The other day I was driving with a colleague and we passed what looked intriguingly like a lake. On inquiring, I was told that it is – a man-made lake called Suseong Mot (pond, lake). As artificial as it sounds, I’ve always been a fan of dams and lakes, particularly those surrounded by gardens and with beautiful fountains. Terribly unsophisticated but sometimes the great joy of life is taking pleasure in the simple things. So, on Saturday afternoon, I set off to find Suseong Lake.
The first challenge was, as usual, figuring out how to get there. The Daegu tourism site was no help but thankfully the Galbijim wiki (the best source of info I’ve found) provided a list of buses that go to the lake. I wrote them down and headed off to the bus stop to see if any of them also passed by my stop. With great timing, the 564 bus from the list arrived almost immediately so I climbed aboard and headed off on another adventure.
I’d only seen the lake once, of course, so the next challenge was where to get off. It turns out, you can’t see the water at all from the side where the bus was driving, but I thought the area looked familiar so, when the bus turned off that road heading in another direction, I decided to take a chance, figuring that I could get the next bus if I wasn’t able to find it.
Heading up the road, I came across a huge crab statue mounted on a wall. By huge I mean more than a metre across and over a metre high, mounted about a metre up the wall outside what I can only assume is a crab restaurant (this being the place where beef restaurants have pictures of cows on the signs and fish restaurants have tanks of fish outside). Honestly the stuff of nightmares.
Moving swiftly along, I crossed the main road and found myself looking up at a raised area, with some stairs to reach it. Next to me, slung between two lampposts was a sign that said Daegu FC and something in Korean. I could also see lights and suddenly I wondered if I’d accidentally found the home-ground of the local soccer club, instead. I walked up the path and climbed the stairs and there, nestled below the mountain peaks stretching into the clear blue sky, shimmering in the Summer sunshine, was the lake.
Suseong Lake is a roughly oval shaped body of water with fountains in the middle and an island off to one side. All around the edge is a perfectly kept, broad path for walking, scattered with benches to sit and think, and lined with lampposts and flowering shrubs. Each lamp post also doubles as a speaker streaming music. The music was bad Korean renditions of such pop masterpieces as the Titanic theme song and ‘Then I got High’ but it was thankfully relatively quiet. Music played through a speaker system seems to be a standard part of the Daegu park experience. It’s certainly different and something that may take a while to get used to. I’m working on ignoring it as much as possible in the meantime.
The place where I’d joined the path around the lake was wonderfully sunny and I found a bench and just sat and watched the fountains for a while. Along the path, couples strolled slowly, hand in hand , friends walked chatting and one or two people in exercise clothes powered their way. I saw a Korean teenager pick a daisy and tenderly slide it behind his girlfriend’s ear. The fountains and the flowers were both beautiful and the sun was glorious.
One of the distinctive features of this lake is Duckboats. A lot of bodies of water in the middle of cities have boats for hire. Zoo Lake, for example, where couples have been taking romantic outings to row on the lake for years. These boats are powered by foot-pedal but the concept is roughtly the same. They are also shaped like ducks. Duckboats. The lake was dotted with couples and families paddling happily around. And exhausted pedlars recovering their breath in the shade of the little island.
After watching for a while, and soaking up some much-needed sun, I set off to wander around the lake. After a time, I saw on my left a play-ground area, with basketball and tennis courts and children chasing pigeons. Families also sat around on benches. What looked like an ice-cream van was parked on the road just near the playground area selling slushies and candy-floss and popcorn. At the end of the lake, just in the slightly more shady area, I was a little bemused to see a stretch in the middle of the path that looked like someone had taken smooth pebbles and cemented them end-up into the ground, until I saw someone take off his shoes and walk along the pebbles. They’re obviously meant to be good for your feet. When I tried walking on them, the did feel quite good, even through my shoes. This part of the lakeside is dotted with tall trees making it a pleasant place to sit or walk in the dappled sunshine.
