This will be the last of my posts on Korea, since I’m now in Tokyo

Okay, so it’s not really like the food market at Granville Island in Vancouver, but there are definitely similarities. The outdoor markets in Korea are really stunning. They’re full of life, the smell of delicious food, and all sorts of different snacks and wares.

People shout at you in Korean trying to get you to visit their stall. Everywhere you look there is colour and motion, and it was probably one of my most memorable experiences in Seoul so far.

A plant sitting on a table of the patio of a restaurant.

Asian pears! Delicious. The outdoor fruit stalls were really something else.

Anybody need any shoes? That’s a huge stack of shoes right there.

Persimmons were often sold still growing on the branch.

Mmmm… termites? I wouldn’t eat this myself, but that little fruit fly was sure interested.

Rice by the cup or bag was very popular.

Fruit trays were everywhere, and people were sampling and picking through them passionately. People are very intense about getting the best fruit possible to the point of destroying all the other fruit by digging through.

Make your own Kimono! Well, in Korea they call it “Han Bok”. Beautiful traditional dresses that are in a baby doll shape. Colour is very important in Korean culture, and everything from the temples to the traditional garb is very colourful. Han Bok dresses are often worn by the bride for Korean weddings or ceremonies/parties. These shops are everywhere, and they’ll make a girl a made to order Han Bok of any thread, fabric, and ribbon of your choosing.

These stalls are very common and popular, with batter poured into some oil. They smell and taste like donuts, and are really delicious. Sometimes they are sweet, and sometimes they more lunch snacks, with onions and meat inside.

In Korea, barber shop poles are the sign for a brothel, so you definitely don’t want to be tricked and think you’re going to get a hair cut. They are everywhere, which is actually really scary. People seem used to them, though.

Garbage is left on the street everywhere, so the city has a bit of a funny smell when it is hot outside. There are no huge garbage containers like in Vancouver or North America. It’s normal here though, and people don’t seem to mind.

This store is not a fan store. It just happens to have a lot of fans. LOL!

As I write to you, I actually just flew into Tokyo today, but I’m still trying to catch up with all the photos from Korea. It’s been a whirlwind past couple of days, with meetings all day, presentations, business lunches, business dinners, and going out. I’m pooped. We had a travel day today, but tomorrow it’s back to work in Tokyo all day long.

I’ve missed Vancouver and home since the beginning of my trip, but I’m starting to feel it even more so now.

Here are some photos from our third and fourth day in Korea.

Yes, there are actually snowboard shops in Seoul, Korea. There’s actually a whole row of them, maybe 10-15 shops all in a row. Similar to Burrard and 4th area in Vancouver. There are a number of mountains to snowboard/ski at in Korea, but apparently they aren’t super high and don’t have much terrain. Still, it’s really cool to see one of my favourite sports littered across the streets in Korea of all places!

The CO-EX Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul, Korea has some really nice touches that make traveling away from home just a little bit easier. The Pillow Menu! You can “order” any pillow you like for free, whether it’s anti-bacterial, shaped a certain way, full of buckwheat, or provides other magical side benefits. It’s actually really neat (there’s two sides to the menu, sorry I didn’t capture the other side).

It’s also really nice to get a new fruit every day! My fruit plate just keeps growing and growing.

The mini bar is definitely more than just a mini bar. There’s a ton of different drinks and snacks (not pictured), not to mention a full (not disposable) razor, hairbrush, toothbrush, and more.

Other nice touches:

• I love how my clothes and folded and organized when I come back into the room.
• When I chose my pillow, all the other pillows I didn’t want were magically removed from my room the next day.
• Terrycloth and silky slippers were placed next to my bed.
• A beautiful white robe/kimono is found in the closet.
• There’s a pants steamer/presser, as well as an iron and lint brush in the closet.
• The lamps are turned on and the curtains are closed for me at bedtime.
• Chewy chocolate chip cookies, a full-fledged tea menu, and fancy coffee maker.

Photo Credit: ichotelsgroup.com

Photo Credit: ichotelsgroup.com

Not to mention the hotel has a full sauna (dry and wet… I liked the dry one), and three different temperatures of mineral pools… tons of sit down or standing showers, a full gym, and an INDOOR DRIVING RANGE, lol. I did check all of these out and use them (especially the mineral pools!!) but unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take photos.

One night we went out with a bunch of our fellow Korean coworkers to Korean BBQ and a gorgeous jazz club called Once in a Blue Moon. It’s actually really popular with locals and not really a foreigner bar as far as I can tell. It’s very classy, and my mojito was delicious. The jazz was pretty good but perhaps my little brother (a musician) would have argued with me.

A Ferrari motorbike! I don’t even really know what to make of this. Is it fake?

It was neat to watch this man announce the pastries from the bakery.

You can’t be in Korea without having Korean BBQ!

One night we went to a Thai restaurant and ordered Wagyu beef (Kobe beef) that was cooked on a burning hot stone. Then, to make it even better, they flambéd it with Hennessey cognac. It was delicious.

A street of the Sinsa-dong shopping district. We went down the Garosu-gil street. It was really amazing… sort of a trendy shop area like Main Street in Vancouver. All the shops had very eclectic styles, and each shop is very small but nicely presented.

The store I liked most in all of Seoul was the Understar shop on Garosu-gil street. Beautiful clothes, a little pricey, but definitely very unique. I don’t think you’d find most of those styles in Vancouver.

You had to go down the stairs to find the Understar shop.

I ended up buying two things from Understar: a cheetah print scarf to tie on my purse and I also bought a neat necklace. I’ve noticed they seem to be in fashion in Korean, and I think they fit in well with my style!

Talk to you again soon!