I had a 9:56 train to Daegu from Seoul, so though I woke up early, I didn’t have a lot of time to putter around in the morning. After a cup of coffee, I packed my stuff up and rushed to the bus stop around 7:30 hoping the morning commuters were still eating their breakfasts. The bus was not crowded, and got me to the station by 8.
I immediately went to a Dunkin Donuts and hung out for about an hour. Though still too early to board, I was having trouble staying focused, so I starting browsing the shops to see if I could grab a salad to eat on the train (which would take 4 hours). None of the shops in the train station sold anything other than junk food and rice balls, and even the closest convenience store outside of the train station didn’t have what I was looking for. I guess two donuts would be enough to tide me over.
Trains in Korea are such a different experience than in China. You don’t have to go through a metal detector or put your luggage through an X-ray machine. There is no ticket check, there is just a marking on the floor indicating that you are entering the “paid area” and it is totally on your honor. The train was pretty empty, though, as it stopped a dozen times, people got on and off. As we were leaving Seoul, a conductor walked down the aisle looking at his handheld device and glancing at where people were sitting. He asked to see the tickets of some people, who it turned out, were sitting in the wrong car, but otherwise he was just checking that the occupied seats were so marked in the computer system.
The last twenty minutes of the trip were very crowded with a lot of people on “standing tickets.” I almost got off at the wrong station, when we stopped at Daegu (I needed to go to Daegu East), but I caught myself in time. Once again, to get off the train and exit the station there is no check (unlike China where you have to show your ticket or even Japan where you go through subway station style turnstile). I headed to the Starbucks in the Shingasae department store to meet my classmate. I got their first and ordered a coffee to wait. Since drip would have taken five minutes to make, I asked for an Americano, but it still took ten minutes to come out. Dammit Starbucks, you have one job — fast coffee. My friend’s baby wouldn’t stop staring at me, and I guess we’ll be communicating in English, which feels weird after years of speaking in Chinese.
I’m staying in a “spare” apartment in an office tower. Oh god, it’s like heaven, especially after the hellish conditions of that last hostel. After a month on the road, it is really nice to be able to spread out, leave my stuff in the bathroom, and not use earphones.
I found a largish supermarket to stock up on food and saw four different groups of foreigners at the grocery store. So weird. Bread, peanut butter, coffee beans, eggs, ramen, soju, two salads, salad dressing. I haven’t left the apartment since (some 40 hours later). I finished Iron Fist, watched a bunch of Youtube videos, and have otherwise been relaxing.
| Dunkin Donuts | 6000 W |
| Train Ticket | 21100 W |
| Starbucks | 4100 W |
| Groceries | 40420 W |
| Total: | 71620 W (433.3 RMB) (USD 64.7) |
Running Total:
8071.3 RMB
(USD 1205)
Daily Average:
252.2 RMB
(USD 37.66)