Last weekend, I finally ventured forth from Andong after 2 months. Perhaps it was just being in a city, but it filled me with a vibrancy that I had been missing. Andong is a beautiful place and more metropolitan than I thought upon moving here, but Deagu, to me, was a proper city- namely because it had a real subway system and night life.
It was cheaper than the taxi to get to the bus station, with incredibly comfortable red pleather seats and fast wifi. Along the way I saw some stunningly beautiful landscapes for the next hour. We arrived in DongDaegu Bus Terminal, where we easily got onto the subway system and to our destination within ten minutes. It was such a comforting sensation to get onto a real metro system. It reminded me of an airport trolley system as there was no clear access to the tracks- a glass wall separated the tracks from the platform and sliding glass doors allowed your entry.
Furthermore, the entire system worked off of plastic tokens which you would swipe upon entry and deposit upon exit- easy. It also was only a little over a dollar for a ride to anywhere. Just like any transportation system in Korea, there was free wifi on every car. We got out at the most central station and I was bowled over upon exiting. I was in a city!
I truly missed that sensational overload. It was a little eerie to go from two months of being the only foreigner in a bar to seeing no Koreans, but I was willing to forgo those feelings for nachos, mixed drinks, burgers and fried pickles. After several hours, we finally decided to move on. At this point, our other Andong friend, Danny, had met up with us and we left the bar to make our way.
I was confident in my two friends as they had been here before and talked of the ease of movement. It was misplaced confidence. We spent the next hour wandering around a shopping district while my two tour guides confidently got us lost.
