My buddy and I have made a couple of short trips over the past few weeks. One two-day trip was to Daegu (대구: 大邱) the ROK’s fourth largest city and another one-day trip was to Masan (마산: 馬山 horse.mountain), an industrial, coastal city less than an hour from Busan.
I enjoy taking a break from sleepy Suncheon once a month if I can and heading to the big cities such as Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, or indeed elsewhere such as Daegu, to recharge the batteries, eat fatty Western food (my main reason), and experience not being the only non-Korean walking down the street everywhere I go. (That said, often even in the big cities you may well be the only non-Korean for blocks!). Daegu didn’t disappoint on any of these counts.
My friend and I decided to go to Masan on a whim on the last day of Chuseok, just to get out of Suncheon and experience somewhere different. Masan (or at least what we saw of Masan) is a gritty, grimy, industrial port city which can easily be done in a day, or an hour if you really want to be honest (and mean), there’s not much to keep you there! However, one gem in an otherwise dull Masan is the 3.15 (March 15th) Democratic Movement Memorial, which is a national memorial and museum first established in 1960 to commemorate those who lost their lives in pro-democracy rallies against the ROK’s first President and dictator, Syngman Rhee.
It’s a beautifully constructed memorial site containing a museum, memorial sculptures, memorial plaques and memorial pavilion, nestled against a hill overlooking the city of Masan. The museum provides poignant photographs and personal first-hand accounts and effects on the pro-democracy rallies which took place. Please note however, that many of the accounts and details are in Korean only, but are deeply moving nevertheless. Below are a few pics of my travels, the rest are located here.
Daegu tower illuminated
Call to arms written mostly in Hanja during the pro-democracy rallies
Looking up towards the memorial pavilion at the 3.15 Pro-Democracy Memorial, Masan
