Exploring Seoul

This weekend was fantastic! On friday I went with my friends to dongdaemun shopping center. We walked down this really long river walkway and found a famous spot where the water and the water fall was all lit up. Very cool.

 On Saturday we went to one of the oldest part of Seoul, where the houses are still traditional Korean houses. We walked around and go lost in the streets. We eventually followed our noses to an italian restaurant! I hadn't had pasta or pizza since I'd been here (two of my favorite foods) and we had both there. It was awesome, but kind of funny to eat italian food in a historic district in Seoul. Oh well.

On sunday my best friend and I went to a famous more local market called Nangdaemun market. It is a couple blocks divided into different vendors. Food vendor alley, watch alley, clothes alley, noodle alley. We wondered around and bargained for a few things (Korean jeans, chopsticks and dried mango were my purchases).

 Our main interest however was the food. We started off at food vendor alley and had some Kimchi Jiggae, a spicy soup with kimichi, tofu and meat. Then we wondered a bit and found a street cart selling fried doughnut type things. Sweet dough coved in sugar. We each got 4 for 1000won(about 90 cents). Right after we finished those we found the famous noodle alley we had read about. It was a long-ish alley, very narrow with a tarp roof. Along either side were red stools.

We were directed towards two empty ones and sat down. There were two older ladys behind the counter. Zac knew what the noodles were called and said the name and held up 2 fingers. The ladys nodded served us 2 bowls of something different. She gave us the best bibimpap I have ever had! She took all of the fresh ingredients out of big bins right in front of us on the table. It was so good! After we had almost finished our bibimpap she handed us each a bowl of the noodles! She smiled and rubbed her belly, telling us it was good. The noodle s were delicious as well! they were in a kind of soup, and had an odd wavy pattern. We ate as much as we could, for eating so much within an hour. Oh, and the bibimpap and noodles were only 4000won total!

I held up my camera and the lady serving us smiled for me to take her picture.

I really loved that place. Our other friends all want to go back this weekend. I can't wait!


-Glenn