Jan 26; Dongdaemun: finding thrifty treasures in expensive trash

Day 16
Today was Australia Day. To help celebrate, Tanya gave cute little koala keychains to the non-natives. (How sweet of her to do so!!)

so cute =)

Catherine, Kristie and I decided to head out to Dongdaemun today after classes. From what I heard from some of the others who went to Dongdaemun, this market was dirty, smelly, full of junk, unorganized, and awful. I still wanted to check it out anyways and I'm so glad I did.

I got to see the Cheonggyecheon River again. 

 
There were buildings and buildings with lots of levels full of stuff! There was even a building full of sewing goods, cloth, lace, and all that other material goods. There were a few buildings and we spent most of our time in the more affordable building (one less than major department store prices). I bought two shirts and a bag, and I must say it was well worth it. The streets were not smelly nor dirty. The floors were separated into men's wear, women's wear (multiple floors), accessories, etc...Also, you could try to bargain at the places where the prices aren't already written in stone but I found it a hell of a lot difficult to bargain here.

This building was a little more high class.

When we were on our way to get some dinner, we heard Jason Mraz's I'm Yours and a big crowd of people at the stage. Although we didn't understand what was going on.... we interpreted it as selling dates.
Here is one of the eligible bachelors:

For dinner, we originally went to a noodle restaurant, but when they said they couldn't take out the pork from the noodles (probably because the sauce was pre-made) we headed out to find another one.

The greatest friends that cope with my pescetarian ways.

absolutely delicious but so spicy!
It was the most spiciest thing i ate in Korea to date.

When we were heading out back to the dorm, we saw this wacky carnival ride outside. So basically you take a seat at the edge of the circle and it spins you round and round....without a seat belt. There were people tumbling over to the other side and holding on to their friends for their dear life. It was quite a hilarious scene.

And I now leave you with a night time view of the Cheonggyecheon River.