Happy New Year!

Lots of video footage in this one.

If New Years Eve was any indication, then 2011 is going to be a very different year for me.  I unfortunately had to work until 9:00 on New Years Eve, but I was on the train at 9:45 and headed to Daegu.  The official Daegu celebration took place at a place called Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park.  It was pretty strange considering that there was a stage, a sound system and two big screens set up next to a traditional Korean bell tower.  When I arrived in Daegu, the event was already well on its way, but the area didn't really get packed until around 11:30.

Prior to the actual countdown they had singing...

They had dancing...

And they had these guys...

This might be my favorite picture from Korea so far...

Daegu is hosting the IAFF World Championships this summer, which are basically the Olympics in the years that the Olympics aren't held.  For some reason this has been chosen as the mascot.  I think it's pretty funny, but I'm not really sure why it qualifies as a mascot for athletics.

At midnight they rang the bell...

Which was followed by a laser light show...

And then the grand finale...

I actually ended up making it back to the train station to catch the 12:30 train home.  I know, not exactly a crazy New Years Eve, but I had to get up at 6:30 the next morning to catch a train up to Seoul.  I'm currently in Seoul and just arrived at my hostel, so I'm taking some time to refresh my legs a little bit before I head out to see what Seoul is all about at night.  I'll be posting about my trip when I get back on Tuesday night.  I'm also taking this time to upload my pictures onto flickr from my first two days in Seoul if you want to check those out.

Daegu ( 대구 )

Now we're finally getting to a place that has some real history.  Archeologists have discovered evidence that humans inhabited Daegu during the Mumun Pottery Period, which took place between 1500 and 300 BC.  However, the first written records of Daegu do not appear until the 3rd century AD.  Not much is known about Daegu prior to the Silla unification of the Korean peninsula, but excavations in what is now Dalseong Park ( 달성공원 ) revealed artifacts dating to this time period.  I haven't been there yet, but I will definitely go.  I also saw that the city was originally named Dalgubeol.  I had trouble finding the meaning of the word Daegu or Dalgubeol.  However, I did see that the name was changed from Dalgubeol to Dalbulseong and Dalguhwahyeo which mean great plane and great hill.  I believe the meaning of Daegu is similar, but I'm not positive. 

Daegu became the official name of the city in 757 while under control of the Silla ( 신라, which is actually pronounced Shilla ) Kingdom.  The Silla time period left behind some of the most popular tourist attractions, including Donghwasa Temple and Gatbawi.  After the Silla unification, the peninsula was split into three kingdoms during a time period called the Later Three Kingdoms Period.  Wang Geon of the Goryeo ( 고려 ) Dynasty succeeded in taking Daegu from Hubaekje Kingdom.  Wang Geon would in fact go on to unify the peninsula in the year 936.  The peninsula would then continue to stay united for over 1,000 years and the modern name Korea is actually derived from the name Goryeo.

The most well known artifact from the Goryeo period is the Tripitaka Koreana ( 팔만 대장경 or Palman Daejanggyeong).  The Tripitaka took 16 years to complete and is the largest collection of Buddhist scriptures written in Hanja (Chinese characters that were used by Koreans prior to the invention of Hangul).  The Tripitaka consists of 1,496 titles, 6,568 volumes, 81,340 wooden blocks, and 52,382,960 characters.  It is currently housed in Haeinsa Temple.

The first markets in Daegu were established during the Joseon (or Choson as I've been refering to it) Dynasty ( 조선왕조 ).  

During the Korean War, Daegu was right near the border of the Pusan Perimiter, but stayed under the control of South Korea throughout the entire war (Waegwan was actually directly on the border of the Pusan Perimiter).  Following the Korean War Daegu began expanding very rapidly and became a Metropolitan City in 1995.  It is currently the third largest metropolitan area in South Korea after Seoul and Busan.   

 I've had a blast in Daegu thus far.  Even though it doesn't have the size of Seoul or Busan, it still has loads of attractions, stores, and bars.  One gripe I've heard is that Daegu only has one downtown or party-type area, while Busan has five and Seoul has ten.  But if that one area is awesome, what does it really matter?  

The great thing about writing these blogs on history is that it's giving me ideas for places I want to visit in Daegu throughout the year.  Well thanks for reading and I hope you learned a thing or two.

I always thought my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean would be in California

Well technically I only saw the Korea Strait, but I'm counting it as close enough to the Pacific.  I traveled to Busan on Saturday to check out South Korea's largest coastal city.  As per usual, I didn't have too much of an idea about where I was headed when I got there, but I still got to see some beautiful sights and a couple of the iconic areas.

