Namdaemun Market

We went to the Namdaemun Market Monday. This is the largest traditional market in South Korea (according to the many things I have read). It definitely lived up to its name as the thing was bloody huge. It was pretty much everything I imagined about a market. Vendors and shops everywhere, food cooking in the the most random of corners, and everyone yelling about their sale prices.

It was pretty crazy. We were with a newly acquired friend, Jo, who was a fantastic haggler. She managed to talk a guy down from taking 85 dollars for a camping bookbag to 55 dollars. She also talked down a few other people on some garments. Haggling is awesome!
Speaking of clothes - wow. This place had a ton of stuff. I mean, pretty much everything your little heart could desire and at some pretty nice prices. But the thing that got me were the jackets. They had these beautiful leather and fur jackets that would probably cost thousands in the USA for 300-800 hundred dollars. Can we say Christmas present? :D

We did learn a harsh lesson while in the market - always ask food prices before you order. We went to a street vendor with the idea of "it can't be that expensive...it's street food". So we order a bunch of stuff and gorge ourselves (we were hunger after walking so much!).

Ask you can see...we ate a lot. It was pretty tasty stuff. We even ate some part of the chicken that we were pretty sure was a liver...she pointed to her stomach and said chicken.
Anyway, we learned our lesson because when we got the bill - it was for sixty one dollars. A lot more than what any of us expected to pay.  We felt cheated but had already eaten the food so not much we could do. Next time, we ask before we eat. Lesson learned.

Look carefully at the man to the left. I wasn't able to fully capture his shirt but I tried. This man is wearing a TEXAS LONGHORN shirt. Haha it made me think of my Texas family. ^_^

We took a picture in front of a neat looking fountain.

Just another picture in front of the fountain. Like the hat? The guy before us left it. He only wore it once, so he said. It's a London Fog. I'm rocking it.