The lake also has some real ducks, as well as the many habituated pigeons (and the duckboats, of course). It was good to see some birds. The birdlife in Daegu seems to be a little thin on the ground, I suppose because it’s so built up. The ducks raced around on the water and followed me as I walked, clearly hoping that I’d brought some bread. It reminded me of feeding ducks at places like Zoo Lake all those years ago. Clearly ducks are the same wherever you go.
On the far-side of the lake, I found rows of duckboats moored to a small jetty, so I could get a closer look. The roof is shaped like a duck, painted white and with a duck-head. Below this are plastic seats for two to four people and open sides where you can reach out your hands, like windows onto the water. All the people I saw in duckboats were wearing life jackets, so I assume that life jackets are madatory. There were also groups of people sitting at plastic chairs and tables set in the shade of some trees, with beer and peanuts and various other bits and pieces (picked things and eggs, for example) from the little stall of a lake-side vendor, enjoying the afternoon. At one of the duckboat hire places, I saw the kind of bar that in any other place would be a typical backpacker’s slightly dodgy beach bar. A lake-bar, I suppose.
There was also outdoor exercise equipment. Almost every park I’ve been to in Korea has exercise equipment. The machines are pretty much the same as those you’d find in a gym except that they’re just sitting there in the open for anyone to use. Most of the time, the only people on them are children playing in the parks but this time I did see a few elderly Koreans doing sit-ups and crouches at some of the machines.
At one point the path leaves the lake-side and merges with the pavement of the road that runs along the shore in order to go around a building. I’m not completely sure, but I think the building is some sort of fancy restaurant. The area around that side of the lake seems to be fairly upmarket. I stopped on the pavement to take a look around and there, across the road, was a coffee and pasta place called ‘Kenya’. My experience of Korea is that most people here have limited knowledge and really no experience of Africa, so it’s always gratifying to find somewhere named for an African country, even if the link is that Daegu has recently developed a taste for coffee, so that their interest is limited to coffee-producing nations. I had a great cup of Tanzanian coffee at a place called ‘Cafe Africa’ today.
As I meandered on, I watched the people. A man walking along, watching his little son run backwards and forwards chasing a magpie. An elderly gentleman taking his constitutional. A group of Korean Gogos having a picnic on a blanket and – I’m pretty sure although I can’t be certain – gambling over a boardgame. At the end of the lake, a small structure with whisteria growing up the pillars and over the roof was the gathering place for the grandfathers’ Saturday afternoon gambling over their own boardgames. There was also a roofed platform on the water, where you could hire more duckboats or by the looks of it take short tours on a slightly larger boat, or simply get something to eat or have a drink at the bar. On rails were rows of life-jackets drying in the sun.
As I rounded the end of the lake, I came upon the small amusement park (Suseong Park) next to the lake. The sounds were so familiar – the music of the rides, the shouts of children and that same ringing bell of the small amusement-park train that you hear at Gold Reef City. There were children enjoying some of the rides but it didn’t seem too busy and the merry-go-round was still. There was also a plane. A whole 737-sized plane parked right there in the amusement park, which I later discovered is a restaurant, although the food is apparently appropriate to the aeroplane setting.
Looking back across the lake, I could see the Beommul-dong area (I think) across the blue, blue water, nestled between tree-covered mountain peaks and looking quite beautiful in the sunshine. At one point the breeze died down and the fountains had stopped and I could even see the white buildings and the trees and the duckboats reflected in the water. There are times, particularly looking across water on a sunny day, where time seems to stand still and everything is wonderfully, beautifully calm. This was a little like that. Perfect late Summer afternoon sunshine, blue water dotted with the occasional duckboat and nowhere to be and nothing to do but stand still and enjoy the moment.
After a while, I headed back to the road and caught the bus back home, happy with an afternoon of exploring and many, many pictures. Oh, I also managed to buy a pair of shoes. I’ve been meaning to buy some for a while after two of the three pairs I brought with me died and the third is nearing its last legs, but I haven’t managed to find any that weren’t extortionately ‘designer’. On the way to the Lake, on the bus, we passed a shoe-shop having a sale, so on the way home, I popped in and found a nice, cheap pair of shoes that fits (Extra Large).
