I got this map from a bookshop in the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, during my trip there in August 2015.
I'll try to get some better photos soon; I'm waiting for a meeting now, and my attention was drawn to this.
If you have any questions or particular things you want to see, let me know.
Look at this view from Daegu's Bullo-dong Tomb Park and tell me why anyone would drag themselves to Gyeongju for a small handful of overexposed tombs -- AKA, history humps.
Bullo-dong Tomb Park (불로동고분공원). (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Dating from just before Gyeongju's most famed Silla-era tombs, Daegu's Bullo-dong tombs are as scruffy and rakishly lovable as Daegu itself. Plus, there are over 200 of the damned things to see. Pack a picnic basket and enjoy perhaps the most beautiful sunset view the city has to offer.
It's also very lovely after nightfall. I can't say I've seen a ghost there, but if I wanted to find one, I'd start at Bullo-dong Tomb Park. I saw a black-speckled white bunny once, and it may have been an ancient mountain spirit, who knows?
This is mostly selfish, I think, but as someone writing a travel memoir of Daegu (and Korea overall), I'd be happy to share whatever information and experiences I can about the city with people who are curious to visit. It's not a top-tier destination in Korea -- Seoul, Busan, and Jeju have that market cornered -- but there's a lot to discover and appreciate all the same.
I mean, how could I write a book about Daegu otherwise, right?
If you're looking for some off-the-beaten-trail options for your Korea trip, or if you live in Korea and just want to see what Daegu's about, or if you live in Daegu and don't quite get it yet, let me know.
Quick tip: Daegu's best and most underappreciated site and activity is a sunset picnic at Bullo-dong Tomb Park. Two hundred-plus ancient burial tombs on a hillside, and I can't say for sure there are ghosts, but if I wanted to find some, I'd start there.
I'm sorting about my books, and I have 200 or so. There are a few dozen that I don't want anymore. They're all in English.
What can I do with them? Is there a local library in Daegu that accepts donations? Any schools?
I know Aladin [sic] will selectively purchase used books, but honestly I'd rather not bother selling something to them for 2,000 won so they can resell it for 10,000.
There used to be book swap events, but that was before the pandemic.
Ooh, what a Tomica! This red Morris Mini looks great!
I saw it on the shelf at a Toys R Us here in Daegu, South Korea, yesterday and couldn't say no. I love how they captured the boxy curves but also the delicate grill details. It's sitting here next to my laptop, and I keep picking it up just to admire it.
I paid 8,900 KRW ($5.71 USD or 901 JPY) and I think that's fine. No complaints.
There's a green variant too, but this red one looks much cooler.
I'm new to Tomica collecting, so I wasn't sure what the deal was when I saw some Toys R Us exclusives earlier today.
Are they exclusive prints/colors or what? I'm in Korea, and we still have a few TRUs here.
Big selection of Tomica stuff (the photo here is maybe half), though I need to get back to Japan ASAP, probably in September. ^^
Where in Korea might someone commission a large foam-bodied mascot costume?
Daegu's slogan now is "Powerful Daegu," but that's boring. It used to be "Colorful Daegu," and I think we need a frantic, chaotic mascot downtown to bring back the city's colorful charm.
I'm willing to go out of pocket for this, but it could also be a crowdfunded opportunity to create a mascot to raise money for local charities and promote tourism. Either way.
I have an idea of crowdfunding a playful, silly mascot for foreigners in Daegu, and it could also be good to promote the city overall. It's ridiculous but also has great potential.
Japan, as many people know, has mascots for all kinds of things, from local governments to niche hobbies like cycling and hiking. And yes, Korea has mascots too -- but does any Korean mascot have the energy of Chiitan?
This is the most Colorful Daegu non-Daegu thing I've ever seen.
No city in Korea but Daegu has the energy to power a cute foam chaos like this. The foreign community should put its heads together to come up with the perfect mascot that blends the expat experience and local verve, and we need to suit and up send our avatar out into the city.
I'm mostly serious about this.
"World Heritage Candidates No. 4: Upo Wetland" (Korea.net)
Changnyeong's Upo Wetland is among Korea's 12 candidates for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The nature preserve is famous for its crested ibises, but the diverse and lush flora make Upo home to many aquatic animals as well as migratory birds.
The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will meet in Busan in July.
A crested ibis, Upo Wetland's iconic bird species. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)
"Choo Kyung-ho elected Daegu mayor, retains conservative stronghold" (Korea Times)
Bucking a nationwide trend toward liberal politics, Choo Kyung-ho of the conservative People Power Party won Daegu's mayoral race after securing 53.92% of votes cast earlier this week.
Choo vowed to put the economy first, which, if history is a guide, will ultimately mean massive tax break incentives to major corporations balanced by cuts to social programs and other things that might actually want anyone to consider moving to or staying in Daegu.
Choo Kyung-ho annoying everyone on the street during election season. (Source: Yonhap)
I thought this video was interesting. Food for thought, at least.
