Insadong

We went to Insadong recently. It's famous for book shops, calligraphy, tea shops and Korean trinkets/souvenirs. There were lots of white folks, but plenty of Korean tourists, also.



One side alley was filled with stores selling any imaginable ceramic product.






After strolling for a while, we took a side street looking for a traditional Korean meal. It was big, filling and delicious. The entire meal was 26,000W, or $24 American.



Here is the meal, from front and center and moving clockwise. A spicy stew of egg, mushroom, zucchini, onion and shrimp, rice in the metal bowl, a bitter leafy green marinated in hot pepper sauce, a large potato pancake fried with green onion, bean sprout salad, a bitter green salad (similar in texture to collard greens), a hot pot of bulgogi (shaved beef cooked with a sweet teriyaki sauce) with onion, carrot, zucchini and mushroom, more rice, fish cakes with a sweet and spicy sauce, kimchee (spicy pickled cabbage). In the center there are two quail eggs marinated with dried beef and spicy peppers in soy sauce, a sweet and spicy sauce with hot peppers and onions and, finally, a serving of tiny fried fish coated in a sweet and spicy sauce.

I think we ate every last bite.



I read about a place called Ssazmie-gil on a great Korea blog here:

http://discoveringkorea.com/2011/07/06/insa-dongs-ssazmie-gil/

It's a mall with modern architecture, but the wares they sell are a mixture of traditional and modern. There were no chain stores, and each shop seemed to be run by the designer or creator of the goods inside. I usually hate malls, but this one, with it's ramps and independently owned shops, was well worth a look.




Cassie on top of Ssazmie. We're overlooking the courtyard and Insadong-ro.



We'd just finished eating that giant meal, but no Georgia boy can pass a sign that says "Homemade Spicy Sausage." So I ate that, too.



I didn't read about this anywhere else, but we passed a picture of Wonder Woman, so I said, "Let's go in." It was a strange pop culture museum/junk toy collection. It cost about $2 each to check it out. I'd suggest it to anyone.





I was more amused by the Cabbage Patch doll than she was.