Seoul Part Two The Garment District

After viewing the palace, Pam and I headed out to see if we could find a knitting store I had found on the web.  I had figured out our subway stop, but was advised (incorrectly) by someone to go elsewhere and we ended up a few blocks from our original goal and confused.  We wandered around a major shopping area and then stopped for street food as it was well past lunch time. I bought something spirally on a stick and Pam got something resembling a spicy sausage.

There were many choices and it was hard to narrow it down to just one, but we also had deadlines to meet and little time left before we were due back on the ship.

We eventually found ourselves in the garment district and located the shopping center that was supposed to have the yarn stores in the basement. There was plenty of fabric and we also saw people making gorgeous traditional Korean clothing.

The area was labyrinthine, a veritable rabbit warren of shops and fabrics. We found exactly one yarn store amidst all the different stores.

The shop owner however was not friendly and didn't want us touching her wares, so after a bit of peering  at her yarn from a distance, we gave up.  It looked like mostly acrylic stuff anyway and I couldn't find anything interesting enough even to ask the price of.

The fabrics were colorful and warmed the basement despite the cheap market feel of the location.

On the way out we looked at the yarn shop one more time ...

Nope! There really wasn't anything we wanted to buy!  Then we headed  up to the street to see what else the garment district might contain.

We passed long rows of booths often with people eating lunch. Outside one booth we discovered this pot of a Korean delicacy I had read about.

I'm not sure, but I believe this might be Beondegi  (silk worm larvae).

It seems to look just like this example from the web:

The street was lined with booths  and each little booth had somebody in it.

The woman above was sewing.

Unfortunately though, it was now time for us to get back on the subway and head to the ship.

We passed this interesting sculpture of what looked like a student and then went on back past some of the garment booths and bookstores.

There were all kinds of items, patches, notions, ribbons, trims, etc. Unfortunately they all seemed to be wholesale, so we didn't buy anything but food on our little exploration of Seoul.

On the way into the subway, we also passed the East Gate. I believe it had burned down recently and was in the process of being rebuilt, but it looked finished to me.

The subway passed through major urban areas of Seoul.

While we were sitting there a woman got very excited and passed us a little brochure in English about how "we" (Christians, I assume) need to do away with Christmas and  to celebrate seders instead. We were told it was like what Jesus used to do. The language barrier appeared to be too much for our well-intended friend,so she turned her energies on her neighbor.

She was about as excited as we were to hear the news (You can tell by her expression of panicked entrappedness). In the mean time I took pictures out the window trying to look busy, so as not to arouse  anymore of the kindly woman's attention.  I actually like this shot very much because, despite it's rectilinear quality the colors and texture work so nicely  together.

Soon we were racing through Incheon trying to get back to the ship before they brought up the gang plank! We went back through China town and this time under sunnier circumstances.

It seemed much cheerier with the sun out!

There was this cute little souvenir stand that I would have loved to have dawdled at (had we had more time!)

One interesting thing about the China town area was all the shops full of nets and chains for fishing boats.

Once more past the big gold gate...

and this not so little guy,

... and then past this little cart with the brooms we went before boarding the ship.

We had been racing the clock and were thrilled to make it back just in time.

As a reward for our timeliness, we got to see the Korean "welcome" dancers.

We headed up the gang plank and off to the dining area to se eif we could find any of our little group.

Sure enough, the Panorama Room revealed Mary Beth and Chris enjoying an exciting game of CRIBBAGE. (- not whist as I originally wrote! I'm a lousy learner - can't even remember the name of the game!!!)

I enjoyed learning some of the basics of the game and spent a little time admiring the handiwork of the melon carvers before heading downstairs for dinner.

Out the window we bid farewell to Incheon.

As the ship glided away we wondered what lay ahead of us  in the next new country we would have a chance to visit.

Soon there was nothing to look at but the ship's own decor. To me China was the piece de resistance, an unimaginable enigma, like the masked figures below, colorful and yet unrecognizable because of my inexperience with her features. I knew I would go to the ball a naive little thing and return from it wiser, but still excited with my heart racing from all the new experiences.