One Month in Korea - Part 8

This was probably our most Seoul-tastic day (except for the Chinese hotpot dinner at the end)

the airbnb in Itaewon, we were on the first floor

don't remember seeing all of these drag racing car exhaust pipes coming out of all the houses

hand pulled jajang myeon 

went to insadong

getting their fortune told.  It's a big thing here and you see tents, and stalls everywhere.

think your cutsie couple friends are annoying?  How about going beyond couples outfits to even buying the same winter coats?  Seen everywhere in Korea

got my mom this fermented and aged Jeju tea at Osulloc.

pungmul

the head ribbon twirly guy

jap jae hodduk!  these fried dough filled with glass noodle jap jae.  It was awesome

cheonggyecheon stream, Jen's first time.

on the way to gwangjang shijang there's a lighting district.

I'll take the middle please

maybe it was a sunday or something but the clothing part of the gwangjang shijang was closed

beondegi, silk worm pupae that are stewed and eaten on the street.  It smells horrible and it doesn't help that to this western raised boy it looks disgusting.

this big bindaedduk stall where magic happens.  It's mungbeans ground up with vegetables and other stuff and fried into deliciousness

3 stages of mungbeans

If there was one place I recommend in Seoul if you had 1 hour it would be gwangjang market.  Sure its not modern k-pop future tech flashy Seoul but its the old school, grimy, boisterous experience that I like.

Jen was saying there are so many places in Korea that look like movie sets.

We met my friend Nana (my old roommate from Beijing that married a Korean guy) and her husband for Chinese hotpot in Hongdae.  We had eaten Korean food for 2 weeks 3 meals a day so it was ok to eat hotpot.  

with each passing year, Saturday nights must get tougher for a dried squid vendor in the student district of Hongdae what with western food influence and the inevitable loss of traditional culture.  Curse you craft beer and fries.