Daegu
The name Daegu means “Big Hill”. South Korea’s fourth largest city is a progressive city with a fascinating traditional medicine market, a historic central area, churches and missionary residences. The city is popular for exchange students and English teachers, giving it a young and carefree vibe.
Daegu is one of the few cities still offering an oriental medicine trade, and it’s home to one of the largest and oldest medicine markets in Korea. Yangnyeongsi Oriental Medicine culture center was established in 1993 and is spread over two floors. It shares historical facts about oriental medicine development and also presents various experience stations where you can learn about the approach to oriental medicine. Just below the center is the traditional medicine market.
As an added bonus, the cultural center had traditional korean hanbok. The hanbok is a 1600-year-old traditional dress, once worn daily but now only worn for special occasions. We of course, gave it a try!
When night falls, food vendors appear all around Seomun market. The historical market in the day time gets transformed into food lovers feast with the smell of sizzling beef, stir fried pork and grilled shrimp.
When it’s not 100 degrees, there are loads of things to do in the surrounding area. There’s the few on top of Apsan Mountain, or a trip to Mt Palgongsan and Donghwasa Temple. In our case, it was literally so hot and the cable car was closed, making these things for another visit.