What are you in the Market for?

There is something about an Asian Market. Here, the best markets are outdoors, no matter the weather. Markets in Korea concentrate collections of people, wares, ads, smells, foods, and experiences. Expect to get jostled and bumped, and if you go, have no timetable or destination in mind.

My favorite are South Gate (남대문 시장) and East Gate (동대문 시장) Markets. Both are huge operations (covering many, many acres) that run perhaps 18 hours a day. Arrive before 11:00 AM, and things will be quiet. Another lull occurs around 8:00 PM as the first and second shift of sellers exchange places, the latter ready to go till 3:00 AM.

These are crowded places. All possible space is given over to retailing, and minimal space is given to shopper space.

Prices are quite low, and can go lower if you bargain, or if the retailer is near the end of her/his long day. I see the same items in non-market shops a few blocks away, with up to a 50% mark-up.

Let's give the keyboard a rest. Images tell the rest of the story, with a few comments thrown in.

Thanks for reading,
Marc

 

Ah, the smells!

Rice Cakes of various styles and tastes.

Imported Food Section  (above and below)

Life for the sellers is incredibly (it seems) dull. Smart-screen phones help many pass the day. 

Saxy Saint Nick!

A real person; he's always there, advertising for a shop on the 6th floor of the department store nearby. 

Many shops in high-density market areas have persons with portable PA systems: constant and audible 'billboards' for sales. 

Moto-bikes are the ants in the pants of the market; they keep things moving (especially pedestrians!)

Fortune-telling booths

Famous market (Peace Market) at Dongdaemun Market. This building is about 25 yards wide and 1/4 mile long. Two stories, chock-a-block full of 15' X 5', 15' X 10' and 15' X 15' cell-stores, with a narrow 3' aisle bisecting the two lines of cell-stores.

 Those hands and chopsticks are 2X the size of a human.

Next few pics are not for the squeamish...

When you gotta go...

Ginseng!

Can you spot the Gangnam Style? Obama? 

Need socks? Lemme know!

For the pop-star minded.

Thanks for taking a look-see.

Now, what comments would you contribute?

What ideas for other blogs you want to see?

-Marc