The other day I was driving with a colleague and we passed what looked intriguingly like a lake. On inquiring, I was told that it is – a man-made lake called Suseong Mot (pond, lake). As artificial as it sounds, I’ve always been a fan of dams and lakes, particularly those surrounded by gardens and with beautiful fountains. Terribly unsophisticated but sometimes the great joy of life is taking pleasure in the simple things. So, on Saturday afternoon, I set off to find Suseong Lake.
The first challenge was, as usual, figuring out how to get there. The Daegu tourism site was no help but thankfully the Galbijim wiki (the best source of info I’ve found) provided a list of buses that go to the lake. I wrote them down and headed off to the bus stop to see if any of them also passed by my stop. With great timing, the 564 bus from the list arrived almost immediately so I climbed aboard and headed off on another adventure.
I’d only seen the lake once, of course, so the next challenge was where to get off. It turns out, you can’t see the water at all from the side where the bus was driving, but I thought the area looked familiar so, when the bus turned off that road heading in another direction, I decided to take a chance, figuring that I could get the next bus if I wasn’t able to find what I was looking for.
Heading up the road, I came across a huge crab statue mounted on a wall. By huge I mean more than a metre across and over a metre high, mounted about a metre up the wall outside what I can only assume is a crab restaurant (this being the place where beef restaurants have pictures of cows and fish restaurants have tanks of fish outside). Honestly the stuff of nightmares.
Moving swiftly along, I crossed the main road and found myself looking up at a raised area, with some stairs to reach it. Next to me, slung between two lampposts was a sign that said Daegu FC and something in Korean. I could also see lights and suddenly I wondered if I’d accidentally found the home-ground of the local soccer club, instead. I walked up the path and climbed the stairs and there, nestled below the mountain peaks stretching into the clear blue sky, shimmering in the Summer sunshine, was the lake.
Suseong Lake is a roughly oval shaped body of water with fountains in the middle and an island off to one side. All around the edge is a perfectly kept, broad path for walking, scattered with benches to sit and think, and lined with lampposts and flowering shrubs. Each lamp post also doubles as a speaker streaming music. The music was bad Korean renditions of such pop masterpieces as the Titanic theme song and ‘Then I got High’ but it was thankfully relatively quiet. Music played through a speaker system seems to be a standard part of the Daegu park experience. It’s certainly different and something that may take a while to get used to. I’m working on ignoring it as much as possible in the meantime.
The place where I’d joined the path around the lake was wonderfully sunny and I found a bench and just sat and watched the fountains for a while. Along the path, couples strolled slowly, hand in hand , friends walked chatting and one or two people in exercise clothes powered their way. I saw a Korean teenager pick a daisy and tenderly slide it behind his girlfriend’s ear. The fountains and the flowers were both beautiful and the sun was glorious.
One of the distinctive features of this lake is Duckboats. A lot of bodies of water in the middle of cities have boats for hire. Zoo Lake, for example, where couples have been taking romantic outings to row on the lake for years. These boats are powered by foot-pedal but the concept is roughly the same. They are also shaped like ducks. Duckboats. The lake was dotted with couples and families paddling happily around. And exhausted peddlers recovering their breath in the shade of the little island.
After watching for a while, and soaking up some much-needed sun, I set off to wander around the lake. After a time, I saw on my left a play-ground area, with basketball and tennis courts and children chasing pigeons. Families also sat around on benches. What looked like an ice-cream van was parked on the road just near the playground area selling slushies and candy-floss and popcorn. At the end of the lake, just in the slightly more shady area, I was a little bemused to see a stretch in the middle of the path that looked like someone had taken smooth pebbles and cemented them end-up into the ground, until I saw someone take off his shoes and walk along the pebbles. They’re obviously meant to be good for your feet. When I tried walking on them, the did feel quite good, even through my shoes. This part of the lakeside is dotted with tall trees making it a pleasant place to sit or walk in the dappled sunshine.
