THE GRANVILLE ISLAND MARKET OF SEOUL, KOREA
Friday, October 24th, 2008This 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!












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