Last Saturday was a busy day of mainly playing. Sorry, no studying here. I decided to go check out the Free Market at the Children's Park on Saturday afternoon, where artists/craftspeople set up tables and sell all sorts of things, from jewelry to hand-painted shoes to artwork to...you get the point. The artists usually change from week to week (it's always held on Saturdays from 1-5pm), and everything is really good quality and often hand-made. But first...
I pass this restaurant when I go to Hongdae from the Sangsu metro station, which is easier to get to from my dorm and less crowded than Hongik station. Somehow the name is telling me to only come here as a last resort...
So many people on a cloudy day, but once you see all the great stuff, it's worth it to me. I scored a great handmade bag and a pair of handmade earrings. This place makes me want everything. The lady who made the earrings said my Korean was good because I told her all of them were beautiful and it was hard to choose in Korean. She was easy to please I think.
There's also great live music. This was a little jazz band who set up next to the playground part of the park. It sounds so incongruous, but it just works.
Anyone that I've talked to about Korea knows I love me some banana milk, but a new flavor is melon milk, which tastes like a melted Melona bar you can get here in Korea, which I also love. So if you like sweet melon flavor, give it a try.
After I brought home my haul, I went to meet up with my friend/classmate Maren and her 2 friends Lyza and Greta, all of whom are from Germany, and all of whom are among the most lovely people I've met anywhere. We decided to go around an area called Insadong, which is a more tranditional and touristy area, but still fun.
Errbody be out here!
One of my favorite things about places like Insadong is the random street art you'll see around. This just leads to some restaurants, but why can't it be beautiful?
A children's workshop in pottery. The potter was so patient with all the kids, so it was fun to watch.
I don't know what this is, but I like it. I think it's a restaurant, actually.
Inside a shopping center, there were lots of flowers and other art painted on the ground. This one was my favorite.
I don't know exactly why this is here, but it has to do with love (사랑 - sarang), and people have been putting little pink tags here with messages for a few years now, so it's kind of cute.
Maren, my classmate, is in the back, the short blond hair is Lyza (pronounced Lisa), and the girl in the grey shirt in front of her is Greta.
This man is selling 똥 빵 (ddong bbang), which translates to poo bread. The shape of the bread makes more sense now, doesn't it?
You know I had to try some poop bread. It was actually really delicious, with sweet red bean paste and black sesame seeds inside.
You don't pass wings painted on a window and not pose like this. You just don't.
We investigated the love tunnel thingy.
We took pictures in there, but it just led to shops we didn't want to go to. Oh well, now we know.
Lyza and Greta knew about a traditional Korean tea house tucked away in an alley of Insadong, so we made a visit. It was a in a hanok, a Korean traditional house, and it was really fun. The waiter kept looking at us and delaying coming to our table to take our order because, and we're just speculating, we looked like 4 white girls who probably couldn't speak Korean and he was nervous about having to try to speak English to us. However, Lyza and Greta are in level 3 Korean, and I know my restaurant/food Korean well, so we called him over and put him at ease with our skills.
Our window was held shut by a spoon. Not sure how traditional that is, or if it just had to be MacGyvered like that.
The table behind ours was really cute, with letters and notes tucked under the glass top.
Top left - 삭혜 (shikhye, a sweet fermented rice drink); Top right - some summer fruit iced tea; Bottom two - 수정과 (su jeong gwa, cinnamon ginger punch). In the middle are some complimentary ddeok, or korean rice cake, but the waiter only brought us 3 when there were obviously 4 of us, so we weren't impressed.
I loved my drink the best and wish I could have it every day. This ddeok...not so much. Tasted and felt kind of like styrofoam.
I stopped to hear the street music, and then noticed at least a hundred or more policemen lining up behind him. Not sure why, but it was my cue to leave. That happened to me last year as well at Cheonggyecheon, and it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
3 comments:
You find so many fun places to go! I got some "melon milk" candy at our Asian store that was really good--if the melon milk drink tastes like that I would really like it. Love the street art! Hope that you never have to resort to the "Plan B" cafe.
Well ... eat/shop 'til you drop! When do you have time to attend classes. You are always touring. Maybe you don't sleep at night. Anyway, bee good and bee safe!
That looks so pretty. I like all the paintings on the stairs and floors. That did look freaky with all the policemen-i would have left too!
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