So my day started at 5:30 in the morning.  I caught the train out of Waegwan at 6:30 and arrived in Busan around 8:30.  And upon my arrival I was greeted with the soothing sounds of Let It Be on the gayageum ( 가야금 ).  Now I know I talked about this on facebook, but I liked it so much that I figured I would put it on my blog too.  Apparently KORAIL always plays that song at the last stop on the trip.  The gayageum is a Korean instrument with 12 strings that was originally thought to have been invented around around the 6th century in the Gaya Confederacy by King Gasil.  However, recent excavations in the southwest area of the Korean peninsula have revealed that it actually dates to the 1st century BC.  In addition, while traditional gayageums had 12 strings, modern versions generally have more than 12.

Gayageum - a 12 string zither

So I finally got out into the streets of Busan around 8:45 and wandered down to PIFF Square.  PIFF stands for Pusan International Film Festival (The original romanization of the city was Pusan, but it has now been changed to Busan).

There was some film memorabilia and a lot of people cramming into movie theaters at 9:30 in the morning. The Square was transformed into its current state in 1996 in preparation for the first Pusan International Film Festival.  The film festival is held in October of each year and is one of the largest film festivals in Asia.

From PIFF Square I headed down to Jagalchi Fish Market, which is the largest seafood market in Korea.  After getting over the stench of the place, I walked around and found pretty much every sea creature for sale by the various venders.  As was the case with Seomun Market in Daegu, I was really amazed by the gigantic size of the market.

Jagalchi Market Building - I love how the roof is shaped like seagulls

Some venders outside of the building

I was then on my way across Yeongdo Bridge to Yeong Island for a stroll along the coastline.  I didn't really see any famous sights along this walk, but I got some beautiful pictures.

And then I got completely lost.  I thought I was heading down to an area of the island called Taejongdae, but I somehow managed to end up at the Korea Maritime University.  I didn't even realize I was on a campus until I saw that about half the people were wearing Naval uniforms.  Nevertheless, I made the best of it and took some more pictures along the coastline.

I then had to catch a bus back to Busan Station to catch my 2:20 train so I could get back to Daegu to head out on the town with a couple people.  I went to dinner with one of my coworkers and had probably the spiciest meal I have ever had in my life.  Let me just say that Mexican food doesn't have anything on Korean food when it comes to spice.  We then headed to a place to pregame a little bit before heading out to a bar called Thursday Party.  It was a pretty nice bar with lots of foreigners.  I'm not really sure when bars in Korea actually close, but I left at like 3:45 in the morning and they were still going pretty strong.  I might end up staying out that late pretty often on the weekends because rather than take the last train to Waegwan at 12:30, why not just take the first one at 4:05?  I finally got back to my place around 4:45 and got to sleep around 5:15.  So all in all, I was awake for almost 24 hours straight and got to see the second and third largest cities in the same day.

That pot contains liquid fire, or as some people call it "fire water"

And some random photos that I though were amusing...

I really hope they know Guns N' Roses and have made Welcome to the Jungle this district's official song

Probably the best sign I've seen in Korea so far

I've found my hangout spot for the next year

I love Korea

A Little History and a Little Hangul

I figured as a follow up to some of my travel experiences I would take a little time to look up the historical significance of the places I have visited and try to figure out the translation from Hangul ( 한글 ) to English.  So for your enjoyment, or at least my own enlightenment, I present a short history and language lesson.

Seomun Market

The largest Korean traditional market in Daegu and the third largest in all of South Korea.  With over 4,000 shops you are bound to find pretty much anything.  I would have spent more time exploring the market if I had known it was this large.  I only saw a piece of it and I was still blown away by the number of shops. 

The name Seomun ( 서문시장 ) means "west gate" (seo or 서 means "west" and mun or 문 means "gate") and the origins of the market date back to 1669 during the Choson (or Chosun or Joseon depending on the translation) Dynasty.  The market began as a five day market that was positioned outside of the north gate of Daegu Fortress and was known as Daegu-jung market ( 대구중시장 ).  During the 1920's the market moved to the west gate and acquired its current position and name.  I believe the actual romanization of the name is Seomun Sijang.


Daegu Stadium and World Cup Museum

This stadium was completed in 2001 in preparation for the 2002 World Cup.  It hosted four matches, including a Group Round match between the U.S. and South Korea that ended in a 1-1 draw.  The name is currently Daegu Stadium ( 대구경기장 ), but prior to 2008 it was known as Daegu World Cup Stadium (  대구월드컵경기장 ).  대구 translates as Daegu, 월드 means World, 컵 means Cup, and 경기장 means stadium.  The stadium has a capacity of 68,000 and is currently home to Daegu FC of the Korea Professional Soccer League.

