A Day in Insadong

A New Misadventure!

This Saturday was a Korean holiday, Indpendence Movement Day. I didn't know this until I was out in the street, but it provided a lovely opportunity for some cultural enrichment for me and the kid. We traveled with a friend to an area of Seoul called Insadong. It's like a huge shopping area for visitors. It's full of shops, and vendors, and food, and museums, and art gallery's, you get the picture.

The main street is closed to vehicles, so we got the opportunity to wade through a sea of living bodies as we explored the shops. Occassionally, we were with the flow and moved with the living sea, however, more often than not, we were going against the tide. When this happened, we got to seek refuge in one of the many shops lining the streets. There's a ton to see in Insadong and we tried to see it all.

The first thing we did was try out some traditional Korean activities that were part of the Independence Movement Day celebration. We drank citron tea and hot chocolate (Koreans eat with every event, just like black folks!) then we played a Korean stick toss game (I'm positive that is the traditional name!). Ajenai and I sucked, but my friend Keena got 2 sticks in the bucket! May not seem like much but she was the only one of about 30 people that could manage that!

Then we moved into this mall that is built around a central courtyard. It's kinda cool cause you walk up this ramp and it takes you in a spiral all the way to the 4th floor. I mean it's cool if you go with the flow of traffic. Sometimes we were swimming with the fishes on that score, but most of the time it was like a shark feeding frenzy and it was all we could do to duck and cover! Ajenai even pushed this guy cause she said she was tired of getting trampled!

Anyway, before I got side tracked, I was going to tell you that they had some men dressed in traditional Korean clothes and they were making this rice candy that is for sale everywhere in Seoul. The rice paste along with some green vegetable (didn't even wanta ask what it was exactly!) are placed in a wooden bowl and they are mixed together by pounding with a heavy wooden mallet. The man was picking folks from the audience to try and pound the stuff, so of course, I shoved Ajenai forward! She barely pounded the stuff once! And it took her 3 tries to lift the mallet. The audience clapped for her and everyone said how cute she was, and of course I agreed. Then we went into several shops in the mall. It was nice, they had hand made paper stores, clothing stores, and a gang of jewelry stores. The most interesting items were the korean foods (from yummy to icky, mostly icky) and I have attached a link with pictures so you can see everything in living color.

Until next time!