Hello! from Hannam: One Great Saturday in Seoul

We have many wonderful eateries on the street outside of the U.N. Village. In addition to O, Taco, Kraze Burger and Banana Grill, there is a much talked about brunch spot called Pancake Story. It was a gorgeous and sunny, pre-Fall Saturday so brunch outside was just the ticket.

I actually hate pancakes, so thank goodness they had fluffy omelets. Boy were they fluffy.

Quaint, charming and delicious.

A delicious and beautifully told 'story'.

Have you ever seen a fluffier omelet?

Seriously, it was all fluff and kind of deflated when I dug in,
but was quite tasty none the less.

I know, there's quite a bit froth, which looking back is kind of unappetizing
because I don't think it's good eat raw eggs. Oh well. The fluff made up for it.

Helpful Reminders on the Wall

Thanks for the reminder.

Gladly.

In search of fleas, hopefully attached to some treasures

Anxious to show RCP my newly acquired navigation skills, after brunch I thought we'd visit the Seoul Folk Flea Market which is located north of home near the Cheonggyecheon Stream and along the same subway route that I navigated the other day. Easy to show off when I know where I'm going.

The Seoul Folk Flea Market is one of the major folk flea markets of the city, preserving the culture of the traditional Korean marketplace and drawing in visitors with a range of folk items that embody the unique charm of Korea. The main items of the Flea Market include a diversity of folk items, traditional crafts, local specialties and fashion items. You may also enjoy a range of delicacies including traditional Korean food and fusion cuisine from all over the world. What is special about the market is that here you may able to find rare goods and authentic traditional items that cannot be found at other markets.

(Note: I'll try to limit the number of "market" postings. I know it probably seams like that's all that exists in Seoul, which isn't the case, but they're really fascinating and unlike anything we have back home.)

Now you have to understand that my navigational talents require that the traveling party stay on course. If there is deviation from the course, my internal GPS just shuts down (possibly followed by a slight tantrum) and everyone is left to their own devices. Sure enough and true to form, RCP felt compelled to deviate from the course and not make the transfer at the first subway stop.

Slight tantrum later, we hadn't made it to the Flea Market, but we did discover the solution to our overpriced fruit and vegetable problems that's been causing me to only buy apples and iceberg lettuce. No more $25 watermelons! We had discovered the ultimate farmer's market! But it was more like the Garden of Eden, because it was so cheap, it might as well have been free, and there was every kind of fruit and vegetable I've been craving! From corn on the cob (first time to see that here) to peaches, plentiful for the taking. Looks like this is going to be my new grocery store (for fruits and vegetable only). I will continue to pay a premium for chicken at the grocery store that hasn't been sitting outside in the sun and none of my recipes call for live turtles.

My new grocery store.

Are these peaches 2 for $1.00?!
How are they not $16-$25 like they are everywhere else?

These are Asian Pears, my new favorite fruit.

They have the texture of an apple and the flavor of a pear. They're delicious.

We think this is a permanent market.

There were too many umbrellas to justify this just being a weekend occurrence.

Dried fish, fresh out of the box.

This shellfish looked so fresh and tempting, but I'm not sure my stomach has built up the anti-bodies to combat any lurking "bugs" that may reside in street-side shellfish.

However, I'm sure it's just as fresh as the shrimp we bought on the docks in Palacious this summer.

Nuts!

Gorgeous, luscious corn.

Interesting Herb Fact:

Chinese / Korean ginseng is more of a stimulant and men's sexual health herb

while American ginseng combats stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue.

The former sounds a lot more fun.

A garlic dealer and one big stall of bad breath.

The beauty of markets.

Might need to turn this shot into a painting.

Stoic.

The Wall of Hope

After discovering my new grocery store, we headed down to Cheonggyecheon Stream to follow it to the Seoul Folk Flea Market. We were much further down stream than I was on my solo trip the other day (16 Bridges in One Day (out of 22)) so I got to see the Wall of Hope that I had tried to find but never did.

The Wall of Hope expresses the sorrow of Korea's South-North division and is made of tiles created by 20,000 Seoul residents, people from 5 provinces in North Korea, and overseas Koreans hoping for national unity and reunification. It is one of the world's largest ceramic tile walls.

The Seoul Folk Flea Market

Finally, after a deviation through my new-found grocery store, we followed the stream to the Seoul Folk Flea Market. I'm not usually a flea market kind of girl, as I prefer either brand-spanking new goods or truly old things that I really know weren't made in the '90's and made do look like they're from the late 1800's. Tough to tell these days though, with the rate that China turns out "antiques" and with the magic that 'distressing' an object can do. Needless to say, the stalls at the Seoul Folk Flea Market aren't exactly like visiting Round Top, Texas during their annual Antique Weekend and the offerings run the gamut from super outdated electronics to semi-decent "antiques", but boy was it fun and a great way to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon!

I know, looks like a bad yard sale, which was the case outside of the building.

I think you have to pay to rent a stall inside to sell things,

so prices were a little higher, but for what appeared to be "higher quality" items.

Who knows though. This part of the world has "replication" down to an art.

A little bit of home.

They look quite authentic, don't you think? Flames and camouflage?

Wonder how you say 'redneck' in Korean?

This fabulous, lacquered cross section of a tree peaked our interest,

enough to ask about delivery.

We were told it was a Ginko tree. Probably not, but it was real wood
and a steal, with two smaller stumps thrown in for free.

We're thinking about it and if it's still there when we go back, then it was meant to be.
(There's no delivery (gasp!), so figuring that out might be more exciting than the stump itself.)