Baseball in Daegu

You've probably seen Tom Selleck's hit from '92, Mr Baseball, so you know how big the sport is in Japan.  In South Korea, things are no different.  Baseball is a big business here, and, just like in the movie, they bring in has-beens (or never-will-bes) from the states to fluff their rosters and boost their scores.  

We're not big baseball fans, but from what we had heard about baseball in Korea, we decided it was something we should check out.  Our friend, Sungki, is a huge fan of his home town's team, Daegu's Samsung Lions, so we gave him a call and told him we wanted to experience Korean baseball with a true fan.  He reserved our seats and told us when and where to meet him and Suyeon.  All we had to do was get on the Daegu bound KTX.  It was perfect. 

Doosan Bears vs. Samsung Lions

(It's hard to tell, but on the jumbo tron is the 'Kiss Cam!')

In the States, you have to sneak pretty much anything into the stadium, but in Korea it is the complete opposite.  They have concession stands selling drinks and snacks, but food options are sparse.  Most of the food that people eat during the game is fried chicken that they brought from home, bought from a hawker on the way into the stadium or purchased from a table or booth inside the stadium.  As for beverages (adult), you either bring them in with you, or get them from one of the many convenience stores under the bleachers. 

This group brought in a feast!

In Korean stadiums, the front few rows behind home plate is known as 'the table section.'  The seats have long tables in front of them, to facilitate the fried chicken consumption! 

The view from our first seats  :(

Once the game started, we spotted 4 available seats in the table section and snatched them before anyone else could. 

The view was way better from down here!

Enjoying the Hite & chicken

It started to sprinkle during the game, so naturally, the Korean fans whipped out their umbrellas.  What else would you do in a stadium when it starts to rain?!

Luckily, the people in front of us had a clear umbrella, it didn't interfere too much with our enjoyment of the game.

Can you even bring an umbrella into a stadium in North America?

The 'char station' for your fish-jerky snacks!

After the game, Sungki took us to his mom and brother's sashimi restaurant.  Sashimi in Korea was never really something we sought out because it was usually bone filled and tons of work.  Also, Daegu is a landlocked city in the center of the country, so needless to say, we were a little skeptical.  But, Suyeon and Sungki have never let us down in the tasty-eats department, and they still haven't.  We were blown away by the quality of the meal. 

Hands down the best Korean sashimi feast ever!

We could see the ocean from our apartment for a year and never had sashimi this good.  Who knew all we had to do was travel a few hours inland?

There were tons upon tons of side dishes

Sizzling corn, krab and cheese

No clue what kind of fish this is

The carnage

Our diggs for the night

(like the Brits, Koreans refer to '#' as a 'sharp')

Going up...

Red, White, Black and Shiny!  

(what could anyone visiting a love motel need with two computers)

This is a night table.  It's mounted to the wall near the door...

Surprisingly, we didn't steal this robe!

(very few motels have escaped our greedy, robe-taken' hands)

Love motel bathrooms are always a treat.  You have no idea how refreshing it is to be able to shower without touching the toilet and soaking the entire bathroom! 

We think we're in love, buy maybe we're not... !