Advertisement
Published: October 10th 2006
Street vendors
A real assault on the senses!...is when Korea really comes alive for me, I can walk around and around at night just soaking it all in. Unlike the UK where shops open at 9am and close at 5.30pm Korean shops don't usually open until about 11am and shut much later- around 10pm. Also there are a multitude of street sellers selling various food, chicken on a stick, man-du (Korean stuffed dumplings) and a whole host of other delicacies I haven't had the nerve to try and wouldn't have a clue what to call. There are always seats at the sellers stalls and people eating and drinking soju- the pedestrianised areas are full of stall after stall with people laughing and joking and generally being merry. Whereas in England we go for an upmarket cafe chic cosmopolitan feel in Korea it's a lot more rough and ready, it's not so much what it looks like as about having a good time- I really dig that!
Another thing I really love about Korea is the shopping. I think I may have actually died and gone to heaven. I live in Nampo-Dong which is the old downtown of Busan and believe me it it THE place to shop.
You have all of the designer names here but I can take or leave that. The real gem of Nampo-Dong is Gukje Market. This is a sprawling mass of stalls, shops, boutiques and markets all selling everything you could ever wish for. It is so cheap and as I'm petite everything fits me like it was made to measure- it's fantastic being a midget in Korea! I bought a brand new coat the other day for 5,000 won- that's about 2 pounds seventy five!
They also have stalls and stalls selling second-hand clothes. Nearly all the clothes are imported from the West, mainly Canada- I've seen clothes in the market that I bought in Leeds! It's a rummagers heaven, I could spend all day there haggling for a good bargain and again it's dirt cheap. Suzanna (my co-worker) and I have spent many an hour scouring the market for must haves- don't worry though mum, I'm not going crazy!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 9; qc: 47; dbt: 0.0415s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
