Another Trip to Palgongsan

Palgongsan is a mountain in North Daegu. If you're not a hiker, there's still plenty to do around the mountain and plenty of worthwhile things to see. Last Saturday, I spent the day visiting some of the places in the stamp book around that area. I went by myself since I couldn't convince Gianni to join me.

My first stop was the Otgol Village. The branch buses are really annoying, and I had to take a taxi to the village since I didn't want to wait for a long time. The village is an important historical site in Daegu. It is a simple village full of traditional Korean houses (hanoks). The hanoks were built by the Choi family, one of Daegu's oldest families. Throughout the years, the village has been the residence of many Confucian scholars and political figures. The most noteable house in the village is Gyeongju Choi's Head House. It is one of the oldest Joseon Dynasty-era structure in Daegu and was built around 1630. The architecture of the house shows how the ruling class living during that period. There is also a very old and well-preserved stone wall in the Otgol Village that has been proclaimed as a cultural heritage site by the city. I practiced my photography by taking pictures of the lovely flowers and plants that grew on the stone walls around the village. I also got to see some really adorable kids on a school field trip to the village for a history lesson. It was very relaxing just strolling around in the small village. I was able to catch the bus back to the subway area to go to the second location.





The next stop was a shrine to General Sin Sung-Gyeom, another historical site. General Sin Sung-Gyeom, serving under King Taejo, was instrumental in helping to unite Korea under the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392). The site marks the location of an important battle where the General died in 927. In this battle, King Taejo, who controlled the northern part of Korea during the Three Kingdoms Period, found Later Baekje, the ruler in south-west Korea. This was still just the beginning of the Goryeo Dynasty, so the kingdoms were not yet fully united. But King Taejo was, eventually, named the first king of the Goryeo Dynasty. In this particular battle, the King's army was surrounded, so General Sin Sung-Gyeom decided to sacrifice himself to save the King. The General happened to look a lot like the King, so the men exchanged armor and horses. The enemy forces then went after the General instead of the King. The General died, and there is a funeral mound in the historic site dedicated to him. The historic site is basically just a nice park with some traditional Korean buildings. It was a nice place to walk around. A few tour groups showed up there while I was visiting. I had to ask one of them to please call the number on the tourist information booth, so I could get my stamp. The woman attending the booth was out to lunch, so she came back, and I was able to get my stamp.

The third place I went to is probably the first thing people are interested in when they see a map of Daegu and the tourist locations. Daegu Safety Theme Park was built in order to teach the people of Daegu about what to do in emergency situations. It was built after a horrible train fire in 2003. A man set fire to the train car he was in, and, when it got to the next station, the train coming from the opposite direction also caught fire. About 200 people died in the fire. At that time, the driver was the only one who could open the train doors, so people got stuck in the train. Many people died from smoke inhalation in the subway too, since they couldn't find their way out. The train station where this happened is at the heart of downtown, and some of the stations in Daegu have multiple levels before you can actually get out. This particular one has an underground mall, which, I'm sure, made things more complicated. I didn't realize that the safety theme park is actually not a museum where you can look around on your own. You have to be brought around as part of a tour. If you want an English tour, you have to reserve it 2 days in advance, so I just went around with the Korean tour instead. First, you are brought to a small theater where you watch a recreation of the train fire, featuring a poor little girl who dies in the fire! It was actually a traumatizing video and borderline inappropriate. I feel like 10 years from now someone is going to make a video like this of the Sewol ferry accident to teach people about boat safety. Terrible. After that, you go into a room that is a recreation of the station platform with the actual burned-out train car behind a glass panel for you to look at.  I was really frightened by that as well. I couldn't stop thinking about the many people who actually died in there. Then, you go into a room with a typical train car, and the tour guide taught us how to open the doors manually and showed us some of the other safety features on the train. We then did a simulation where smoke begins to fill the car, and we have to open the doors and exit the simulated train station by following lights on the ground. It is actually a very interesting museum and one that Korea really needs. Korea has had many accidents over the years that were as tragic or more tragic than the one in Daegu--the Sewol ferry was not the first. The Korean government really needs to step up and enforce more strict safety regulations, but, until that happens, at least this museum educates the folks in Daegu about what to do in the event of an emergency of this nature. Behind the museum, there is an experience hall where you can actually shoot off fire extinguishers, but I wasn't able to do that as it only happens a few times per day.

Last week,  Gianni and I were really lame. We didn't go to taekwondo at all, and our Korean class on Thursday was cancelled because our teacher was sick. We did get a little bored towards the end, but we needed some time off.

Last weekend, I got to go to my first Korean wedding!

Jessie "holding court"

Jessie and Mr. Ahn during the ceremony