We have been to the market almost every day since we got here. Some of the vendors simply have stalls on the sidewalk - most of these are selling vegetables or fruit.
There are several fresh fish vendors - and some even have huge tanks with all manner of seafood swimming around. Just what I might do with a live squid...well, I don't picture myself buying one.
There is fresh meat on ice, and fresh meat just sitting on tables (I'm hesitant to buy meat that is not being presented using some method of preservation). There are a LOT of dried products - some of which we cannot identify, and some which are obviously fish by the smell (and the taste! Bob tried some.)
There are many clothing stalls as well - cute socks are common, as are blankets. Korean people don't use sheets like we do - and the common bedding is a quilted blanket on top of the mattress and a quilt overtop of that. (Given the size of my washer, I'm not sure I could even get the quilted blanket in to wash - I'm happy we brought our sheets along).
There are some little shops that customers can actually enter - we went into one such shop and purchased a "used" (but reconditioned) fan for 20 000 Won (which is about $20). Fans are extremely expensive here (considering they are almost a necessity). A comparable "new" fan to ours is 48 000+ won, so we are happy with ours. It does duty at night to blow the air conditioned air around...and during the day to aid in drying clothes that have been washed...
About half-way along is a "dollar" store which has the most amazing stuff. There are 2 floors, and the top floor is all housewares-type stuff. The aisles are so narrow - some it is almost impossible to get down...there's enough room to sneak in sideways and look at the wares on one side of the aisle only....then you have to sidle out and turn around to go back in again. And the shelves go up to the ceiling (which is low). They had soup pots big enough to bathe in...so I'm not sure what (or who) would be cooked in that!!! We managed to find all sorts of little household gadgets, and even the best find...electric adaptors for the equivalent of 30 cents each!
There are usually lots of people in the market, as well as people on bikes and motor scooters. It's amazing to me that no one ever gets upset or annoyed as cyclists or scooter riders zip through the market, weaving in and out of the crowds. It's kind of a reflection of the calm attitude we've seen everywhere. No one gets uptight about things like that.
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