The stadium will host the IAAF World Championships this coming summer.


Gatbawi and Palgongsan

 

Palgongsan ( 팔공산 ), or Mt. Palgong (san or 산 means mountain), is a mountain located at the northeast corner of Daegu.  Pal ( 팔 ) is the number eight and the name Palgong references the eight generals who saved Wang-Geon, the founding king of the Goryeo kingdom.  Palgongsan is actually comprised of a number of different peaks (which means I will definitely be going back), with the highest peak being 1192 meters above sea level.  The mountain served as a sanctuary for Buddhist monks fleeing from persecution during the Choson Dynasty.

Gatbawi ( 갓바위) translates to "hat rock" ("gat" or 갓 means "hat" and "bawi" or 바위 means "rock"), which references the stone slab on top of the Buddha.  Gatbawi Buddha was originally known as Gwanbong Buddha because it is located atop Gwanbong peak and the official name for the statue is Gwanbong Seokjoyeoraejwasang ( 관봉석조여래좌상 ) and means Gwanbong sitting stone Buddha.

For those interested, 관 - Gwan, 봉 - bong, 석 - Seok, 조 - jo, 여 - yeo, 래 - rae, 좌 - jwa, 상 - sang.

However, the name Gatbawi Buddha is the most popular and well known.  Gatbawi Buddha is specifically known as the Buddha of Medicine and people will travel from all over Korea to pray for loved ones who have become ill.  

There are two popular legends connected to Gatbawi.  The first and most well-known is that this Buddha will grant one wish per person.  The second legend concerns the designer, Uihyeon.  It is said that he made the statue to appease his mother's soul and that a big crane flew to guard him every night while he was making it.  I couldn't find a definitive date on the creation of the statue, but it seems to be from between the 7th and 9th centuries.

I am going to try and write these sort of articles for most of the places that I visit.  I personally found this article really interesting to write and learned quite a bit.  I will be writing articles on the history of Daegu and Waegwan when I get the time.

Well I'm officially tired...

I did quite a bit of walking and hiking this weekend, but the pictures were definitely worth it.  I had a couple new experiences in that this was the first time I took the train to Daegu (only about 20 minutes), this was the first time I used a Korean subway system, and it was the first time I used the Korean bus system.  As for public transportation, I give the train and subway systems both A's, but the bus wasn't quite up to par.  Daegu was a pretty good city to start out in because it has an extremely simple subway system (even simpler than DC, which I didn't think was possible).  You really can't get much simpler than 2 lines that intersect at one station, but it gets the job done.

So Saturday I hopped on the train to Daegu in the late morning with absolutely no idea where I wanted to go our how to get anywhere.  It was kinda fun.  I got off at Daegu Station and literally just wandered for about an hour until I stumbled upon Seomun Market.  With over 4,000 shops it's pretty legit.

From Seomun Market I found a subway station and took it to Daegu Grand Park, which at the time I had no idea what that was but I thought it sounded like it could be pretty cool.  It actually turned out to be the location of Daegu's World Cup Stadium.

There was also a World Cup museum so it turned out to be a pretty cool trip.

On Sunday I headed back to Daegu to go to Palgongsan (Palgong Mountain) and see Gatbawi, which is a giant stone statue of Buddha.  I also found a pretty awesome temple on the way to the top of the mountain (Gatbawi is at the top).

                                  Staircase leading to one of the temples

                            Pretty awesome

                                 Gatbawi

                              Panorama view from the top of the mountain

Unfortunately, I accidently went down the opposite side of the mountain.  Now there very well may have been a bus to take you to the other side but I didn't see any and I obviously couldn't read any sign that said there was one.  So I decided to hike back up to the top and head down the other way.  Hence me being so tired while writing this.  And this was a pretty serious ascent.  The peak is about 1000 meters (or 2/3 of a mile) above the base of the mountain.

There were a couple funny things I noticed during the climb.  This one guy had a backpack with speakers and was blasting "My heart will go on" by Celine Deion.  I found it amusing.  I also heard "Like a G6" playing.  Again amusing.  Seriously, the amount of American influence here is pretty surprising.  I've seen a lot of New York shirts, a lot of American baseball hats, and our music seems to be pretty much everywhere.  Another weird thing I noticed was that street venders were selling roots on the mountain.  I couldn't really understand this.  I mean, who goes hiking and along the way says "I think I'd like to buy some roots on the way to the top".

But anway, I had a fun weekend.  I'm looking to head down to Busan (which is the second largest city in Korea) next weekend.  I also begin my third week of teaching tomorrow so it should be fun.