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We had been up the night before, and so our plan to go to Seoul had been dashed by a faulty telephone plug and a tired individual. By the time I got my everything together, it was too late to embark upon a grand adventure to the capital. Stacey had a backup plan, involving a trip to one of the next town to see the market.
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This picture illustrates better than a thousand words one of the defining paradoxical characteristics of Korea. Here you see someone selling wood of various kinds. Perhaps in some sense edible or full of flavour, but wood none the less. Notice her left hand. What you don't see is a mobile phone smaller and more advanced than you're likely to find in common usage in any part of Europe or North America.
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| Fish! |
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And then, of course, there's the fish. Sea food is extremely popular. Take the most disgusting animals from the big-blue-wet-thing. Cook them, dry them, smoke them freeze them (then defrost them), or failing that cut them up and serve them raw. The little dried fish above are served in bars instead of peanuts.
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| Ginseng! |
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But the main reason we came to this town was to look at the ginseng. These strange looking plants, which wouldn't be out of place in a B-movie, are reputed to be really great for you, in so many mystic ways. We were given samples of ginseng candy, which are good for you, but will still rot your teeth. The backbone of the market seemed to be the sale of ginseng, which is an expensive commodity. Strangely enough, they also sold a lot of honey, of which I bought some. It was delicious.