A Day in Daejeon

Daejeon is located 104 miles from Seoul and midway going Busan and is the 5th largest city in South Korea. It serves as a hub of transportation as well as administration with the National Government Complex.

And we had a day to not just see what's in there but to meet family...

We hit the subway and traced Main Station for the bullet train they called Korail KTX.  Glad to see Dunkin Donuts on the station and some other familiar food shops.

Our taxi from the train station where cousin fetched us after the 55-minute 300kph smooth-ride. It was Sunday so we joined their church and yes, that choir leader there is the cousin I am talking about.

And so we drove around the quiet neighborhood, got lost despite the GPS until we finally reached this massive park - PPuri.

Ppuri Park is the only park constructed in theme of filial piety, and it is devoted to tracing the origins of 136 Korean surnames, which are engraved on stone sculptures. It hosts Ppuri cultural festival annually.

Also it has Korea family tree museum which exhibits the tree system, history of Korean family tree, and family tree of previous dynasties.

There are also hiking trails, a tree garden, a recreational forest, a wildflower garden and a calm lake. The kids were not able to resist the duck boats so we paddled away.

Our lunch at 2pm on their favorite local restaurant - bbq with unlimited serving of side dishes. Capped it off some sweet dessert nearby c/o Baskin & Robbins.

We decided to spend the rest of the day chillax-ing at my cousin's crib located few miles away from downtown. 

Realizing it was a Sunday - students and employees studying/working in Seoul hit the road before the Monday madness thus, the train gets really full, we had to leave the house around 6pm. Indeed, the station was crowded, we only got standing slots (few bucks less than assured seats). The train left Daejeon after 2 hours of lounging in the station.

Tired and sleepy, we arrived again back in KTX main station after 55 minutes.  But it didn't mean we'll have to miss dinner :). McD serves fantastic bulgogi and chicken wrap. nomnom

As we trained back to the hotel, this is the scene. These are street "bars" present for a nightly bottles of booze but closes come midnight. We were too tired to try it out yet it looked fun and very interesting.

Visited: November 2011