Seoul Sunday

We woke to a rainy cold Sunday in Seoul today. This was the view looking north from our 15th floor windows .........

But it didn't stop us heading out for another local walk after breakfast - well rugged up and raincoats ready. We found a small producers' market set up along Sejong-daero (the iconic main avenue of Seoul city) which gave our walk a purpose.

 This time of year is the best time to lay down the next year's supply of kimchee ......

 Never seen vats of fresh pomegranate seed juice before!

 But the highlight of our day today was meeting up with Kay's beautiful Mum and Dad over a LONG, luxurious, traditional Korean lunch at the monumental Sejong Arts Centre (also on Sejong-daero).

 We had more courses than I can remember - all delicious - I probably overdid it - but the best part was the continuous conversation about family, travel and making plans for more visits to the Korean Peninsula and return visits to Australia (what about Tasmania hey?) It's amazing how talkative we were really as Rob and I don't speak Korean and Mr and Mrs Kang don't speak English.

I laughed at the ladies parking bays in the Arts Centre car park - imagining it was like the jokes I've seen on social media (where the women's parking bays are a metre wider than the men's and all at weird angles). But no these ladies' car parks are sited near the well lit lift areas for safety reasons!

 We headed down to the "last Hanok (traditional Korean house) village in Seoul: Ikseon-dong" after our long lunch to wander around the picturesque little alley ways and find a place for coffee and dessert.

There are still old time locals who live in this district but it must be getting so much harder for them as the area is being inundated with hip coffee shops, bars and arty shops. There were a lot of well heeled, well groomed young people filling the narrow alleyways this afternoon.

 We stopped for coffee, but I was struck by the pastry offerings on the counter - so exotic!

 Mr Kang made sure we sampled some of the creamy delights, which I've come to regret this evening - however I would not have missed the experience for anything!

 From there it was only a short walk to Seoul's famous Gwangiang Markets, South Korea's oldest continuous food market and famous all around the world thanks to the international celebrity chef visits over the past few years.

 The markets are famous for the quality of their mung bean pancakes. We saw the mung beans being ground and then mixed with sprouts and spring onions and more herbs - so healthy (unless you consider all the oil they are fried in! ).

 The food markets are run by strong capable women .......

 My shot of the day ...... 

 Good to see the process for making GimBap (don't call them sushi).

Unlike other countries around the world now, South Koreans are so friendly and welcoming to tourists. We've been greeted with big smiles and encouragement wherever we've gone and no problems taking photos!

It was dark, cold and showery by the time we'd seen the food market so we caught a taxi for the short ride back to the Somerset Palace. I felt a bit upset in the tummy by the time I got home (too much creamy treats after our huge lunch) so I was unable share a cup of barley tea with Joel and Kay back in our dry, warm room. Hope I get over this uncomfortable feeling very soon!