On one hand, it's just another video predicting South Korea's collapse. But on the other hand, it's a new perspective, and the issue's not going away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMGrRc1LjU8&list=WL&index=4
(And yeah, at 01:21, that's North Korean currency for some reason.)
I live in Korea and visit Japan from time to time. I often buy Tomica Japanese trains as souvenirs, and for some reason, after returning from Osaka last week, I've caught the collecting bug.
Can anyone recommend places where I can buy Tomica die-cast vehicles in Korea? I'm looking for retail locations, not online.
Both Emart and Artbox have small selections of stuff, and those are fun to browse. But I'd happily spend my weekend traveling to other places to check things out.
I'm in Daegu, for what it's worth.
I'm looking for American comics in Osaka. Not trade paperbacks or omnibuses but single issues, preferably older comics. Mostly I just like to browse, though I do pick up issues I remember from ahes ago.
I'm not looking in any particular area of the city, and I'm willing to go to surrounding areas, too.
"Daegu braces for 34 degrees as early summer heat grips South Korea" (Korea Herald)
Even for Daegu it's unseasonably warm. Rain later in the week is expected to bring cooler temperatures, but that's just delaying the inevitable: summer is coming to Daegu. Heaven help us.
The article covers most of the bases regarding the declining number of E-2 visas being issued in Korea. Shockingly low wages, punitive/exploitive/illegal contracts, restrictive employer-held visa conditions, a weakening KRW, and on and on.
And it could simply be that the appeal of Korea is waning. I've known more than a few hagwon owners who brag that they can have their pick of dozens of young people who don't care about anything as much as having the chance to stay in Korea. But even that's drying up now, it seems.
Daegu Arts Center Art Museum, in Duryu Park, will host the traveling exhibition Andy Warhol: The Business of Art from July 3 to October 25 this year. Early bird tickets are on sale now for 14,000 won. The exhibition includes roughly 300 items from the collection of Warhol scholar Paul Maréchal.
For more information, check out the Arts Center website: daeguartscenter.or.kr.
A few years ago, I spent one Saturday traveling to various parts of Daegu, looking at what was distinct in each neighborhood but mostly just as an excuse to each the mandu I could find. I ended up eating five kinds (with a swiftly diminishing enthusiasm, as you might recognize if you've ever tried downing more than one serving of mandu!):
-At Seomun Market, I had Daegu's iconic crispy napjak mandu (납작만두).
-Near Namsan Station, on the monorail, I tackled a serving of cannonballs otherwise known as wang mandu (왕만두).
-Down near Jincheon Station, a small shop on a side street served up its specialty, namunip mandu (나뭇잎만두) -- my favorite.
-Back up to Dongseongno and the landmark Taesan Mandu restaurant for its signature gun mandu (군만두).
-And finally, a stop at Kimbap Cheonguk, one of the very, very, very few orange restaurants* left downtown (and since then, now gone), for a humble but delightful little box of mul mandu (물만두) to go.
*I'm not sure how common this term is, but it refers to those bunsik places (Kimpasa, Kimbap Cheonguk, &c.) that all used to have orange as the main color on their storefronts. I'm not aware of them ever actually having an orange on the premises.
If anyone would like to recreate this "mandu crawl" with me and a few others, get in touch!
Napjak mandu (납작만두) at Seomun Market. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
So crispy, so oily, such beauty. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
The wang mandu (왕만두) hatchery. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Wang mandu (왕만두) near Namsan Station. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Gogi wang mandu (고기왕만두), to be exact. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Namunip mandu (나뭇잎만두) near Jincheon Station. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
More like a crime scene than a tasty snack in the park. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Thick and oil -- gonna need some spice and salt on that. (Source: Mike Sizemore/Where is Daegu?)
Long story short, I did some time snooping around the Unification Church and its ways in Daegu ages ago. Sincheonji, too, and 하나님교회.
The most disturbing thing? This barley-based drink the Unification Church is invested in.
I see it everywhere, but I never see anyone drinking it. It's disturbing. The only thing that gets close to it is Milkis.
I live in East Asia and have been here since February 2011. Haven't stepped foot on any American territory since I left. No reason why -- that's just how things are.
But sometimes when I can't sleep at night, I think about where I'm from -- small-town WV -- and in particular I think of pepperoni rolls. And when people ask what's famous about WV, I say pepperoni rolls, man, pepperoni rolls.
Outsiders can laugh all they want, but Mountaineers know. A pepperoni roll is everything. When you're six hours into a long-ass drive from Charleston to Martinsburg or from Wheeling to Matewan, that dozen of cheap pepperoni rolls from Go-Mart is everything.
Stop a second and count your blessings that you're from a state that has pepperoni rolls at the center of its heritage.
It's been 15 years or more since I had one, but as I said, I still lie at night thinking about them.
"Promoting voter turnout for June 3 elections" (Yonhap News)
"Election officials promote voter participation during a parade held at E-World in the southeastern city of Daegu on May 10, 2026, ahead of the June 3 local elections."
