August 11, 2014

This weekend we ventured into another area of Seoul – Myeong-dong. It’s essentially a shopping mecca where all the big brands have huge stores; add street vendors and street food to that and you get an exciting and delicious kind of chaos.

Meat on a stick!

I bought a kebap here obviously!

Here’s a little video Zach shot:

We stumbled upon the cutest coffee shop -Waffle Lui Cafe. They had coffee, tea, and Belgian waffles (which are all over the place oddly enough). There was only room for one of us to sit down! It was so tiny! The two Korean women inside were mother and daughter I think and it was really funny when the mother tried to help Zach with the record player! Eventually the daughter got it going and we listened to Placido Domingo and John Denver – it was an eclectic selection. We’ll definitely stop by again the next time we’re in Myeong-dong!

Cutest and smallest coffee shop

Adorable Korean woman trying to help Zach

They have a record player & records for your listening pleasure

Also in the Myeong-dong vicinity is Namdaemun Market, one of Seoul’s most famous outdoor markets. It takes its name from the Namdaemun Gate, the Great South Gate (more formally called Sungnyemun Gate), which was one of four gates that protected Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty. Merchants used to set up outside the city walls near the market’s current location. It’s immense and spans several blocks. We had a map but since we weren’t looking for anything specific we didn’t use it and just wandered around instead. There is so much stuff! Since we are currently poor we didn’t really buy anything. However, come Christmas time, I imagine a lot of gifts will be coming from Namdaemun.

Here we go!

You could have orange, grapefruit, or lemon juice and then they add simple syrup and sparkling water

Tasty!

Strange wall art overhead

Sorry guys, don’t know what this was called but it was good!

Filled with meat and noodles!

Here is a video Zach took. I have expressed to him that he needs to work on his skillz.

On our way out we also explored a bit of the Hoehyeon Underground Shopping Arcade and stumbled upon a treasure trove of records! So, maybe we’ll invest in a record player after all…

We bought our first Korean pizza on our way home at Lotte Mart. We have been told that Korean pizza is terrible so we were curious. We got a bulgogi pizza and it had bell pepper, onion, beef, and corn. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t great. We’ll have to try some others.

Looks normal enough

On Sunday we went back to Myeong-dong because I wanted to get a fish pedicure and there was a cafe I had read about. Unfortunately we were unable to find it – we have discovered that a lot of places close suddenly so it’s often difficult to find specific places – however, there was a guy handing out flyers on the street for a spa and they had some fish! The place I had read about was a cafe where you could order coffee and then have a fish pedicure, so this place was less glamorous, but I was happy with anything at that point. During a fish pedicure you stick your feet in a pool of little minnows and they eat the dead skin off your feet! It’s that simple! It is slightly ticklish at first but I got over that pretty quickly. I think Zach had a harder time with the sensation. We paid ₩5,000 ($5) for 10 minutes – not bad. I will definitely do it again!

What I meant was, baby soft, not baby feet! Anyway, a couple of my students told me today that there is a place near our apartment where I can get fish pedicures so I’ll try them next time!