Korea: Day 4: Insadong

Tuesday

Up fairly early once again. Adam had to go to work, so he trusted us enough to set us on Korea without causing an international incident. We took the train to Insadong, where we were yesterday. It's kind of an arts & crafts area, with a lot of traditional Korean stuff: pottery masks, inlaid pearl boxes, art, etc.








I found a lot of something to get Zoe (fans), not so much for Tristan, and nothing that really grabbed me for Jennifer. I did get a cool bookmark that we'll use as a Christmas tree ornament, and a bibimbap fridge magnet. We also found some gelato: green tea for me, peach for Steve, and mocha for Jason.

We walked out of the Insadong area so Steve could go to Burger King.
They did have some non-American menu items that looked good, like the Bulgogi Burger. I'm not sure if that would violate my No American Food policy or not, but I didn't eat there anyway.


We walked down past the electronics district, in a search for lunch for Jason and I. We found a huge indoor bazaar, called the _____ Market. (It was a lot like Zern's in Gilbertsville, PA for those familiar with "The Sale.") It started with cloth & fabrics,


then moved to fish and meats and decorative food baskets and fruits.


Jason bought a dragonfruit; something he'd come to enjoy in Vietnam. We found the food vendor section. One booth after another, maybe 10 feet wide with seats or a bench and a tiny kitchen, and a tiny counter, mostly occupied with bowls of ingredients. We picked one and sat down. It seemed like each booth served about one dish. Our booth was bibimbap. We had our large, non-stone bowls of rice and veggies to which the vendor lady added things like nori, dried squid with sweet chilies, and tiny dried minnows.



We also got a hot bowl with some kind of soup with roasted barley. It was a lot of food of pretty good quality (even though the cleanliness of the place was iffy). It was a whole W3000 each.

We walked around the market some more and took a lot of pictures. We totally missed the pig snout lunch vendors

as well as the ground mung bean pancakes with scallions (the samples of which were delicious.)

Outside the flea market was the electronics market. This was like something out of the movies. Tiny "streets" with vendor shops on both sides, some as small as a decent walk-in closet, selling everything electronic.

We wandered through several alleyways, dodging the occasional merchandise-laden motorscooter.


We went back into the building proper and found a vendor selling Canon gear. I bought a lens hood for my 28-135mm lens for W19,000. I thought I had negotiated down to W15,000, but when I only got W1,000 change from the 20K I gave him, I guessed my negotiated price was lost in translation.

We took the train back to the apartment, planning to go out later to the only decent Italian restaurant in Seoul (allegedly). I think we all ended up inadvertently napping in front of the TV, so instead we ate-in. Adam made some pork that looked like bacon, but wasn't cured or salted, so it cooked up more like beef-looking (brownish) than bacon-looking (pink.) We had that with thick slices (Jason is not handy with a kitchen knife) of high-powered Korean garlic, bean paste, traditional kimchi, and lettuce & sesame leaf wraps. It's definitely a meal that would do well in the states, especially the cooking at your own table-style, which this was not.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)

Korea: Day Three: Temples and Palaces

Day three is only just beginning, but I shot a quick video to prove that I'm actually here. . . after some readers questioned my actual presence in Korea due to the fact that I'm not in any of my own pictures.

Here's the video, more pictures and words to be posted later.




Got kind of a late start, despite waking up at 7 am. Ate some normal breakfast at the apartment, chatted with the family (where it was still Sunday evening), and shot a short video with me in it to prove that I'm actually in Korea. That's it above.

Headed out to the subway, then to the Insadong station, just so that Steve, Jason, and I would know how to get there tomorrow when Adam's at work.

Outside, we met up with PAK SongMi (the writing convention in this blog is to put surnames in all capitals), a friend of Adam's who makes her living as a tour giuide for Japanese tourists. She was worried that her English wasn't good enough, but it was actually very respectable. Better than a lot of my physics TAs in college even.

We walked by Changdeokgung Palace, so we could see where it was, even though it was closed today. From there we walked down to Jongmyo Royal Ancestral Shrine, where tribute is paid to many dead kings, queens, and royal family members.






From there to the Wongaska Site, inside Tapgol Park. There was some pretty cool architecture.


A Korean War vet (from the South Korean Army) came up and started talking to us. That was interesting. We walked from there to the _____ Buddhist Temple, passing many interesting street vendors along the way.



There were plenty of Buddhists, and monks about. The temple itself was very impressive,


with several HUGE golden Buddhas.






Out of there and over to the Gyeonkbukgong Palace and the Korean Folk Art Center. Took a zillion pictures on the grounds (the palace)




and inside the museum (the folk art center).






After leaving there, it was time for a cab ride with Steve, SongMi and me in one cab, and Jason and Adam in another. We made the short (~ 5 minutes, <$3 trip to Lotte World, which is a huge name in retail all over the world (not including the US.) We went up to the sixth floor and to the PTC (Panmunjom Tourist Center), a travel office that handles tours to the JSA, inside the DMZ. We weren't going to arrange a tour, but rather to meet three of Adam's friends who work there: LEE SeungHee, JIN Hyekyung, and LEE DongHee (no relation). They were very amusing and entertaining. After they closed the office, we walked out into the Meyong-Dong area, which is just loaded with lights, people, narrow streets, shops, and restaurants.

I nearly lost the others half a dozen times because I was taking so many photos. The place was just amazing. I could've easily shot a full card and run out my batteries. It was a far cry from Mebane, to say the least.


We went to a restaurant called _______ where we got a table for eight, with chairs, on the second floor. We started with some kimchi radish in cold broth, and quickly moved onto two huge servings of _________. It was chicken, noodles, and veggies, like potatoes, onions, carrots, and cucumber, in a dark broth. It was excellent, and a wee bit spicy, of course. A side of cabbage kimchi accompanied, naturally. I twas loud, fun, and very filling. We learned some Korean traditions, like how to fill someone else's beer glass (you never fill your own), which varies depending on which participant is older or younger. Another great Korean meal. Are you seeing a pattern here?

We headed back to the street, took a bunch of pictures, in which I purposefully made the peace sign, (though not in this picture) as people in Asia nearly always do for some reason, and said our goodbyes to walk to the train and back to the apartment. Spent a few minutes enjoying the view from Adam's window, and called it a night.

The day wasn't a "death march" by any stretch, and with the terrific weather, food, and company, I could handle many more days like this in Korea.

(View my entire set of Korea trip photos here on Zooomr)