The National Assembly
I should have scheduled a tour, but you have to do it in advance. Anyway, I got to see the grounds of the National Assembly. It was beautiful. Especially some of the statues...haha.
This traditional Korean-style house was built next to the National Assembly for international visitors to stay at, I believe. Korea is so beautiful:
Uh-huh. Yep. I call this next one "The Jjimjilbang Statue":
Jungang Market, Yeongdeungpo
Jungang Market is huge. I think you could wander it for hours. And get really lost. (I did, but thank goodness for Google maps on my phone!) I probably barely skimmed the surface with what I explored.
Ok, this was actually outside before I entered the market. Just a lady selling produce on the street, chilling with her cute dog.
Live crab. The guy at this fish stand/store (whatever you'd call it) was amused that I was taking a picture (I looked so touristy). He said hello to me in English (random people on the street love to say "hello" and "how are you"--probably the only English they know). Then an older lady started talking to me in Korean, probably trying to sell me the crab, so I just shook my head and smiled and moved along.
Okay, now to the actual market:
You've never seen so much merchandise crammed into one place...
Lots of raw fish and meat. And entire pigs strung up by their feet.
The market "restaurants" where women are cooking--well, I don't really know what they were cooking. Some things looked edible. Some didn't.
I ended up buying these fried fish pieces for lunch. Ahh, I need to learn Korean! I didn't know how to communicate with the ladies and they ended up giving me 6 of these pieces for $2 when I just wanted 2 of the fish. They were good, but not amazing, so I ended up throwing some out later. (In a restroom garbage can...oh my goodness, I'm probably going to go to the Korean Hell for people who don't properly dispose of their food waste...but Seoul doesn't believe in public trash cans, and who wants to carry around greasy fish in their backpack all weekend?)
Oh, and the fish wasn't really de-boned.
Other sights...
I love how crowded everything is. And always plastered with so much signage, in both Korean and English.
Okay. So...I've seen this several times in public restrooms now. Well, usually the soap is always just a communal bar. But sometimes, if you're really lucky (sarcasm), your bar is stuck on a rod thing and you just have to, er, rub it to get some soap on your hands. I won't repeat what my Scottish TaLK friend called it.
Home Plus is GIGANTIC! I love these big stores. They're Walmart and the mall and the grocery store rolled into one multi-level center. I got lost at one point and accidentally walked out of an area with unpaid merchandise and had to backtrack to go pay for it. Don't worry, I didn't shoplift.
Mullae Art Village
Okay, of all the places in Seoul, this is neither large nor terribly exciting. But I loved it! Maybe one of my favorite spots I've explored thus far.
I already knew by this map that I was going to love it.
So, it was maybe a little sketch, me traveling these alleys by myself. As I was walking through the area, I thought, "my mom would not like me doing this." But, it was daylight, and the area didn't feel any more dangerous than my neighborhood in Chuncheon, which I have walked through at night. Korea is a very safe country and people are very friendly, but, most of the time, shy.
So, Mullae used to be an industrial village years ago. It has since been turned into an art district where local artists have set up shop and transformed the alleys into a quaint and quirky canvas.
Oh, in this picture, you can see a lady walking with her cart of cardboard boxes. She was probably wondering what in the world an American girl was doing walking these streets by herself, haha.
It's so run-down and cluttered. But I just loved it!
The contrast between old and new:
I've seen this a lot in Korea, these pepper-looking things just spread out on tarps on the side of the road. I watched this lady and decided it must be a "help yourself" kind of thing.
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THIS RED STRIPE?!
Ahh, it was like being at home! Except it was two levels (with underground parking), the packaged sushi selection was obviously way better, and all the people have dark hair. But still a warehouse with Kirkland Signature products. [Mom, I could even finally buy my Blendtec here if I wanted to, haha.]
The first floor was non-food items. And then you get in this huge line of people and their carts to go downstairs on the cart escalator to get to the food products.
(Yeah, my camera flashed when I took this picture and people probably thought I was so weird for taking pictures of carts...)
The prices were so crazy for some of the American branded items. $18 a box for granola bars.
$27 for mixed nuts.
Costco cookies! Except they don't look nearly as good as at home. And they had an interesting looking cranberry cookie, that's different.
Costco rolls! And these raisin roll things.
Samples at Costco! (Guy on the right, stop looking at me. Yes, I have blonde hair. Move along.)
SO MANY PEOPLE. A Saturday at Costco in Seoul, South Korea is guaranteed to be a lot more crowded than a Saturday in Sandy, Utah...
The line-up of carts at the food court, which was especially hectic.
Normal food! The ice cream was vanilla soft serve with a honey drizzle and almond slices. Koreans love honey.
Remember that time that the jjimjilbang I was supposed to stay at was unexpectedly closed for maintenance? Oh, yeah...
Lucky for me, I have a very helpful mother who loves me. I called her at about 6 AM (her time) after my search for hostels/guest houses/other jjimjilbangs was unsuccessful. She booked a night for me at Laketel, a very comfortable yet shady-from-outside-appearances hotel in the party sector of Yeongdeungpo.
The owner had already left for the night (they don't keep the front desk manned 24/7 like in the states) so I had to call him and tell him I had paid for a room. I waited in this alley for a half hour 'til he and his wife showed up. I drank my 7-Eleven strawberry milk and watched stray cats hunt for food and scamper away from delivery guys on motorcycles.
The owner was super nice (he spoke English very well) and explained how to work everything in the room. He made sure I had shampoo and a toothbrush (which I did) and gave me towels (which I didn't have).
I was so happy to have a shower and a bed and an outlet to charge my phone, you have no idea.
The mini kitchen back-splash:
Why, yes, I believe that is how anyone would describe being in love. ("When we are in love, we love the grass and the lightpoles...")
And that was my Saturday in Yeongdeungpo. :)
[see next post for Sunday's adventures!]
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