Daegu
(Tuesday / 22:30)
(Tuesday / 22:30)
Arrived on the 29th.
Departing on the 31st.
The moment I saw Daegu, I got a hunch that I am going to like it here.
The train station closest to the hostel I am staying in is basically a HUGE underground shopping arcade. Even better than Seoul bus terminal. And there seem to be more 5,000won clothes lying around. How hard I had to fought against my shopping desire despite carrying my heavy load of bags.
As I suspected, Daegu is a lot cheaper!
I was so determined to eat a sandwich from one of the cafes along the Cafe Street located in downtown Daegu, which is very close to where I am staying too (Banwoldang Station) but I saw banners along the underground arcade stating that a meal costs 3,000won. How can I resist it?
Best part is that it reminded me of you-mian we eat in Singapore! Not entirely same but the texture of the noodle was somewhat similar. The first mouthful of noodles was totally awesome because of the sesame oil but it becomes bland later. The owner was very kind to add more soup for me when she saw me finishing me. Although it is not the best but I really appreciate it. Really need the warmth as the weather was really cold!
At first I thought the green side dish was lady fingers. I was so excited and decided Daegu is my favourite place.. only to realize it is green chili hahaha Ah, I miss eating crunchy yet slimy lady fingers. And Seoul is still my top city.
This was my dinner for today. While I was walking around the area after eating my 3,000won noodles I saw the menu for this restaurant - steak meal at 7,000won!! I had to have it but I was too full yesterday so I came back. Took me quite a while to locate the place because the area seem bigger and more confusing than Myeongdong is to me.
Anyway! 200g (stated on menu) hamburger steak with side dishes and rice at 7,000won~ nomnom, satisfying my western meal craving at a low cost! It is delicious, by the way, although they could had given me more vegetables haha
I was also provided with a small half cup of orange juice and a tiny slice of cake! The portion is really small but hey, it's only 7,000won. I was not even expecting it!
The restaurant had a lovely atmosphere but there were hardly any people eating in.
Over the brunch table today at the hostel, the people told me that Daegu is one of the cheapest place in South Korea despite being the third largest city. The next time I am coming for a holiday to Korea, I will definitely hit Daegu first!
So since I was not able to buy anything, I head off for some sight seeing. To be honest, historic places are out of my mind at the moment. I feel like I had too much of it. I do not even like history in the first place thats why I ended up taking geography in secondary school and ended up wanting to do tourism in polytechnic but I was too stupid my results could not make it so I ended up in hotel & hospitality in RP...
Wonder around the area and saw two large cones sticking out higher than any other buildings. Cathedrals! I love looking at cathedrals!
& coincidentally the film site of Love Rain was just nearby!
I was not sure if the place was open or not since no one came out or went in so I sticked around outside taking pictures. At the same time I decided that I am really not interested in history but amazing cathedrals is more of my thing. Put autumn leaves with cathedrals together you get an amazing view. Beautiful!
It is hard to miss the cafe. There is so much advertisement going on around the place! They are charging 5,000won for entrance though. They wrote stuff in Korean and Japanese but I could recognise the words 'drinks'. Not sure if it meant that drinks are inclusive of the entrance fee or not.
I manage to take a quick peek inside the cafe because someone else went in and did not close the door. Totally vintage looking! I am still very tempted to go there now..
The famous Daegu traditional medicine street is around the area too. The moment you hit the street you can smell the strong herbs and it turned me off haha Pretty much stayed on the main street so the smell would not be too overwhelming.
These pancakes look kind of cool to me so I bought the cabbage one and try.
Leaving this city tomorrow for Gwangju. I will be back again.
Labels: South Korea, travel
28th Oct
(Monday / 00:32)
(Monday / 00:32)
It rained for the whole of yesterday but today's weather was awesome! Spent the day walking from Haeundae Beach to the Diamond Bridge for the fireworks and back. Probably 15km altogether? hahaha
For today I actually wanted to capture all the couple wear and items but I failed. Haha next time!
