To Downtown We Go

We took a bus with Maggie to downtown Daegu today. Cordia and I had been planning on going, then Maggie walked by our apartment and saw our computer hanging out the window and decided to shout our names. Through some small talk we were able to determine that she was also planning on going downtown to make an exchange and work out a plan for us to make the trip together. She was a wonderful tour guide.

We boarded the pink #2 bus, dropped in our 3000 Won (the combined fare for Cordia and I), and claimed some empty seats. It is about a 25-30 minute bus ride to downtown from our apartment. Upon our arrival, we followed Maggie to American Apparel, and she made her exchange. There are hundreds of clothing stores and hair salons and restaurants and fish spas lining the alleys, but I'll get to that later. She then showed us the way to the massive Kyobo department store which contains the only bookstore in Daegu with a section of English books. This section is around 15 feet long and around 7 shelves high. Yeah. Not quite a Barnes & Noble. I signed up for a membership, Cordia bought a book, and we left Kyobo. Finally, she helped Cordia and I purchase a bus card, which gets us a cheaper bus fare, is re-loadable, and saves the hassle of needing exact change. Maggie decided to go home after that, but we decided to stick around and try to get to know downtown Daegu a little more.

Our first stop was Herbal Medicine Alley, an alley for which Daegu is famous. Just a walk down this street through all the smells of the herbs seeping through the cracks between the doors and their sills is enough to cure your stuffy nose or sore throat. We didn't know what anything was or what anything said, but it sure looked like an interesting place. We meandered through a very small alley structured like a might market that only sold fresh vegetables, nuts, fish, and an occasional blanket. Once through, we headed towards all the trendy clothing stores. This mostly included a lot of browsing and window-shopping for two main reasons: we won't receive our first paycheck until the end of January, and Korean salespersons function in a very close proximity manner. When you walk in a store, they usually bow as they say "hello" in Korean, then simply follow you around keeping you within arms reach just so they can catch you looking at a particular product for more than 5 or 6 seconds and proceed to tell you how wonderful it would look on you. I don't want to use the word annoying, but, hmm, I'll just have to get used to it. Besides all of the clothing stores, there are hair salons, jewelry stores, restaurants galore, bars, coffee/wine houses, and even a Dr. Fish Spa where small fish take up the task of nibbling the dead skin off your feet while you relax in a... well it doesn't really matter. What could be more relaxing than having fish eat your feet?

The diner of choice for us was called Burnham's Burgers. They served burgers. Cordia and I have loved the Korean food so far, but after nearly a month outside of the U.S., one of Burnham's burgers sounded very delicious. And it was decent. We decided we've had better, but it satisfied our craving.

Oh yes. And tonight we saw more foreigners (non-Koreans) than we have seen since we arrived. I would think it would make one feel a little more comfortable, seeing so many faces so similar to my own, but that wasn't the case. The Koreans have been so hospitable and accepting that seeing so many foreigners tonight just made me feel a little less special than I do in Chilgok.

I should go to bed. We have plans to hike Hamjisan tomorrow. Or, later today since it is currently 2:45am. Hamjisan is a mountain just outside of the hustle-and-bustle of Chilgok that offers a wonderful view of the city so I hear. Maybe we'll get some new photographs.

Good afternoon!