Hwanghak-dong / 황학동

On March 15, 2025 3 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

Sounds of the Market

These sounds of Hwanghak-dong market give the pictures a little more life: look and listen

A wide view of Hwannghak-dong Market with colourful umbrellas

Hwanghak-dong is home to a permanent full time flea market. It is busy everyday with sidewalk and shop vendors selling absolutely everything. I won’t even try to list what is available. Anything you can think of…you can buy it here. It is crowded with people young and old from morning to sundown.

Crowds of people exploring Hwanghak-dong Flea Market

Perfume seller at Hwanghak-dong Market — perfume and aftershave

Miscellaneous pile of stuff spilling out of a store onto the roadway in Hwanghak-dong — clocks, blenders, clothes, rice cookers, shoes…..

Old Korean men looking through record crates on the street in Hwanghak-dong — fellow ajeossi crate diggers

Power tool seller and repairman at Hwanghak-dong — power tool specialist

Steam rising from a street stall where kwabaegi and steam buns are selling — loads of food: this is steamed buns and kwabaegi, a kind of korean doughnut twist. We almost always get toast here 토스트. It’s a white bread sandwich fried in butter, stuffed with egg and veggie scramble, ham and cheese, cane sugar and ketchup. I like ordering it because I get to say 치즈 (cheese) in Korean.

Gold jewelry on display at Hwanghak-dong Flea Market — gold jewellery

Shoe seller at Hwanghak-dong Flea Market — shoes..this looks like a bargaining standoff

brass animals and mounted rocks (scholar’s rocks?)

The Mystery of Old Photos

Personal photos that have become separated from their families are a mystery. There is always a story in the image but it is almost impossible to know what it is.

I found this loose snapshot in a basket in a store at the flea market. Because it is black and white and from the look of the cars in the background, it must be the 60’s. There is a building and statue in the background that look European. I love the kids faces (kids making funny faces in family photos is a phenomenon that knows no cultural boundaries). They look so unhappy in the moment. Maybe they have had to pose for too many photos that day or maybe it’s too hot outside to stand in the sun. The woman is most likely their mom. It is such a good photograph.

Old family photo with writing on the back in Korean

The best part is that there is writing on the back. I have trouble reading handwriting so a friend helped me to read and translate it: It says:

“This is the entrance to the Eiffel Tower where you can get off the bus from our place. The building behind is a military school. The statue behind us is far from where we are standing and the building is across a wide road.”

Korean writing on the back of a photo explaining where they are on the front

I looked up “Eiffel Tower” and “Military School” and found out that the building they are standing in front of is the Ecole Militaire in Paris. It faces the Eiffel Tower. Here is a modern picture of it including the statue she mentioned. I wonder if they were living in Paris and why? Or maybe they were just visiting. How many Koreans travelled to Europe in the 60s? I am sure it was unusual. How hard was it for a foreigner to use French buses back then?

I hope you had as much fun in Paris as I had finding your picture at the flea market. How did you get separated from your photos? Where are you now? Have I seen you on the subway sitting in the blue seats?

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korea, photography

Lazy day in Seoul

On March 14, 2025 0 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

Coffee and Cats

A walk up the old city wall near Dongdaemun to feed cats was not a great success. It was a hot afternoon and they were probably asleep in the shade somewhere. Instead, we stopped at the little 3 story “Cafe Reading Cat” overlooking the west end of Seoul and sipped coffee in the sunshine. Cats are everywhere outdoors in Seoul. People who live here seem to take care of the homeless ones, bringing them food or setting up little shelters for them. If you want to see a post where we found lots of cats up here, check this one.

Cute coffee mug with cat and book at Cafe Reading Cat in Seoul

View of Namsan from Cafe Reading Cat with cats on the building

Plaster cats adorn Cafe Reading Cat coffee shop in Seoul — Cat sculptures along the outside walls

Picture perfect weathered yellow entranceway in Seoul — Picturesque entryway

Gas and electrical meters with rusty pipe along white wall in Seoul — Electrical conduit, gas pipes, water pipes, sewers, valves and gauges: these are the nervous, circulatory and digestive systems of a city. I like seeing how different places have these arranged. I am a utility-tourist

Dinner with Minu

Alleyway flower stand at night in Jongno — On the way to meet Minu for dinner I noticed this old man had set up a flower shop in an alleyway in Jongno. There are many businesses like this that appear after dark and disappear by the next morning.

Bar and restaurant alley in Jongno where we met for BBQ — Lively alleyways behind the main street, full of restaurants and young people just off work. When I first travelled to Asia, I remember being dazzled by all the bright signs and lights everywhere. I am so used to them now that I don’t notice them as much but I really do miss them when I get back home. It’s like when your parents take the Christmas lights down and your house returns to colourless normal.

Modern pork BBQ restaurant in Jongno — 무쇠옥, a modern pork BBQ joint. It was very good. Look here for details.

Pork BBQ cooking on hot grill in Jongno BBQ restaurant — This BBQ was not only different thick cuts of pork but also kimchi, bracken fern, minari and bean sprouts, all caramelized on the hotplate and wrapped in lettuce and perilla leafs. There was also ramp jjangachi and rich doenjang jjigae.

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Naengmyeon and Emu Artspace

On March 14, 2025 0 Comments - Korea 2025, Travel

Pyongyang Naengmyeon

I love naengmyeon. The icy broth and chewy noodles are unlike anything else. Woo Rae Oak has been serving Naengmyeon in Seoul since the 1940s. Noodles, broth, beef, fermented white kimchi and sliced korean pear are arranged in a big bowl. You can sharpen the flavour with mustard and vinegar from the pots on the table. The kimchi here is probably the best I have had on this trip.

There is normally a lineup from the moment the doors open but we were lucky with our timing today and sat down right away. Woo Rae Oak as well as Pildong Myeonok are my two favourites for this dish in Seoul. you can read about Woo Rae Oak in the Michelin Guide.

Emu Artspace

I have visited Emu Artspace many times and I always leave wishing we had a place like this back home in Toronto. There is a small theatre on both the second and the third floor where they show mostly independent and arthouse films. The main floor is a cafe/bookstore where you can relax with a drink before your film. One floor below is Panta Garage, a live performance space that hosts music shows across all genres. In addition to this, a small wooden stage in the grass behind the building provides an outdoor space for performances in good weather.

It is truly an art “centre”, a place where artists of all kinds can come together under one roof and there is always something going on for lovers of books, music and film.