The lake also has some real ducks, as well as the many habituated pigeons (and the duckboats, of course). It was good to see some birds. The birdlife in Daegu seems to be a little thin on the ground, I suppose because it’s so built up. The ducks raced around on the water and followed me as I walked, clearly hoping that I’d brought some bread. It reminded me of feeding ducks at places like Zoo Lake all those years ago. Clearly ducks are the same wherever you go.
On the far-side of the lake, I found rows of duckboats moored to a small jetty, so I got a closer look. The roof is shaped like a duck, painted white and with a duck-head. Below this are plastic seats for two to four people and open sides where you can reach out your hands, like windows onto the water. All the people I saw in duckboats were wearing life jackets, so I assume that life jackets are mandatory. There were also groups of people sitting at plastic chairs and tables set in the shade of some trees, with beer and peanuts and various other bits and pieces (picked things and eggs, for example) from the little stall of a lake-side vendor, enjoying the afternoon. At one of the duckboat hire places, I saw the kind of bar that in any other place would be a typical backpacker’s slightly dodgy beach bar. A lake-bar, I suppose.
There was also outdoor exercise equipment. Almost every park I’ve been to in Korea has exercise equipment. The machines are pretty much the same as those you’d find in a gym except that they’re just sitting there in the open for anyone to use. Most of the time, the only people on them are children playing in the parks but this time I did see a few elderly Koreans doing sit-ups and crouches at some of the machines.
At one point the path leaves the lake-side and merges with the pavement of the road that runs along the shore in order to go around a building. I’m not completely sure, but I think the building is some sort of fancy restaurant. The area around that side of the lake seems to be fairly upmarket. I stopped on the pavement to take a look around and there, across the road, was a coffee and pasta place called ‘Kenya’. My experience of Korea is that most people here have limited knowledge and really no experience of Africa, so it’s always gratifying to find somewhere named for an African country, even if the link is that Daegu has recently developed a taste for coffee, so that their interest is limited to coffee-producing nations. I had a great cup of Tanzanian coffee at a place called ‘Cafe Africa’ today.
As I meandered on, I watched the people. A man walking along, watching his little son run backwards and forwards chasing a magpie. An elderly gentleman taking his constitutional. A group of ajummas having a picnic on a blanket and – I’m pretty sure although I can’t be certain – gambling over a boardgame. At the end of the lake, a small structure with whisteria growing up the pillars and over the roof was the gathering place for the grandfathers’ Saturday afternoon gambling over their own boardgames. There was also a roofed platform on the water, where you could hire more duckboats or by the looks of it take short tours on a slightly larger boat, or simply get something to eat or have a drink at the bar. On rails were rows of life-jackets drying in the sun.
As I rounded the end of the lake, I came upon the small amusement park (Suseong Park) next to the lake. The sounds were so familiar – the music of the rides, the shouts of children and that same ringing bell of the small amusement-park train that you hear at Gold Reef City. There were children enjoying some of the rides but it didn’t seem too busy and the merry-go-round was still. There was also a plane. A whole 737-sized plane parked right there in the amusement park, which I later discovered is a restaurant, although the food is apparently appropriate to the aeroplane setting.
Looking back across the lake, I could see the Beommul-dong area (I think) across the blue, blue water, nestled between tree-covered mountain peaks and looking quite beautiful in the sunshine. At one point the breeze died down and the fountains had stopped and I could even see the white buildings and the trees and the duckboats reflected in the water. There are times, particularly looking across water on a sunny day, where time seems to stand still and everything is wonderfully, beautifully calm. This was a little like that. Perfect late Summer afternoon sunshine, blue water dotted with the occasional duckboat and nowhere to be and nothing to do but stand still and enjoy the moment.
After a while, I headed back to the road and caught the bus back home, happy with an afternoon of exploring and many, many pictures. Oh, I also managed to buy a pair of shoes. I’ve been meaning to buy some for a while after two of the three pairs I brought with me died and the third is nearing its last legs, but I haven’t managed to find any that weren’t extortionately ‘designer’. On the way to the Lake, on the bus, we passed a shoe-shop having a sale, so on the way home, I popped in and found a nice, cheap pair of shoes that fits (extra large).