It was my first time taking the subway myself, and thanks to some great directions from a friend, I didn't get lost...which is a good thing, because it took much longer than I had anticipated and I was 40 minutes late meeting the cute couple you see pictured below...friends from New Brunswick, yay!
We met up in Insadong, which is a charming section of Seoul that has many tiny shops selling traditional Korean goods and knick knacks. Below we have a couple of pictures of people making dok...a pasta-like substance made from compressed rice. Dok is used for many dishes here and I really like it. On it's own it's thick and chewy and doesn't have a lot of flavour. However, sugary sauces or coatings are added to make various desserts and spicy sauces and other ingredients are added to make other dishes (like the dokpokki I posted about awhile ago). I nearly choked on it once though, because it's so thick. Here's a man doing what I'd imagine to be stage one of making dok. He had just finished pounding rice with that giant hammer you see on the left:
And here is another vendor making and selling sweet dok:
After gabbing for hours at Starbucks (I know, I know, not so traditionally Korean, eh?), and browsing the various shops we happened upon these fellows playing the happiest, bompy-bomp music ever. I think they were Russian:
And here I am with a chestnut vendor (in Canada we sing about eating them, in Korea they actually eat them). You can buy them already cooked or raw. They are so good...quite potato-like. She was shy about getting her picture taken, but I convinced her by being in the picture myself:
Then we got on the subway and parted ways. A lovely visit!
After returning home for a bit more sleep, I went to Bar Nana (a very cool, trendy nightclub) in Itaewon with some girlfriends. I did not take any of the following pictures, as I didn't have my camera on me. Thanks to the chickie who emailed them to me! Bar Nana was having a fundraiser for a skateboard park in Uganda. From their website:
The Uganda Skateboard Union is setting out to combat idleness and boredom among the youth of Uganda by providing a new, positive, and fun outlet for them. This outlet is skateboarding.
First up we had this Rastafarian DJ who pumped out some groovy tunes. I loved his hair:
For awhile he accompanied this dude who could really sing:
Some of the girlies I came with did back-up bongos from across the room:
Next up we had a band called "We Need Surgery:"
Good times:
Chilling:
A great Saturday!
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