A couple of days ago I felt like getting myself lost again, so I hopped on the subway and found myself walking around in Namdaemun Market. It’s supposed to be the oldest running flea street market in Seoul, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. To me, the stuff on sale there was all cheap, knock-off junk. The kind of stuff that would belong in the 10 for $10 t-shirt bin at your local flea market. In any case, it makes for great photos and videos.
Here’s a shot of what the market looks like as you come up from the subway:
Why don’t you walk down a street and check out the junk yourself in this video (1:31 min):
The real star of the show though, were all the food vendors. At the end of the video above, I walked up on a cart surrounded by people. It turns out Koreans love fish sticks too, just not the Van De Kamp’s kind. These fish sticks were made from deep fried fish paste surrounding your choice of Spam ham, shrimp, or pepper all for a buck a stick.
(Sorry, I was so eager to eat I took a bite before remembering that I should’ve taken a photo first.)
Here’s a video of the fish stick guy in action. Man, he’s good (25 sec):
There was a lot of other cool food too. For instance, they were making these cool little cookies out of “honey thread.” It’s supposed to be pulled honey strands coated in flour or cornstarch or something. Anyway, they claim this used to be a dessert eaten by royalty way back when. Like the guy says in the video, “delicious.” But I didn’t get to try them because this wasn’t Costco and they weren’t giving out any samples. Boo. (18 sec):
The following are more photos of interesting and potentially deadly foodstuffs being sold. However, since I hadn’t been in Korea for a week yet, I thought it would be premature for some self-initiated diarrhea Kim Jong-Il’s Revenge.
All raw, all sun, all day = use your imagination:
Smoked elephant knuckles, okay maybe it was pork or something:
Anyone up for some silk worm larvae? Man, where’s that Bizarre Foods guy when you need him?
Hmm, I smell a lawsuit. Food safety anyone?
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