... and the adventure I had were my favorite so far :D I really liked today's travels - there were so many people and many more foreigners (at least more than I've seen anywhere else) in Insadong. :D
As you'll see from the pictures, it was quite flashy and exciting. (I took so many here.. I didn't upload them all...)
Oh - and tonight's the World Cup!! South Korea v. Uraguay!
But first, a couple shots from my third E-mart experience last night:
Most stores here charge for bags (not too much - usually just 100 won), so instead of bagging groceries, the store offers boxing stations for free xD Basically, all of the stuff used to bring the goods in are also used to take them out xD Seems pretty efficient.
Baskets are locked together xD? Not exactly sure why, but I guess it's easier to move them that way... But you can't even take them out of the store - you just box up your goods and carry them (or, at least we did).Oh well. The following are from my trip to Insadong :D We took a few buses and got off to walk. First, through Tapgol Park.
Here's the entrance we went through. Samilmun Gate... pretty spiffy!
And, this is a prominent statue... of a guy named "Uiam Son Byeong-Hui" (according to the plaque right next to him). He was an important activist in Korean history as well as a religious leader. :P
A nice shot from the area.
There were a lottt of older people... just hanging out. Aimee equated it to how younger people hang out at cafes. I guess they like the atmosphere.. Though, it's still noisy (in the middle of the city) :) One of them actually came up and spoke to us as Aimee took pictures with her snazzy camera. "Many cloud make good picture" - "Are you from America?" (smiled and walked away XD).
Here's the pagoda that makes this park famous, I suppose :o It's quite old after all. It's mind boggling to think about that though!
A sample of one of the many mannny street vendors :D So many cool things to see ^_^
We stopped at a 7/11 to grab some drinks... Unfortunately both the cashiers were quite rude.. mine mocked me and the other was just not polite to Aimee.. wouldn't go back to that location :P Still - it was cool to try a new drink xD This is a new take on an old drink (rice water?) The soggy rice at the bottom was a little creepy, but it's pleasantly sweetened and refreshing. xD
After perusing the items and making our way through the people, we went inside the creme of the crop here. "Ssamchigil" - basically like a mall xD Such cool stuff (expensive though)! It was four stories. Most of the stuff here was handmade.
A shot from the inside. Cool flowers :) Looking up at the four stories... So much to see and buy xD
The top floor was also like a garden xD... almost like you were walking on the normal ground, on a path right outside the shops... but then you see the rooftops and look down at all the people xD
The breeze was nice.
After all of that excitement, we were getting tired. We stopped at Cafe Pascucci right outside the bus stop xD Mine's on the left - an amazingly sweet iced white chocolate latte xD I just wanted to try something else. Expensiveee, but I splurged since Jeju was cheaper than I thought and I got a lot of deals earlier while shopping xD
Haha - thought I'd take a picture of this too.. I've seen a couple of them around.. and I might have already shown one - but here's another umbrella covering station xD... haha. Stick that wet umbrella in for a cover. ;) Lucky it didn't rain on us today.
Here's the entrance we went through. Samilmun Gate... pretty spiffy!
And, this is a prominent statue... of a guy named "Uiam Son Byeong-Hui" (according to the plaque right next to him). He was an important activist in Korean history as well as a religious leader. :P
A nice shot from the area.
There were a lottt of older people... just hanging out. Aimee equated it to how younger people hang out at cafes. I guess they like the atmosphere.. Though, it's still noisy (in the middle of the city) :) One of them actually came up and spoke to us as Aimee took pictures with her snazzy camera. "Many cloud make good picture" - "Are you from America?" (smiled and walked away XD).
Here's the pagoda that makes this park famous, I suppose :o It's quite old after all. It's mind boggling to think about that though!
A sample of one of the many mannny street vendors :D So many cool things to see ^_^
We stopped at a 7/11 to grab some drinks... Unfortunately both the cashiers were quite rude.. mine mocked me and the other was just not polite to Aimee.. wouldn't go back to that location :P Still - it was cool to try a new drink xD This is a new take on an old drink (rice water?) The soggy rice at the bottom was a little creepy, but it's pleasantly sweetened and refreshing. xD
After perusing the items and making our way through the people, we went inside the creme of the crop here. "Ssamchigil" - basically like a mall xD Such cool stuff (expensive though)! It was four stories. Most of the stuff here was handmade.
A shot from the inside. Cool flowers :) Looking up at the four stories... So much to see and buy xD
The top floor was also like a garden xD... almost like you were walking on the normal ground, on a path right outside the shops... but then you see the rooftops and look down at all the people xDThe breeze was nice.
After all of that excitement, we were getting tired. We stopped at Cafe Pascucci right outside the bus stop xD Mine's on the left - an amazingly sweet iced white chocolate latte xD I just wanted to try something else. Expensiveee, but I splurged since Jeju was cheaper than I thought and I got a lot of deals earlier while shopping xD
Haha - thought I'd take a picture of this too.. I've seen a couple of them around.. and I might have already shown one - but here's another umbrella covering station xD... haha. Stick that wet umbrella in for a cover. ;) Lucky it didn't rain on us today.After that - we headed home!
Mom made us dinner :) New things for today included the cucumber kimchi we got from uncle last night (made by grandma)... and then "tofu jorim" oooor spicy simmered tofu with veggies? xD Tasty stuff mixed with the rice :)
Dessert? xD Strawberry yogurt with banana = strawberry banana! :) I'm slowly falling in love with flavored yogurt. :x
Food for the World Cup! :)
Mom made us dinner :) New things for today included the cucumber kimchi we got from uncle last night (made by grandma)... and then "tofu jorim" oooor spicy simmered tofu with veggies? xD Tasty stuff mixed with the rice :)
Dessert? xD Strawberry yogurt with banana = strawberry banana! :) I'm slowly falling in love with flavored yogurt. :x
Food for the World Cup! :)I finished just in time too! 10 minutes 'till game start >:D I hear people chanting the fighting words outside xD..
Tomorrow is bound to be interesting as well - we're going to grandma's house. :) She lives in a traditional home, too.
:D
I can see why this was your favorite adventure so far - was my favorite pics (less food - tee hee) I like the greenery on the top floors. How old was that Pagoda? Going to Grandma's house should be really interesting. Love Ya!
ReplyDeleteI liked the greenery too :) I think that Pagoda was either from the 10th century... that, or the 11th (only 100 years difference xD).. :D
ReplyDeleteSo sorry the 7/11 people were mean to you guys! But I'm glad I'm catching up with your blog since i had a little adventure on my own this past couple of days at DisneyWorld. Your blog is always interesting, fun, and witty! ;)
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