From my hostel window you can actually see the sea partially. I am enjoying the view a lot but if I get to stay in one of the many hotels located next to the beach it would be awesome! It was pretty hot in the afternoon but most local people are in jackets and pants while some foreigners are down on to bikinis for sun tanning.
I was recommended by the hostel to visit APEC house in Dongdaekseom Island. Is it an island? I did not know. It was very well connected to the mainland though the land looked very different from the beach.
Another location Running Man was once at. hehe I can totally remember the stairs! The place also reminded me of City Hunter but I cannot find any information online to confirm it. While walking through the House I saw one of the lady who did the mountain climb with me in Seoul but I could not remember her name so I walked away HAHAAH so awkward me but I greeted her outside ^^ One step towards stop-being-so-awkward!
And there was this moment where I twisted my ankle and (maybe I tried to shift my weight so I would not hurt it bad) I fell on the other side. Thankfully there was not a lot of people. I don't think anyone even stared hahaha how weird but it was embarrassing to fall down like this. I scraped my left knee and my camera fell but thank god it is still okay. -_- My twisted ankle is okay too. -_-
And I found this unique food court in a shopping mall.
And then you get your food~! Plain water is provided for free too! This was the last meal of my day. Just half and hour before this jajjangmyeon I had 2 bread from a bakery that looked very atas. Pretty good I must say. The croissant was still crispy although it is not hot anymore but it was a little tasteless to me. Or maybe because I ate the one with pudding before that.
When the sun sets in Busan, the sky does not get playful with colors but together with the many innovative design buildings they have, the city turn very beautiful.
An accidental shot of a rusty bridge I crossed
I have to say. Today's pictures came out really well ^^ All of these pictures are not filtered in any way! I love surprises like this because when I view my pictures on the dslr, the pictures will not look as good as it is on my laptop (so did the salesman told me).
I think I had quite a good view of the fireworks today although 1) I cannot see the bridge 2) there is a pole hindering my sight where most fireworks were released 3) a lot of people keep pushing me *($#*)$#(@)#(! I still cannot stand all the pushing from the people It is annoyinggggggggggg! Nevertheless this fireworks festival could be in my top 3 lists. They put up fireworks I had never seen before!
Or it is a lot nicer because it is not my tax money flying into the sky and disappearing.
It is about 1.30am here! Need to sleep soon. I slept early for the past 2 days and I should continue the cycle. People say I look exhausted (not tired. Exhausted) when they see me. I do not look that different with make up right? So I must looked really burnt out D: And I have a pimple on my nose ughs it is not going away. I read online saying toothpaste could help to reduce the redness so I had apply some on it haha
Labels: South Korea, travel
(Friday / 22:31)
26th Oct
Most pictures today were spy shots, meaning I did not look into the camera to take a shot but instead I just snap with the camera at my waist height (meaning at your thigh height (most people)). Of course they did not come out well and shaky but it was pretty fun.
The interesting thing about Busan is that their spelling are not standardized. On one side you could see "Busan" while on the other side it could be "Pusan". In this case, you alight at Jagalchi subway station for Chagalchi Market.
The image of Noryangjin market has yet to disappear in my head haha So all I did was walk into an alley of the market and exit from the other. BIFF, on the other side seem more interesting. Lesser seafood, more people, more variety.
On the main street you will feel like you are at Myeongdong with all the cosmetics brands lining up and cheap street food and tarot card store (but the tarot readers here claim to be able to speak in English!) but when you turn into the smaller alley you will feel like being at Nandaemun with all the stalls doing wholesale. Mountains of shoes, beanies, leather jackets...
I still enjoy Taiwan street food more though. I missed it so much that I bought myself a cup of bubble tea ^^ Nothing like the authentic but it was good enough to make me forget about it for awhile. I really need a cup of 50岚 now!!!!!
I took a long flight of escalator up because I remember Running Man doing so. Did not know it would lead me to Busan Tower!
This is a clock. I suppose it is for airplanes since it is almost impossible to accurately read the time from ground level due to the angle.
And I watched an amazing water fountain show at Lotte Department Store. With just water they can actually form words!
An extremely bad example but hey, you get what I mean right?
Labels: South Korea, travel