Dongdaemun Night Shopping

Earlier this month a couple friends and I headed up to Seoul for a girls night out. There is a shopping district that has some 30,000 shops in the area and most are open 9pm - 5am. Crazy, right?!? It was an experience and we had a good time but I don't think I'll need to go back anytime soon. There are tons of tents set up outside but there are also huge stores all around; we did a bit of both. 

This picture doesn't show it (on our way to the area) but there were a ton of people out. Usually walking around outside the sidewalks were filled with people and vendors. Streets were jammed up like it was rush hour.

I got a kick out of this mannequin's eyes. Maybe they were going for an anime-type look?   

This picture is a good depiction of the preferred color palate here. While it's more socially acceptable to wear high-collared shirts (with teeny tiny shorts/mini-skirts) it doesn't seem to phase anyone that you can usually see the bras quite easily through the shirts. Go figure!

So many skinny jeans!

Much of the clothing here is called 'free size' which is similar to a 'one size fits all.'

This whole corner was dedicated to K-Pop stars. Singing groups are huge here!

Tent shopping on the sidewalks is cheaper than in the stores (you can bargain at either place) but the products are also a cheaper quality. Vendors sold anything and everything you could imagine. 

SO many fake brands of everything!

On our way home a friend had  to make a stop at a store. The owners had a new Bulldog puppy, Baku. If we held him he was the sweetest little cuddle bug.

If you let him loose he was all playful puppy who knows no limits!

March Highlights

I took a photography class that's offered monthly. Asia is a very patient subject.

March 14th was White Day (a holiday similar to Valentine's Day) and Mike surprised me  with white chocolates and a pretty lamp. 

We've been having more smoothies for breakfast and I like serving them in 'fancy' glasses. Makes for a good start to the day. :)

There's a little path Asia and I take often; I was surprised to find out there are chickens that live in the little tree farm area. And more surprised to find out Asia does really well when passing them. 

A little taste of everyday life. I think there are one or two more that I didn't get in the picture.

There's been a lot of burning going on in the rice paddy fields. 

We went to an E-Mart store which is kind of like a Super Target/Wal-Mart. The strangest thing to me is that there were multiple kitchen supply sections scattered throughout the store. 

In order to get a cart you need to pay 100 won (10 cents) to release it from the group. When you return the cart you get your money back.

There are ramps that go between floors within the store. The instant the carts wheels touch the ramp they lock into it and become immobile. 

It was fun going down the international food isle at E-Mart and interesting to see what was put in the America & Mexico section.

You're also not allowed to have any shopping bags in the store so they have lockers available.

When you check out you can either pay for a bag or put everything back in the cart and go make a box for free. 

There carts also have a cool 4-way function that comes in quite handy since the stores are so crowded with people. 

For some reason they have tunnels to drive through to get to the parking area. Maybe less snow removal in the winter? 

March ended with a bang; we rescued an abandoned puppy and fostered him for a week until he went to his forever home....but that's a story for another entry. 

Market Madness

Bangsan Market turned out to be a place to buy baking goods, especially things that are harder to come by in Korea. We saw a lot of cookie cutters, cake decorating utensils, sprinkles, flours,  nuts, extracts and oils, and packaging. It was neat to walk through to see what these 'specialty shops' had to offer but it wasn't what I was expecting so we mainly did window shopping.

I'm proud I can read the sign :)

While walking through the already narrow streets of the market bikes like these were zooming by us trying to deliver goods.

Compared to the markets we've been to it seemed to be on the smaller side. In walking around the area we found a few gems. 

We happened across the wallpaper alley. Every store along the way had racks of wallpaper, tape, rubber bands, etc. 

For some reason we also saw a lot of AstroTurf. And for stranger reasons Mike was adamant that we should buy the AstroTurf. Luckily he didn't want to have to carry it around the rest of the day so we settled on 'another time.'

We didn't cross the street but saw a lot of lighting stores in the area as well.

This was an unexpected but pleasant sight to see in the middle of the city.

Another unexpected sight...

  
By chance we came across another market-Gwangjang Market. There we found lots of fabrics and Hanbok clothing (traditional Korean dress) and street food--restaurants and produce. In reading about it, it is the oldest and one of the largest around today. We really appreciated the authenticity of it; it was neat seeing a more traditional side of life here.  

The second floor was filled with many textile stores, several of which featured Hanbok for women and children. There is Hanbok for men but it must not be a selling point based on the displays.

The lower level was half street food vendors and half produce/fish vendors. I hope someday I'll know what most of these products are or are used for!

Men used these types of bikes to weave in and out of people to make deliveries to the vendors.

There were lots of tiny restaurants lined up for people to eat at. We enjoyed walking through and seeing all the different foods available. Notice the foil covered benches--they get plugged in and keep you warm while you eat!

For lunch we chose to eat at one of the many places serving up fresh mung bean pancakes, or bindaeduk.  It was a neat experience as we could see the entire pancake-making process from our seats. 

First they scooped mung beans onto a spinning pestle that ground them up into a gooey consistency which dropped into a bucket below. From there the mung bean paste can be mixed with a variety of things--bean sprouts, mushrooms, ground up pork, sesame seeds, etc. It's all mixed by hand (think big rubber gloves!) in a large bucket and then plopped on a grill covered in oil. Ours was served with soy sauce and sweet onions. The pancakes were huge  and had a hashbrown-like consistency. We shared one and enjoyed a lot! Now to figure out how to make them myself...