Daegue

Last week I had the opportunity to visit my friend Dongwook Kim in his hometown. He lives in a cool city called Daegue, in the southern part of Korea. I think my favorite part was getting to see the Kwang Seok memorial; Kwang Seok was a musician from who like Van Gogh became very famous posthumously. He was semi-famous before his death, but for whatever reason his death seemed to spark interest in his music and it was then that people realized how good his music was. He was a great poet and songwriter and he now has a whole section of town that has been built to honor him.

Well here are the pictures I took, I hope you enjoy my amateur photography and my insightful commentary.

 Waiting for the train at Suwon Sation

 Here's my train, it was nice riding in first class. Not actually the ticket I meant to buy though. Oh well.

 A picture of Daegue station

 This is the snack car, they also had some computers, and massage chairs. I like the train.

 Old Daegue

 Old Daegue

 New Daegue

 The street that separates old Daegue and new Daegue

 Old Daegue and new Daegue are very popular places to visit on the weekend, there are lots of shops and restaurants.

 Some more shops.

 This is the central part of new Daegue and at night from time to time performers will come and play on that stage.

 Look at all the stuff to do.

 It really is everywhere.

 Debec is a locally owned shop, most everywhere else in Korea you will see Lotte mart or homeplus but Daegue is a fairly independent and likes having local businesses.

 Daegue is one of the hotter places in Korea, so the city built these open fountains for the kids to cool off in.

 Typical Korean commercial street.

 Daegue underground, pretty cool place and a nice escape from the sun.

 A tasty snack at the movie theatre.

Old Daegue

These next series of photos are of the Kwang Seok memorial. It is cool, because the wall is a compilation of art projects dedicated to interpreting his music and his life.

 

 Basically it means, "Daegue loves Kwang Seok"

Me and Kwang Seok

I had a great time in Daegue, it was a cool town with lots to see, do and eat!

Matt

More pictures from Korea

Here are some more pictures I have taken. 

 Pineapple Fanta!

 This is a Vietnamese place near my house. Very good.

These are pictures of some Korean comedy show, I didn't know what they were saying but it was still pretty funny

 Downtown Youngtong

 Home plus is five floors of shopping for just about anything you need, Its similar to a Target or Walmart just bigger and a wider range of stuff and quality.

 More of downtown Youngtong

 This is across the street from Home Plus it is the Lotte Shopping plaza inside you will find clothes, food, grocery store, Toys R Us, home goods, school supplies, and an awesome movie theater called Megabox, its a lot like Home Plus but slightly more expensive and specialized.

 more of downtown Youngtong, taken from the Homeplus rooftop

 Korean rest stop on our way to Yeongbong Mountain

 A map of Yeongbong mountain and the heads of some people from church

 Signs on the trail

 That's me next to a sign

 This is a Bhuddist temple in the mountains

 A big statue and and shrine

 A wishing fountain or luck fountain. What you do is stand like 10 feet away from the fountain and toss a coin and try to get it to land on one of the little Bhuddas if you do its extra good luck

Half way up the trail

 Closer to the top

 A cool sign at the top

 Me and Sis. Ki, she is the lady who hooked me and Alex up with our job, she is also in my congregation

 Yeongbong peak marker

 another sign

 Some cool rock formations along the ridge trail

That is a gazebo across the ridge 

 Here is the Korean gazebo on top of the mountain

 Awesome view

 Side of the mountain

 Another awesome view, that is a new city they are building.

 some cool boulder with Korean words on it

 These strawberries were purchased at the bottom of the mountain from some old farmers, they were the best strawberries I have ever had

 We ate at this restaurant right after the hike, I was so hungry that I didn't take a picture before, that red stuff isn't blood its hot sauce mixed with ice water it had noodles and vegetables in it but I ate them all. I don't know the name for this dish, but it basically translates to ice noodles, there are a lot of ways to prepare it and this has been my favorite version so far. That cup has pumpkin juice in it, which was surprisingly good. 

This is the entrance to my Hagwon, it was raining that day.

That is a kidney stone I passed. You're welcome.

Matt