4th or 5th largest city in South Korea. Depending on how you count satellite cities of Seoul.
To get here I took the bullet train, or KTX as it is known here, it takes just under 2 hours.
As I was heading to the station in Seoul, I was putting some more cash on my train card, when an African girl came up to me and asked how she could get a bus to the airport. Of course I thought immediately, this is a scam, because I trust no one ever. So I told her to take the subway to the main Seoul station then take the airport train, since she was already in the subway station. She then told me she cannot go to the main Seoul station because the police are looking for her there. Ok then.
Once I arrived in Daegu, or more precisely DongDaegu I had a short subway transfer (Daegu has 3 metro lines, one is a monorail) and then my hotel booking was not even cancelled! It is the same chain as the one that cancelled on me in Seoul, so that was a minor relief. However they do not allow you to check in until 4pm, which is a common thing to do in Korea, which is clearly a late country.
So after all that, scroll for hotel room photos.
I did a morning lap of the local area of Seoul. So many blossoms. As is often the case, I found a lot of places I wish I had walked along while I still had time.
Here is the view outside of the Seoul station, I do not know what the big L is for, loser probably. I stood by the L. Apt.
The inside of the very familiar Seoul station. I thought I would get there close to train time, but I still had an hour to spare. So I bought a drink.
I enjoyed the view up the hill of the old little houses while enjoying my clear colourless fruit drink. By houses I mean smaller non identical apartment blocks.
There are many kinds of trains that depart from here, the names increase in complexity depending on how slow they go. The fastest ones, just called KTX.
I could not get a clear shot of the front of the train, refer to previous trips! Inside it is much like any other bullet train. Later on this trip I have booked some first class carriages, but for this one economy. I boarded first when it was still emtpy, but it was actually completely full when we departed, with people standing at each end.
There is the outside of my hotel, on top of that shopping mall. Another Toyoko Inn.
Here is the very familiar to me ferris wheel on top of a multi level amusement arcade.
When I was last here, this was all destroyed wooden decking. Now it is all shiny and new. At least they finished something. Those pillars on the band stand thing are of course, LED screens.
Daegu has come a long way in the world, check out the Japanese style Starbucks.
And now the only photos of my hotel room. The floor has carpet. Amazing. Must be because it is a Japanese chain. I was absolutely thrilled to have a real desk to sit at again. It is hard to believe some hotel rooms do not think you need somewhere to sit and work. Even if you are not on business, people holidaying just for leisure these days need to look stuff up, post duck face photos etc.
And it even has a Japanese style bathroom! Which is to say, poorly lit and plastic. But at least the water does not drain across the floor.
Now to figure out where to go to tonight. I will only be here 3 nights.
DongDaegu station area
Each time I have come to Daegu, when I leave I go back to the high speed rail station and remember that it has a huge department store and probably lots of places to eat and I regret not having gone there during my stay.
To right this wrong, tonight I went there on my first night, on foot, and discovered whole areas of Daegu that are new and modern and shiny that google maps does not yet seem to know exist.
While waiting for my dinner I also read that cherry blossom anxiety is a thing in Korea now too, with men putting ads online for girls to go with them to be seen at blossom locations, $20 an hour, no physical contact, 2 meals plus dessert provided, 3 pictures minimum with both of you in the picture etc. All so the poor guy can demonstrate to people at work that he experienced the blossom picnic.
So this explains what I saw going on last night. If you are not seen with the blossoms and somebody you can claim you went to the blossoms with, then you might as well be dead.
I did not post this earlier as I was waiting for better light. This is the view out of my hotel window. If I remember on another night I will take it again in the dark.
The walk towards DongDaegu was very nice. The whole way was very nice. I think Daegu is a highly underrated city.
I passed many similar theme cafes such as this one with the creepy hands.
The Renault Twizy enclosed motorbike thing is still popular here. I saw a few of them around.
Last time I was here I walked along this river. Behind me there were many cherry blossom trees along the river banks, but I was trapped on the wrong side of the road. Nice reflections though.
This is the area of Daegu I did not really know existed. I believe that is a brand new Hyundai department store. Once again, I was on the wrong side of the road. Very wide roads!
DongDaegu Venture Valley. I guess a kind of silicon valley. They capitalise DongDaegu the same way I have been. I thought I invented that.
Here is my destination for this evening. The simply enormous Shinsegae department store. Photos cannot really explain how large and unusually shaped it is.
Obviously it needs a Bentley dealership.
Also obviously, I headed straight to the basement to find my dinner, and I was not disappointed.
Tonight's dinner is similar to a recent one. Korean style pasta. Although this time it has galbi (short ribs on the huge bone) and is in a curry sauce. Very nice.
Next I headed out the back of the station into the night life area. A lot of neon.
As mentioned, the department store is also the high speed train station, and a subway station. So here is a photo of all of them at once. Also under it is my bus stop tomorrow morning, so I went to make sure I could find that, even though I have caught that bus before, getting to the stop through the buildings is a bit tricky.
And for my final pic of the day, the terrifying 'Youtuber academy'. Just what everyone needs, a school to teach people how to yell at me on youtube.
Tomorrow is a long hiking day. Strangely the bus does not seem to run as early as I would like, so I will be back late tomorrow!