Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Dorothy, we're not in Kansas anymore. Or Olympia, for that matter.

Today was all about going to this crazy market district in Daegu. One taxi ride away that cost 7600 wan (about $7.50) sits this crowded, bustling, and at times smelly spectacle. It covers 9 square city blocks and has shops on streets, in buildings, and everywhere in between. Think Yardbirds, Yeagers, or a Farmer's Market. Now multiply it times, ohhhhh, I don't know. Maybe times 1000, and you'll start to get the feel for what this place is. 
Fruits and veggies (Owen on the right)



This lady was pulling the frozen fish out of boxes.  She was busy in the morning getting her display all set up.


And speaking of fish... these silvery packages are all dried fish of various sizes. Some were maybe an inch long and some were up to 2 or 3 inches. All dried. All silvery. All contained a smell I am not accustomed to smelling! I think there were no less than a dozen other shops all selling these fish.


 This is one of the dozens and dozens of inside shops. It actually reminded me of how an antique mall works: many vendors renting space inside of one big room. Each floor covered one city block. It was mind numbing just how much stuff these people were selling. Dishes here, but there were clothes, costmetics, socks, etc. One entire floor was filled with bolts upon bolts of fabric where women could come pick the fabric and have a dress maker design them a traditional Korean gown.


This is the street scene from a skybridge.

The scene from ground level. On the left is a shirt vendor. On the right is a noodle counter. I'm learning these noodle places are everywhere.


Another scene from the street. Notice the pile of ??? on the blue platter.  I consider myself a pretty adventerous eater, but this was too much for me!


I snuck a picture of this women. Yes, she's selling chickens. Live chickens. I think they will be somebody's dinner soon. I regret not getting a picture of the dead pheasants and rabbits hanging from a nearby pole, waiting to be purchased.


This lady was unloading her greens. So many beautiful types of produce.

Bag upon bag of nuts, grains and dried fish.


A place to purchase children's traditional clothing.

This is looking down onto one of these noodle bar places. Quite the kitchen set up. There were probably 20 or more places just like this one that sat one after the other, all down the center of the street.
Me, Owen and Adele. We are looking so happy because we found food we recognized (udon soup) and were ready for some lunch! We all managed to eat with chopsticks this time! See the lady to the right of Adele? I think she thought I was crazy for asking the noodle lady to take our picture.

The lady in the blue apron is making these FABULOUS pancake things. The dough cooks up chewy and the center is filled with a few bits of chopped nuts and honey/brown sugar all melted and gooey. She drops the dough onto the hot skilled and presses them flat so they don't puff up too much. After a few minutes and being flipped several times, they are ready to eat. They make an Elephant's Ear look like baby food. Sooo yummy! It's probably a good thing I don't know how to make these things.

3 comments:

  1. Jack, Amanda, Emily, ThomasApril 19, 2011 at 6:32 PM

    Wow - the market looks fun, crazy and delicious (well, not the blue platter stuff!). We are all hoping you can replicate the pancake things back home. We love you - and miss you!

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  2. wish I could have shared the experiances that we saw in Singapore, before they "sanitized" the open market. And the riding in a long boat in thailand, that had dead animals in the same proximity of kids diving into the water. Know the "feeling" of wondering what to eat.

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  3. Cool market pictures. Definitely an adventure. I'm thinking that plate of innards had liver on the bottom. Yikes! Have a great time. Miss you! Ellen and the Joss family

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