Wow it seems the holiday is reaching the end all too fast. The pace is almost frenetic combining both sightseeing and shopping. Today most of the group went off to tour the Kia Car factory, followed by attending a professional Korean baseball game in the evening. Having worked with Holden/EDS the prospect of a production line wasn't that inviting. Come to think of it, from a test cricket fanatic, baseball would have to be one of the most boring spectator sports. It's really personal opinion, but the games I have watched locally haven’t encouraged me to see pro games.
We opted to get some of the shopping done that was weighing over our head. Some larger souvenir and Korean items that we have wanted to purchase since realising we missed the opportunity three years ago. This added to requests/favours for family/friends and the wish to allow Amelie to choose a Han-bok for herself meant the time snatched today would make much difference to our stress levels.
Stop number one was to Namdamun market to buy some leather purses for kids and trick windcheaters. A little study of the Namdamun map revealed a fishing shop or two on the outskirts and I arranged with Liz a little momentary separation to supposedly better make use of time. Of course my task was simple so I detoured via the fishing shop.
Caught Red-handed, or is that Red Faced?
Worked against me though as Liz anticipated this little diversion and caught me red-handed in the the midst of piscatorial retail therapy. I tried to justify myself by reasoning that all I had to show f]or the trip so far was one T-shirt (no it did not say all I got was a lousy......). Actually it only catered for bait fishing, so nothing much interested a real fisherman until I spotted the rod bags. One designed for carp multi-piece rods turned out perfect as a travel bag for my fly-fishing rods foe the trip to NZ next month. What's more it was less than a third of similar fly-fishing purpose bags and offers same rod protection on the sides if it has to go in the aircraft hold.
The next task was to once again attempt to find and ship traditional Korean drums known as Jan-gu. An adult drum is hour-glassed shape and is about 40cms in diameter and 50cms high. A bit impractical to try take home as carry-on as half the shop jokers suggest around Insadong, but finally we found a shop a little further out willing to arrange delivery to Australia. He gained the pleasant surprise that we wanted 3 drums shipped to separate addresses but a nice bonus for him.
He turned out to be very helpful for tourists and we highly recommend visiting his store. He speaks a little English, finding it difficult to understand our accent, but could communicate through hand written notes. His website is all in Korean, but is www.urikukaksa.com. He is about 5 minutes walk from chandeokgung palace. We grabbed a few business cards as reference to our Han-hok friends but anyone should find his shop easy to find.
Our delicious lunch in Insadong
About we rembered to photograph fantastic spreads from great restaurants.
Next stop was Insadong to finally purchase a lovely print we have had our eye on for a number of days. There is a set of 4 each depicting one of the 4 mythical creatures of the 4 compass points. The prints themselves are made from antique stamps/blocks and the artist creating them has some international recognition. The return to Insadong allowed a luncheon at what has become one of our favourite restaurants and we again had BBQ pork that is wrapped into a leaf, parilla or lettuce, added to with various Kim-chi condiments. The other dish was bulgoggi stew/soup. I have become quite addicted to this as the broth is devine. At about AU$8 is a great value dish for the flavours involved and savoury pleasure.
When Gwangjang shops say hand-made, they mean it
The day was not done yet. Down we walked to Gwangjang Market near Dongdaemun Market. This is one of the better Han-Bok markets and where we purchased Omma & Abba Han-bok and a couple of Amelie's three years ago. We wanted to give Amelie the opportunity to select and buy her own. She chose very well and did well with the price too. It is a Red Skirt with a pale green jacket and included hat, purse and petticoat. Bless her it wasn't pink as I had feared. When given the chance Amelie displays the ability to be quite discerning. Not good news for her Father though......... a born shopper.
We made our way back to the hotel via a walk to City Station via Cheonggyecheon stream. This has been much written about and now is a great feature of the city to provide a little artificial natural atmosphere to one of the most heavily populated areas in the world.
Little Amelie is a trooper. She must have covered at least 6 to 10 klms today, mostly without complaint or tears. She did settle into an hour sleep in the back-pack, but did most of the walking without too much need to bribe/cajole/drag. She is really feeling the impact of the busy pace and long days, but has taken to the visit to Korea positively. It gives us great pleasure to see she feels so good towards her birth country even at this age.
Finally returning with the spoils of war, we dumped items in our room to head over to the food court of Hyundai Department Store across the road to take pot luck with evening snacks as a meal. Fried mandoo dumplings both vegetable and meat varieties were topped with single cone ice-creams as a little indulgence and happy ending to our pleasant, but busy family day.
There is only one taask left for today and it can be performed over the rim of a well earned Duty Free cointreau and await the return for a chat with the Dennis's after their trip to the baseball. That is to finally gloat that i beat Michelle to a complete, pictures and all blog.
Cheers!
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