Daegu 1 Day Trip

October 8, Saturday – It was my one day trip to Daegu this day. I attended the IT Expo there. At around 7.30am, Ern Yu, Shu Yun and I departed to Busan Station by bus. We reached there at around 8.10am. It was our first time there. We were sort of lost, looking for the entrance for our train. The receptionists at the information center there have very poor English and hardly understand what we were talking. We managed to find the entrance in the end, of course.

At around 8.15am, we were able to board. We will be taking Korail instead of KTX (some sort like Korean’s bullet train but the speed is not consistent because some of tracks are old). The train that we took used the Saemael track and our train number was 1004. Our professor helped us to get the tickets. He bought us the second class tickets. The seats are quite spacious. I have not taken a train since more than ten years ago. It was like a new experience.

The train departed exactly at 8.35am. The train was not full. As the train moved, it is very steady and quiet. There is a worker pushing a small trolley selling food for a cart to another. I find him very annoying. The way he talked is like mourning. There is another serving either tea or coffee. Along the way, I saw some very scenic views. At 9.45am, we reached Dong Daegu station. Our professor was already there as we reached. He took us to EXCO (Busan Exhibition and Conference Center) by car. He showed us some pamphlets on Daegu.

We reached EXCO at around 10.20am. The design of this building is almost the same as BEXCO in Busan. It has 5 floors above ground and 3 floors underground. Most of the underground levels were used for carpark. Coincidently, Korea travel fair was held on the same day at first floor. The IT EXPO was at third floor. We visited the travel fair first and managed to get many freebies, such as paper bags, pens and postcards. There were many booths there, all very well decorated. They must have invested a lot on it. Each state had their booths there. Unlike in Malaysia, they like to hire pretty girls, dressing up in special uniforms to take care of the booths. There were mascots as well. The pamphlets were very well done, no photocopies. Some of the booths even offered free coffee.

After a short walk there, we headed to the third floor with professor. There were not as many booths as in Busan’s IT EXPO. However, the booth decorations were simply amazing. We visited the NURI booth at first. NURI is a government project and our professor is involved in it. There were exhibitions on biotechnology, fashion and health. There were many displays of robots, such as vacuum cleaners. There was a session on Korean traditional crafts. There were many interesting things to see there, such as kites, tea set, metal crafts, shell products, boxes and paper arts (eg: lamp, masks and dolls).

At around 11.30am, as my professor was busy, he asked us to tour around Daegu on our own by EXCO’s shuttle bus. He explained to us the route of the bus. At ariybd 12+pm, we had lunch at a restaurant at the lower ground. There were many furniture and house decorations shop there as well. The designs were very nice. We ordered 3 bowls of “jajang myeon” and a big plate of sweet and sour fried pork. The professor leaved after our food had arrived and gave us some traveling fee each for the day. I was surprised that he gave me some money for my tour to Seoul. I was very happy. It was my last time seeing him.

After lunch, we visited the exhibitions once more before taking the shuttle bus at 1.30pm. The bus only departed at 2pm. Some of the views in Daegu are different from in Busan. However, most of them are the same. The bus reached Banwoldong subway station. We headed to Jungangno station from there. We were able to see St. Justino Catholic Seminary at a far from Banwoldong station. There are a number of shops underground near Banwoldong station. The shops and subway seemed to be quite new. Primary school children were doing some performance at that time. Many passers-by were enjoying the performance, so did I. There were many other shops along the way to Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park, selling food and winter clothing.

We were very disappointed as we reached the park. There is nothing special there, a big bell which is something very common in Korea and a park. We rested there for a while. It was very cooling because of the shade of the trees. We walked around the area near Jungangno station. There are many hawker stalls and branded shops. It is like Nampo Dong in Busan.

We had dinner at 6pm at McDonalds. They were having a promotion at that time. All the set meals were sold at 3,000 won (normal price is 3,500 won – 4,000 won) and desserts were sold at 1,000 won. I bought 2 apple pies at 1,000 won. The size of the apple pie is smaller than in Malaysia.

Then, we had a look around the boutique there before taking the subway to Dong Daegu station. The ticket buying machine there is slightly different from in Busan. They do not issue a ticket; instead, a small round thing like a keychain will be issued. There are only 2 subway lines in Daegu. 800 won for short distance and 900 won for further distance.

Our train was at 8.45pm. The train was 5 minutes late this time. The train number is 1011 and the arrival time in Busan is 10pm.