Saturday 28 October 2023

Seoul

Koreans love shopping. Given the fact that every building has an underground shopping center, that there is a major market every few blocks, and that pop-up shops are everywhere (including the passages in subway stations), it seems shopping is pretty much all they do. Oh, except for drinking coffee and eating pastries. There are at least four or five coffee shops on every block; you can't walk 10 minutes without reaching another Starbuck's.

Thursday 26 October

Today I visit the Dongdaemun area, another location for major shopping, but also the location of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park (2007-14), designed by the late "star" architect, Zaha Hadid. Shaped more like a flying saucer than a building, the aluminum-clad structure is too large to fit into a single photograph.

The building houses a number of cultural institutions and design studies. For two weeks it hosts "Seoul Design 2023," an exhibit of newly-designed, sustainable products.

All that culture makes me hungry again, so I wander around the side streets of Dongdaemun with restaurants lined up side by side. I go in for a large Italian lunch:  Chicken Caesar Salad and Pasta Pomodoro:

After all that food there is nothing else to do but visit more shopping streets (special note: I do not buy anything; I do not need anything--although the crafts are quite lovely). You will also note that I have said nothing about native Korean food. I don't have anything to say because the dish I was willing to try, Korean barbecue, is usually served to at least two persons. Although you probably think I can eat for two, the restaurants don't see it that way.

So, with some difficulty, I find my way to the Insa-dong shopping street; highly recommended by my guide book, but mostly shops selling women's cosmetics (big business here). Time to head back to the hotel.

And so ends another day.