Daejeon Highlights: KAIST’s Cherry Blossoms
Part of my Daejeon Highlights series, in which I showcase the hidden (or not so hidden) gems of my Korean hometown.
Daejeon is well-known for being the tech industry capital of South Korea. Dubbed “Korea’s Silicon Valley,” this has several major universities and STEM institutes—the most famous being KAIST.
KAIST (the Korea Institute of Science and Technology) is like Korea’s MIT. It’s the nation’s first public institute devoted to STEM. I know a lot of students who go here—many of them international. Most of them I know are miserable because…well, school is hard. But while it’s a stressful place to attend, there’s a few things to love.
One of those thing is the cherry blossoms in spring.
Come late March or early April, the road outside KAIST blooms. Cherry blossoms line the road, filling the air with little pink petals whenever the wind blows.
All my coworkers tell me I have to go to KAIST to see the blossoms. I used to date a guy here so I would be around KAIST a lot—but this was my first year I actually saw the flowers.
The bloom was early this year and my friend and I rushed to snap photos before the weekend rain would destroy the flowers. It was a bit busy but not too bad—mostly just couples wandering the paths and little families lifting their babies into the branches to get the perfect shot.
After, we headed next door to the Gung-dong neighborhood, which is student central. There you can get soooo many delicious foods. Because KAIST has so many foreign students, you can find lots of international restaurants.
My recs:
I’m not including Rico Taco because no matter what people might try to tell you, it’s not good. Sorry, I’m a snob.
There’s also some amazing cafes and bakeries—including my favorite, Gabae Roasters.
Thanks for reading and happy spring!