Our last 3 days in Daegu

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Date Wednesday 25th August 2010
City Daegu
Climate Low 21c - high 24c Fine and sunny then a thunderstorm
The day dawned a bit cooler with an overcast day today. We can always tell what the weathers doing without even getting out of bed due to the fact that we always have our Chinese laundry strung between the open curtains of our room!
Today was orienteering, with Shaun “The Navman” DC trying his hand at it for the first time. He was going to go in the team event but his partner didn’t show, so he was going to have to get lost on his own! Good turnout for the event with approx 15 in the novice category. It wasn’t until the briefing that the organisers revealed that it was a ‘sprint’ race over a short course of 2.3kms. Does that just mean that you can get lost quicker? Shaun drew the short straw of starting first so had a camera stuck in his face as he sprinted off into the wild unknown. Using his cunning skills he slowed down abruptly once he was out of sight! Under 20 minutes and 13 way-points later he crossed the finish line, ecstatic to have made it back to civilisation alive. He had the fastest time but alas, he had missed a way-point somewhere out in the wilderness, meaning that he was disqualified. Very enjoyable and recommended, but maybe not in 35’C heat!

Jennie stayed back at base and established this travel blog - catching up on almost two weeks worth of content. Then for a break went to the gym.

Once Shaun returned from his adventure we went to the nearby markets but surprisingly were not open (approx 8pm) The information we had said they'd be open until 10pm. Not the first time that English translation cannot be depended upon. Not being able to explore the Seoumen Markets we went off to find a place for dinner. We ate at a Korean Fusion restaurant near the hotel called Ponte. Drank wine for the first time in Korea! A very enjoyable, relaxing night out.

Date Thursday 26th August 2010
Climate Low 21c - high 33c Fine and sunny

Today was the TFA event for the Grand Masters and we wanted to see Thomas ‘Opa’ and Steve McSweeney compete. They were due to do their event around 11am, so we called past the markets on the way there. Fascinating with over 20,000 merchants. We only saw a portion of the markets but gave us a feel for the variety and range of merchandise and produce available. The only thing we bought was a small bag of biscuit products. Things like wafers and tiny pastries. We expect some restaurants may purchase these for making desserts and the like. It was another very hot day, but thankfully not as bad as previous days.
The TFA competitors had a hard time but we saw some great times from the older guys - very impressive.
After we left the event area we caught a cab back to the hotel where Shaun went to the gym and Jennie explored the shopping streets nearby. The clothes are very small and not cheap unless in a sale. If clothes are on sale they a reluctant to let you try anything on, so given that and weight restrictions on the luggage, it was an easy decision not to buy anything!
Tonight was the next host country event at the EXCO centre. Australia is hosting the next Games in Sydney in 2012 so they put on a large buffet style dinner and plenty of Jacob’s Creek pink bubbles! They did try to import Aussie beer for the event but were denied, so the beer was local - but being free it got readily drunk by the large thirsty crowd. In typical kiwi fashion we were kicked out of the ballroom when the cleaning up began around midnight. Off to bed around 1pm, conscious of our early start the next morning for the Treasure Hunt!

Date Friday 27th August 2010
City Daegu
Climate Low 24c - high 34c Mostly fine and sunny, a little rain
Treasure Hunt day! We had entered with Kala and Shane and we were rearing to go with maps, walkie talkies, water bottles etc at the ready! Alas, none was required. It was more like a city tour - so nothing like the “Amazing Race” that we were geared up for!
We think that the organising team may have been asked to put together a day of seeing the Daegu “treasures”! This they did very well - an ancient village that is still being used today 400 years later, the Museum, the sports memorabilia museum and the Daegu Stadium. Very informative and well worthwhile. It was just a pity that due to the lack of “competition” - they ended up resorting to the odd game of skill and eventually drawing the medal winners out of a hat! Oh well, it wasn’t going to be a medal day for us - but we enjoyed seeing things around Daegu we wouldn’t have probably seen otherwise. There were many annoyed teams but we made the most of it .

Being our final night we decided to go out for dinner and we were keen on a Korean BBQ style restaurant. In the end we went to a Canadian place called the Holy Grill. Excellent cocktails and “comfort food”.

Then home to bed as we had to get up at 5am to embark on our day or travelling to Beijing.

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