Six in Seoul

Day 4: Pottery shopping in Yeoju with Grammy........

Enough said.

Date night this week was to Janganpyeong Antique Market (also know as Dapsimni Antique Market).  Hubby found the info about this market in the paper; we get the International Herald Tribune.  He said the article talks about more than 120 antique stores in three buildings.  It gave directions and said that visitors don’t know this area as well as InsaDong because visitors have to enter the buildings first to find the stores.  It says that they only get one foreign visitor per day and is a much quieter area of the city.   The article also says there are twice as many antique store here than in InsaDong.  Well, of course we had to check it out and be their one foreign visitor for the day.  (If you live in the area and want directions just let me know and I will get them to you)  The first building we went into wasn’t as big as we expected, but the antiques lined the halls, and all the stores were busting at the seams.  They had the most beautiful double doors, the type Hubby wants for the entrance to the courtyard in our dream home.   The second building was about the same as the first, not as big as expected, but still tons upon tons of beautiful antiques.  We found a wonderful long, slender table with a marble top we would love to have, but have no idea where we would put it.  It is on the list and we might have to go back for it…..we will see.  To find the 3rd building we had to venture out a little further, but it was pretty easy to find.  Here we hit the jackpot.  There were so many stores in this building, however we were running out of time and did not get to explore the entire building. We only hit a few stores on the main floor; we know there were at least 2 more floors full of antiques, if only we had more time.  We will go back when my mother-in-law is here.  She will love this place; the only problem will be if she finds something, how on earth will she get it home?  In the last building we found an amazing chair, I am sure it was made for a giant.  It was so large you could fit at least three people on it comfortably.  It was so high that it had a stool to pull out to climb up on to it.  It was all wood, with hand carvings all over it.  If I only had a nice cool 5G lying around.

Here are a couple of shots I took while out that day….this mask was about half the size of me.

And this statue was just too funny I couldn't resist.

You all know how I LOVE a good deal.  On Friday my friend T. took me shopping in Dongmyo area.  I am so excited about SOCKS….I know, who would have thought socks could excite anyone, but when I am getting them at .50 cents a pair, this girl gets excited!  I had to restrain myself from buying them all (Staci understands).  50 cents, come on, and they are good socks, Tommy, CK, Ralph Lauren, and so on!  I got Hubby his own brand, Boy 1 his own brand, and a brand for myself (you know for ease of telling them apart).  Here is a photo of the store with my friend T. shopping.

You can get ruffled socks, tall socks, short socks, no show socks, low show socks, Garfield socks, Hello Kitty socks, fuzzy socks, toe socks and more!  Socks, socks and more socks.....I'm in sock heaven.  Below are the socks I bought, over 50 pair.....

This area also had some CRAZY type shopping.  If you have the time and you like digging through piles you are sure to find great deals here...

And another shirt that isn't quite right.....

This place is crazy fun, hubby and I went to Dongdaemun last night for a little night shopping.  You cannot believe the insanity. There are people everywhere, and get this, the malls are open till 4AM!  Now, these are not your typical malls, one mall we went into was 10 stories high, with 2 basement levels.  Also, the mall itself is a bit different, there are no doors taking you into stores, they are all out in the open, some separated by glass walls, or partitions of some sort.   Not all malls are like this, but this is what I found to be true of the ones in Dongdaemun. There are also tons of street vendors all over the place, and people dancing and singing in front of the malls.  An interesting thing I have found here is that Koreans love to wear shirts with English on them, now it may not be proper English, and sometimes the shirt actually insults the person wearing it,  and most of the time they do not get our sayings quiet right.  Like these two, the SOCK YOUR KNOCKS OFF is my favorite, I have no idea what the Nutrigrain bar has to do with it.

.

Boy 1 and I went to Osan Air Force Base yesterday.  We are heading to Saipan today and we needed to get our SOFA stamps in our passports before we leave.  We can get them done here, however it takes MUCH longer to get them done & they would not be complete before we left.  So, we hopped on a bus (visualize that) and headed to Osan, a 1 hour 15 minute trip.  We didn’t mind though, this was a great opportunity to see another area of Korea, plus the Air Force seems to live a more posh life than the Army, their BX is bigger than our PX, they seem to have more amenities and their housing is better...yes, you sense a bit of jealousy.   It took all of 3 minutes, including waiting time to get our SOFA stamps.  From there we headed here……..

Yes, the Air Force base even has a Chili's!  Now we love the food here in Korea, but to see a Chili's was like a little slice of heaven.  Boy 1 and I were very excited to eat here.  He had a sirloin and I had the quesadilla explosion salad, we also had chips and salsa.  To be in Chili's was almost like being in the US for a little while. We have decided we will have to come back every few months just to eat here.

After Chili's we went to the shopping district outside the main gate.  Boy 1 got a Denver Bronco jersey, and I got 6 Coach Bags and a Coach wallet for my hubby for less than you can buy one Coach Bag for in the states.  Yes, they may be knock off's, but no one would ever know, except that I just told you.  This is the best priced area for bags that I have found. 

Hubby got back from TDY on Saturday night.  He had a GREAT time in San Diego with his brother and friend.  On Sunday he had a bit of jet-lag (to say the least, you will understand when you come visit) and I had a bit of cabin fever so on Sunday he stayed home with the kids and had a PJ day while I went out with a friend to explore even more of Seoul.  We started off going to Dongdaemun, they say some of the best bargains can be found at the Dongdaemun market, a large area packed with small shops & big malls.  I went in search of the fabric market.  We found everything, the only problem; most things are closed on Sunday in Dongdaemun.  This picture is of Cheonggyecheon Stream that travels through the Dongdaemun area. It has great history I will tell you about later when I have walked the entire thing and have more pictures.

As we were walking around Dongdaemun, we happened upon "pet ally".  Check out some of the animals they were selling as pets….

And my all time favorite, which I considered buying for my kids.....THE WATER BUG!!!!!