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herveusI've been getting a feel for Daegu. Certainly, the drivers are pushy and frequently trying to get ahead and cut into lines. However, they know how to back off without getting nasty about it. That's the big difference. It's not so testosterone driven the way it seems to be around Washington.
I was warned that the big market in Seoul would be closed on Thursday (along with everything else in Korea) for Lunar New Year. I took the bullet train up to Seoul on Sunday to try my luck then. No joy. The textile market is closed on Sundays. Boogers. They built a round stadium and a baseball stadium in Dongdaemun for the Olympics. The round stadium is now a parking lot and flea market. I wandered the flea market The range of goods available was generous. My beard generated frequent comments from Koreans who are generally completely unaccustomed to facial hair on men, let alone a full bushy beard like mine. Santa Clause was the phrase of the day. Much merriment ensued.
After I exhausted that, I hopped the subway up to Gyeongbokgung to see if I could find the porridge joint Brian and I stopped at in November. Bingo. Porridge for lunch. Yum! I then moseyed over to Insadong (the artsy district) where the street is closed to vehicular traffic. From there, I hopped the subway down to Itaewon (a "special tourist district") to meet up with my boss for dinner. We talked some shop before grabbing the third member of the team and heading out to dinner. After dinner, Mo wanted to get some ice cream, so we hit the Coldstone Creamery. Green tea ice cream is yummy, and I got their "buy five, get the next free" card. I'll present it at the one in Bowie and see how the react. They won't be able to read half of it.
The Seoul subway system is very friendly for an English speaking person. All announcements are made in Korean and in English, and the message boards alternate the two as well. The trains do that as well. Finding your way around the system is pretty straightforward as well. It's either the busiest or the second-busiest subway system in the world, although I didn't experience the busy times.
The bullet train is nice. Well under two hours from Seoul to Daegu. It's a four hour drive under good traffic conditions. Thursday, one can expect the Highway 1 to be jammed all the way from Seoul to Busan, making the trip to Daegu more likely to be on the order of 16 hours. I have a seat on a train going the other way, and it will move on time. They expect something like 30 million people to be moving in Korea later this week, although having it run right into a weekend may spread the bump out a bit.
One more full day here, trying to impart what knowledge I can to the poor soldiers left administering the system. They are hampered by the fact that Army stuff always seems to have priority over mission stuff. When you are a PFC or a Specialist, you are at the mercy of the Sergeants. *sigh*
Time to get some dinner.
My Google map of Daegu with points of interest
I was warned that the big market in Seoul would be closed on Thursday (along with everything else in Korea) for Lunar New Year. I took the bullet train up to Seoul on Sunday to try my luck then. No joy. The textile market is closed on Sundays. Boogers. They built a round stadium and a baseball stadium in Dongdaemun for the Olympics. The round stadium is now a parking lot and flea market. I wandered the flea market The range of goods available was generous. My beard generated frequent comments from Koreans who are generally completely unaccustomed to facial hair on men, let alone a full bushy beard like mine. Santa Clause was the phrase of the day. Much merriment ensued.
After I exhausted that, I hopped the subway up to Gyeongbokgung to see if I could find the porridge joint Brian and I stopped at in November. Bingo. Porridge for lunch. Yum! I then moseyed over to Insadong (the artsy district) where the street is closed to vehicular traffic. From there, I hopped the subway down to Itaewon (a "special tourist district") to meet up with my boss for dinner. We talked some shop before grabbing the third member of the team and heading out to dinner. After dinner, Mo wanted to get some ice cream, so we hit the Coldstone Creamery. Green tea ice cream is yummy, and I got their "buy five, get the next free" card. I'll present it at the one in Bowie and see how the react. They won't be able to read half of it.
The Seoul subway system is very friendly for an English speaking person. All announcements are made in Korean and in English, and the message boards alternate the two as well. The trains do that as well. Finding your way around the system is pretty straightforward as well. It's either the busiest or the second-busiest subway system in the world, although I didn't experience the busy times.
The bullet train is nice. Well under two hours from Seoul to Daegu. It's a four hour drive under good traffic conditions. Thursday, one can expect the Highway 1 to be jammed all the way from Seoul to Busan, making the trip to Daegu more likely to be on the order of 16 hours. I have a seat on a train going the other way, and it will move on time. They expect something like 30 million people to be moving in Korea later this week, although having it run right into a weekend may spread the bump out a bit.
One more full day here, trying to impart what knowledge I can to the poor soldiers left administering the system. They are hampered by the fact that Army stuff always seems to have priority over mission stuff. When you are a PFC or a Specialist, you are at the mercy of the Sergeants. *sigh*
Time to get some dinner.
My Google map of Daegu with points of interest
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Date: 2008-02-05 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-06 12:21 am (UTC)