I woke up at 2:00 pm (Daegu time) on the rest day of the World Championships. I had nothing to do at my boring hotel so I decided to take a walk.

I soon ended up at the subway station and decided to go see downtown Daegu. Everyone around was very happy to guide me, so I did not get lost. When I first entered the subway car, an old man got up from his seat and insisted that I sit down. Those around said that I was a guest and that’s why I should sit, but I kindly and respectfully declined his nice gesture.

People beside me began talking to me with whatever little English they knew. I mentioned something that I wanted to buy and right away someone volunteered to show me where to find it.

Before it slips me, I must say that the subway here is very clean and very easy to use as long as you can count the number of stops you need to go.

Downtown Daegu opened up a whole new world for me. You see, my hotel is located in the old part of the city where ancient customs and traditions live on. Downtown on the other hand was brand new, fresh and had lots of western stores.

The first thing that I did was get my first decent I wanted to get into an Outback steakhouse). It was good to taste food that I knew.

The streets had a fair number of people, but I was told that if I really wanted good deals on purchases, I needed to go ‘underground’. I soon found an escalator that took me to the ‘underground’ shopping area and I was surprised.

The ‘underground’ was jam packed with shoppers and there were countless stores to choose from. It was like an entire world under all the fancy stores above ground. Once again, everything was nice and clean. Merchants were willing to bargain with you on prices. ‘Down under’ was so big that I had to be very careful not to get lost.

But on my return journey to the hotel, I got off the subway one stop too soon and nearly got lost, but going ‘down under’ in Daegu was really a nice adventure.