A Beautiful Saturday in Namdaemun

Namdaemun is definitely a world like no other.  You can find just about everything if you know where to look.  There are many side streets where you can get lost for hours.  Unfortunity for Rocketman, I found the jewelry section of Namdaemun.

Stall after stall filled with jewelry.  Everything you could ever imagine.  It's hard to navigate through the aisles because they are very narrow and people are making jewelry in their little stalls.  It is overwhelming to see so much and I left with my head spinning but my pocketbook still full.

                          All these pictures in this first section of my blog were shot by Rocketman.

                                 Saturday is not the day to go to Namdaemun if you hate crowds.

                                                 But it's a great place for people watching.

                                                                Belly dancing anyone?

                               After a few hours, I was starting to feel like this little guy.

             Need to exchange money?  You can find ajummas all over Namdaemun with their wads of cash. 

                                      Lots of ajumma buying frenzies going on too.

Namdaemun food delivery service.  It's amazing watching them navigate the crowds.  It's very much like a dance.

                                    More belly dancing attire.  It must be a popular hobby.

You can find lots of food also at Namdaemun.  I was surprised at how many vendors spoke English trying to get us to buy their food.

                               I even found some maedeup which is a popular souvenir gift.

                                        Rocketman got a great shot of Namsam Tower.

             Now these are the pictures I took.  Another picture of an ajumma buying frenzy.

                                                                And another shot.

                                                           Ready for the lunch crowd.

 Rocketman just LOVED this outfit and wanted me to find one just like it.  I don't think so and he was just kidding.  But I love how ajummas follow their own muse when it comes to fashion.  The louder and more sparkly, the better.

                              I've never tried the silkworms and I'm not in any hurry to try them.

                                             Someone was selling these cute coats for your dog.

 This ajumma's table was pretty packed with ajummas.  She must have had lots of bargains.

 

We met up with SeJin, Sarah's husband, and had a wonderful meal.  I found Sarah's blog in 2006 when we were preparing for our move to South Korea.  Her blog really put my mind at ease with the whole idea of living in South Korea.  She lived here almost 10 years well before the huge ESL (English Second Language) teacher invasion that has occurred over the past five years.

We tried to get together before she left but time ran out and she is back in Canada with little Grace.  SeJin hopes to follow soon but is waiting for all the paperwork to be processed.  Hopefully, it will happen soon so he can join them in Canada.  But until that happens, we hope to get together again with him.  We had a great time.

I kinda felt like this guy as we made our way back to Suwon.  We got home past 10 pm and we were both exhausted from the day.  This week was suppose to be our vacation but like all things in Korea, you have to be willing to change.  Hellena came from Quatar last week and we decided last minute to meet her in Busan.  But she ended up being sick all week so that canceled our plans.

I tried get a hotel in Busan for this week but they are all booked up due to the Busan International Film Festival.  But we just found out that Hellena is coming back at the end of the month so we are planning a vacation with her then.  The weather is simply beautiful this time of year in South Korea so we would like to take a trip.