my city daegu 대구

I was born and raised in Durban, went to boarding school in Pietermaritzburg, studied and worked in Cape Town before making my real bold move to Daegu, bringing my tally of cities I have lived in, to 4 (although Pietermaritzburg is closer to being a big town than a city).  I have loved every city I have lived in for different reasons but today I want to share a little bit about – my current sweet heart, Daegu.

With the exception of Cape Town,  the cities I have lived in are hardly famous for tourism but rather better suited for living long term than visiting as a tourist.  I have heard that about several other famous cities – and personally experienced the same feeling with the likes of Glasgow.  And while I did enjoy my short visit there very much, I didn't feel catered for as a tourist as much as, say sister Edinburgh up the road. But anyone and everyone I have met from Glasgow – swears by it as being a great city to live in and I understand, sometimes cities are better suited for long term stay than short term travel. 

outside Edinburgh Castle, Scotland many moons ago :)

It was undoubtedly a big relief to find out that I was being placed  in the 3^rd biggest city in Korea (you can nominate preference but its not guaranteed). I hadn't done much by way of research before coming here, after all Korea is probably the least most spoken about country to visit in comparison to the other Asian Tigers. With Asian culture and language being so different, I was excited for the adventure but still wanted the security nest of big city/cosmopolitan type living as opposed to the smaller countryside scene, especially after working in corporate and living in the same apartment for 4 years; I was kind of set in my ways and didn’t want to disrupt my comfort zone too much (please don’t judge). In Daegu, I got just that: the best of both worlds.

Here is why I love Daegu:

I love the excellent transport system:

The longest I have to wait for any bus is 20 min and that's on a bad day (on my route in particular, the average is about 8 minutes) not to mention the subway that runs till midnight which I can hop on every 3 to 4 minutes.

Daegu only has 2 subway lines (3^rd one in progress) compared to the capital, Seoul, which has 14 lines. In Daegu this means less subway transfers (gosh those are irritating) since the transport system is designed to get me from one side of the city to the other side with one transfer (subway) and/or to bus in one fare mind you. Meaning the city is big enough to warrant frequent and safe transport but still small enough to get to the other side of the city without writing off half the day.

subway approaching at manchon station :)

Great selection of coffee houses:

A rainy day in the city inspired some bad poetry about this.  From huge coffee houses (franchises) like Coffea Coffee and Starbucks, to the less known, right around the corner and cozy shops, like Aellia and Café Knoll, I love them all the same. Daegu will surprise you with its selection, it will blow your green tea Asian stereotype right out of the water. 

The Food

There are obviously tons of Korean restaurants, seeing as though we are in Korea, that I have grown to love serving the locals after a hard days work. In fact one of my top 3 favourite restaurants in the city is Korean, and serves the best Dolsot (Hot stone) Bibimpap (rice and vegetable mix) ever.  There is also a diverse range of Western restaurants from Italian to Indian right through to Mexican; I can sample food from all over the world, only a few kilometres from my door step.

marinated duck with veg on heated pan - cook at the table- yum yum

The People

People from Daegu are significantly different from the rest of the nation so much so that they even have their own dialect of speaking. Some know enough English to hold a conversation over lunch, but also little enough for you to have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks, sign language to order food and get to throw in a few key Korean words you have learnt, put them into good use.  It makes you feel like you are still experiencing the real Korea – unlike Seoul for example, where you might try to place your order in your bad Korean and they respond in fluent English.  As much as that is convenient it can also be disappointing because you don’t feel authentically immersed in the language and subsequently culture, you might as well be at Mugg and Bean at the V&A Waterfront- I don’t want to come all the way here to feel like that.

Downtown, this and that

So colourful, so bright, great vibe. I don’t need much more than that really. Shops are open till late, with the added delight of 24 hour coffee shops mean that we don’t have to cut our conversation short, not to mention shops open for the midnight munchies – no more “sorry the kitchen is closed”.  Daegu has an athletics stadium (big enough to have hosted World Cup soccer games back then and more recently the IAAF championships), it has a baseball stadium, museums, markets, parks, amusement park, mountains to hike, a river to cycle by and my treat, a 4D cinema house. All the makings of a great city I would say.

Daegu Stadium - Opening ceremony of IAAF Championships 2012

mountains to hike

rivers to cycle by

As you can see, the stuff I love is not really what touristy cities are made of; no famous landmark to see or a beach-side breeze keeping summer temperatures cool. So what if we don't get all the music stars or musicals that I love. It’s the everyday things, which make it a great city to live in for me. Daegu, is all I need, for now at least. 


Final thoughts: 
Seeing as though we can't all be or want to be New York-ers, what do you love about your current city or hometown?