Boring Boring Daegu

Whenever I go to Seoul for a weekend I am always depressed at the thoughts of returning to Daegu. Not that Daegu is a bad spot but Seoul has so much more to tantalise the senses.Over the weekend, Ian, Maebh, Sara and I ventured to Seoul with Don and had a right rollicking good time. We stayed in our usual haunt, Sinchon, foamed at the mouth in Bandi and Lunis ( the seizure inducing treasure trove bookstore), delighted in the amazing shopping stores and had a wide array of restaurants and bars to choose from. We also met up with an old friend, Simon and his fiancee, Naire ( Congratulations and celebrations..la la la la).

So on Saturday took the KTX to Seoul and decided to immediately find a place to stay as Don was rather mule like with his great big rucksack. So, like a sherpa, I guided everyone (the usual sherpa Maebh was off duty until later that night), to Sinchon to stay at our regular motel. Imagine the gut wrenching pain when we turned that fateful corner to discover that our little gem in the city had turned into a scaffolding nightmare. All I was capable of doing was huffing and puffing at the mess. However, we managed to find another place and it really was a bit of a downgrade. But beggars cant be choosers and I do think Sara and Maebh became rather attached to the hair of a hooker that was running all down one side of the bed in their room. From the angle of the hair I took it to mean that her and her lucky little customer were trying a rather unusual position.

After settling in, otherwise known as tearing the contents of my bag onto the floor looking for my sweater due to the Arctic conditions in Seoul, we headed for Bandi and Lunis. People who have read this blog before will know of my love for this bookstore. I am sure this is lost on people in Ireland who have Waterstones etc at their fingertips, but for us that are deprived of a wide selection of English language books, Bandi and Lunis is the Holy Grail. Not a sound was uttered between us as we curled our way through the rows looking for reading material,apart from the occassional grunt of pleasure or fart of joy. After successful purchases we had a few drinks and some food and then waited for Simon to come from Jamsil and Maebh from Daegu. Following their arrival, the night degenerated into an alcohol fuelled frenzy at a bar that had a little dog who had the unfortunate luck to be mauled to death by me and barmen that kept giving us free drinks. I am not quite sure what their rational behind all their free drinks was, but they were a little disgruntled that we stayed so late ( yes, apparently leaving an establishment at 7am is considered inappropriate).

So the next day was not a pretty sight. Don, Ian and I tried to make it to the super mall in Southern Seoul, a mere 23 subway stops, but a general feeling of unwellness resulted in us turning back after 5 stops.

And so back to Daegu we went. Returning here after the brights lights in Seoul ( in fact I really am convinced that the neon in Seoul is brighter than the neon in Daegu), always seems like such a let down. There is so much variety in the capital, koreans don't stare and point at us like lepers, nor is their the conservative attitude of the Daeguites. Daegu is recognised as one of the most conservative cities in Korea and so being exposed to devil may care attitude is so refreshing. But then again, nowhere else is it more amusing it see the looks of horror on the faces of the older generation when Ian and I kiss on the street than in Daegu.

ha ha.