Here in Daegu there is an organization called the Daegu Area Writers Group (yes, with the unfortunate acronym of DAWG. And I'm not even in GA any more...), and despite my hermitish tendencies, I thought it might be an interesting group to join. They met last Sunday, and although I'd actually intended to go, I ended up spending most of the day in bed with a headache. Their meeting for this weekend sounded less like a "meeting" and more like a kick-ass good time. Here's the description:
We'll meet in the Starbucks in the Dong-a Department Store in Jisan-dong, then go together for a little wander from there, to see big fountains, scary faces, a beer garden, tiny forests, giant buddhas, humungous chicken salads, miniscule frogs, and a bar built by goblins (or so it seems).
Sounds fun, huh? Well I thought so. Now, Jisan-dong is a long ass way from my area of Daegu, and neither of the two subway lines runs to that part of town. While there might be a way to get there by bus, I don't understand the Daegu bus system at all, so I figured that my best bet was to go by taxi. My taxi driver on the way there was really nice, and kept talking to me in Korea, even though I'm pretty sure it was clear to him that I didn't understand a word. (Reminiscent of Vanya!) He gave me some candy, which was very strange. Not bad, just completely different from anything I'd ever tasted before. It tasted a lot like Korean spice stores smell, if that means anything to any of you, and it left my mouth feeling fresh and spicy for hours. Wish I knew what it was! Having to take a taxi ended up running me roughly $8 one way, so that kind of sucked, but at least I got some candy out of the deal.
Anyway, I arrived at my destination a little early, wandered around the overpriced department store for a while, then settled down in Starbucks with a latte and began to wonder where the mythical DAWGies were. By 3:15 I was feeling pretty worried. Was I in the right place? I was pretty sure the email had said we were meeting *in* Starbucks, but as I'd neglected to bring the printout of the email with me (whoops!) I started to worry that perhaps I'd gotten the location wrong. Maybe we were meeting *outside* Starbucks? I went outside - no one there either. Shit. I'd brought along the phone number of the girl who'd organized the outing, but just as it occurred to me to call her, I began to wonder if perhaps the meeting wasn't Saturday but Sunday. I didn't want to be the dumbass calling to demand where the hell everyone was if the meeting was actually scheduled for Sunday, so I didn't call. Is it better to be stood up by an entire group, or to have shown up a day early? Sigh. I decided to make the best of the situation and went for a hike into the nearby woods.
The mountains were only two blocks or so from the Jisan-dong Dong-A Department Store, and I was lucky enough to easily find a park with a hiking trail heading up the side of the nearest mountain... and up I went. The hike was incredibly steep. As I have noticed before on previous trips to Korea, they never take the easy way up the mountain. While American hiking trails tend to wind their ways gradually uphill, Korean trails literally go straight up the side of whichever mountain upon which they're located. I'm also continually amazed by the ability of ancient little Ajummas and Ajoshis (grandmothers and grandfathers) to out-hike me on these near-vertical paths. It's not like I'm particularly atheletic, although I'm in pretty good shape. Yet today, as I have in the past, I found myself panting at the side of the path while a nimble old granny scuttled past. Ahh well.
I didn't know how long the trail was or where it went. Did this trail actually go *to* something? Or was it simply a path through the woods? Eventually, when I was drenched in sweat and feeling a bit exhausted, I decided to turn around. Of course, this was after I had discovered one somewhat-maintained tomb, and a field of overgrown tombs. I turned around and hiked back down the side of the mountain - let's just say going down was much easier! At the bottom of the hill was a small cultivated valley, filled with flowers and lots of small vegetable plots. I roamed around there for a while, then gave in for thirst and headed for home (alas, via another $8 taxi).
A glimpse of Daegu through the trees,
only about five minutes uphill.
A somewhat-maintained tomb
You can't tell what's here, but trust me -
there were several obvious tomb mounds in this clearing.
The trail was quite pretty.
More trail...
The cultivated valley.
That was the mountain I walked up the side of!
Jisan-dong from the valley
Flower...
Weird fuzzy purple flower
I liked this angle
When I got home, I reread the email about the Jisan-dong get-together. It didn't say either Saturday or Sunday... although as their last get-together was on a Sunday, probably this one is tomorrow as well. Silly me. Unfortunately, while I had a good time out there, and while the whole venture sounds interesting, I don't really think I'm up to trekking out to Jisan-dong two days in a row. Ahh well.
I'll leave you all with this odd bit o' Konglish
no, heart skull good?
3 comments:
I would be totally freaked out if I stumbled across a tomb. I'm sure there were probably like 10 million ghosts there or something.
do cemeteries freak you out? i mean, it's essentially the same thing.
Yeah, but cemeteries are advertised. If I came across a surprise cemetery I would probably be freaked out too.
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