Hello everyone!
One of the first places we visited in Korea was Insadong! It's basically a long street full of shops selling Korean traditional (and also non-traditional) items. The Seoul public transportation is really extensive so it's pretty easy to get just about anywhere from either the bus or the subway, and this was of no exception.
However, it's just a street full of shops with no sign that says 'Insadong', so it actually took us awhile before we realized that we had been in Insadong for a couple of blocks! (we actually asked a seller where Insadong was, and he laughed and said, "this is Insadong!" haha)
The traditional items were fascinating, but we were of course more interested in the food items haha
Korean street foods are just to die for, and there are so many different kinds! I can't think of a single moment in Korea when we were hungry because we kept eating and eating and eating some more... so many foods to try! I'll also do a food post later, but here are some that we experienced that day.
The first one we tried was the traditional King's candy. We saw the whole process of its creation (they call you over to their shop to show you, and the candy making process takes just about 5 minutes!) and it was so fascinating! They start with a block of honey, and they poke a hole in the middle. Then, they stretch it out and add the starch as they do so to keep it from sticking, and keep stretching and folding it upon itself until there are more than 2000 strands of finely pulled honey! When they stretch it out at the end of the pulling session, it looks like silk (lower left hand corner picture)! After that, they put in a little nutty mixture, wrapped it up, and voila! a slightly sweet candy with the most interesting texture that is crispy, yet melts in your mouth.
The next is sort of but not really a traditional street food, but we enjoyed it nonetheless ;) Hodduck is a very popular Korean street food, but this was a new spin on it that I had never seen before.
I think it was more donut-y than Hodduck-y? but either way, it was yummy ;)
As we kept walking, we stumbled upon a little structure that was kind of like an outdoor mall with multiple levels, so we decided to take a look. It was a building that was open on all sides with a large courtyard in the middle, and it was packed full of little shops!
One of the shops was a shop where you could take pictures wearing the Korean traditional clothing--Hanbok--so we decided to give that a shot!
We chose my Hanbok from a lookbook that they gave us, and they gave David his Hanbok that complimented mine. The whole process was a bit quick and we struggled a little bit at first. The camera would give us 10 seconds to choose multiple backgrounds and then 3 seconds to pose in very quick succession. Most of the time, it took us 5 seconds to realize what was happening, and then 5 seconds to scramble to decide which backgrounds we wanted haha Despite the stress(?) we had a lot of fun, and we are happy with how the pictures turned out! ;)
The shopping complex was also full of little sculptures, and I think there is a scavenger hunt kind of a thing where you take pictures with each sculpture. We didn't do the hunt, but we did find some of the ones we were supposed to find! ;)
As I've mentioned before, Korea is famous for its street food, and it seems that the vendors are getting more and more creative..? p**p shaped bread! We were very tempted to try, but our full stomachs turned us away from this one =p
We didn't end up buying very much, but we did enjoy walking off some of the street foods
and trying on some glasses
and spotting other Korean traditional games like this one. This is similar to hopscotch, and I used to play this alllllll the time~~~~~ does anyone else remember this?
It seems that the Korean couples are very fond of leaving their couples mementos in public places, and we found one here in Insadong! This one is called the 'Love Wall', and it is located in the top floor of the shopping complex.
We thought about leaving our own, but decided to save it for our Namsan trip, and left Insadong (and the couples) behind to explore Bukchon!
Bukchon is not too far from Insadong, but you do have to walk a little to get there. The walk didn't seem too long, however, because the street was full of little trucks selling various items like this one.
I admit, we were kind of lost, but thankfully, there are many people in red vests who are walking around to help lost tourists like us. If you get lost in Seoul (or any popular tourist destination), look for people wearing red vests, and they will point you to the right direction! Finally, with a map the guide handed us, we managed to get to Bukchon, the Han-Ok Village!
Bukchon is basically a little neighborhood where all of the houses are built in the traditional (Han-Ok) fashion. So you can walk around the neighborhood and feel transported back to the Josun times... but not really because there were cars and automatic locks and other modern features haha The juxtaposition was very interesting.
We enjoyed our walk around the neighborhood, but I wish we could have gone inside to look at the houses. I realize that these houses are actually occupied, and are not just for display, so that was understandable, but after awhile, all of the roofs and walls look the same, no matter how beautifully designed they are.
The view at the very top of the hill was really nice though, despite the haziness of the downtown Seoul..
Later on, we were told that there are parts of Bukchon where you can go inside and see the traditional houses, but sadly, we didn't find any. I don't think I would make a whole trip just for Bukchon, but it was a nice side trip to take from Insadong. If you plan on visiting Insadong, and want to take a walk among some Han-Ok (and take some pictures), Bukchon would be a fun little side trip!
On your way back down from Bukchon, you have to stop by this little hole-in-the-wall Dduckbokki shop! It's run by this sweet lady who has been running the shop for decades!
The food was so delicious, and it was a perfect snack after the long walk (which we took to walk off the street food we had consumed not even an hour before... haha). Be warned, if you are planning on visiting Korea, you are going to gain weight. mmhmm. but it's all worth it, I promise ;)
--Janny