Street Market and Things That Didn't Fit

So I have a bunch of pictures that don't have a home. Here I will just throw in the things that don't fit. It is like a flea market of posts with pictures. Speaking of fleas...

 I saw this little flea trap outside of a museum. It was basically the saddest bird I have ever even heard of. The bird had one leg with half the toes gone. I don't know what happened, but this little thing was just stumbling around apparently wanting for food. I went to get some food and it flew away. I saw it a few more times and each time felt sad. It goes well with that otter with the missing foot I saw earlier in Busan. 

 While walking through the foreigner section of town, I saw this fine tailor shop. This guy has made custom suits for very illustrious people. Up there on top is Steven Seagal (who you will remember I supposedly look like), and underneath is Magic Johnson. 

 Right next to my hostel was the Hello Kitty cafe. I was going to get some pictures inside, but what am I gonna do with a 5$ latte? 

 I took a picture of someone getting their picture taken. 

 As I was walking out of the main train station in Seoul, I saw a bunch of people standing around waiting to cut a ribbon into a building that was already in use. There was also a really bizarre band playing. I say bizarre because there were two witches playing. It turned out they were not witches, just ladies playing the Theramin. The Theramin has got to be the most insane musical instrument in the world. Period. Check out the video here: 

It's like you are a wizard of crazy with this legendary machine. 

 I went to the worlds most densely packed streets full of crap. Yep. The markets in Seoul are just jam-packed with stuff to buy. 

There was a whole street dedicated to hair accessories. 

 A building next to the market. 

 I am all sorts of classy. 

 The counterfeit version of Minnie Mouse on the street. Nice right? It was actually incredibly terrifying. 

 There was an even more cramped and dense market underneath the surface street where you could visit the U.S. black market. Imagine the black market if it existed. Shady with street vendors and you have this place. I had to be sneaky with the taking of pictures. Here you could buy all the American products sold by people who had purchased them on the military base and sold them to these shop owners. They had pretzels, peanut butter, peanuts, jelly and candy bars. It was crazy. 

Look at the lady with the comically large sunglasses in the background. Not a real lady. In actuality, it is a robot that bows to people as they pass. Sounds cool right? False. It is all sorts of weird.  

 Creepalicious.

 So many people and so much crap. 

South Korea: Land of counterfeit goods!

 The headquarters (maybe?) of the postal service. Cool building right? 

 The Bank of Korea Museum. I was going to go in, but it was closed. I figure I didn't miss anything much> I mean...it's a museum of a bank. It can't be that interesting. 

 I decided to head out and find the Seoul Temple. It was on a hill in the middle of a random neighborhood not far from where I was staying. You can see in this picture a golden man standing on a pillar off over the rooftops. 

 The sign for the temple.

 It was a neat temple, but small. 

 It was basically like a big meetinghouse in the states. Granted it was in the middle of a city of 10 million, so I guess you can't complain. 

The Captain of Pirates. Found him! He owns a bar.

A Bunch of Food and Some Temple

So rather thann drag out all of the stuff with the food and whatnot, I am just making it all in one super post. Start your salivary glands, prime your palate, and engage your esophagus. What you always wanted, pictures of food I ate. Hazaa!

 So I went to Outback Steakhouse. Though it was crazy expensive, I got this sampler plate of pure culinary wonderment. You see ribs, chicken fingers (how I have missed thee!), coconut shrimp, steak quesadilla, and coconut onion rings. Tasty-licious.

 I had this sweet cup of chicken for only a dollar on my way to my hostel. It was crazy delicious. It was also, like most things in Korea, crazy hot. I had to get myself a frosty beverage to cool off after. What you can't see is that there is a helping of tater tots mixed in with the chicken. Out of control. There was some other chewy tasty thing that looked like a packing peanut. I wasn't sure what it was, but like most of my attitude in Asia, I ate it anyway.  

 I was getting off a train when I saw this waffle lady. I don't know what kind of witchcraft they put in here (it looked like syrup and whipped cream), but I got two. Some nice Korean lady was even nice enough to chat with me as I walked through the train station. She neglected to tell me that I had somehow spilled syrup on my shirt at nipple-level. Then she told me about the sabbath and gave me a copy of The Watchtower. I tell you what, living in America I have never met a Jehovah's witness, but here in Asia I have met two. 

 Oh yeah. I have a friend who said she wants to visit Korea again just so she can go to Taco Bell. I get a lot of crap from people who say that Taco Bell isn't really that good. Shut up. When was the last time you had a Crunchwrap Supreme? Seriously. 

 Pictured is said Crunchwrap Supreme. They also had tortilla chips and nacho cheese. Amazing! They even had a soda fountain that you could refill yourself. A rare and beautiful thing to find outside of America. 

 Clever taco sauce sayings...in Korean. 

 The only place to shop when you are too cool for school. 

 Temple interlude! On my way to some place or another. I stopped at this temple thing. A giant taiko drum was outside in the courtyard. 

 A big courtyard that was part of the temple/palace complex. For a period of time, this is where the king lived. 

 This may or may not be the kind. I don't read Korean. 

 Ornamental buildings. 

 A western style building where he would have coffee every morning. The king was all about the West. 

 CHAIRS! TABLES!

 Central building used exclusively for square dancing (no square dancing was to be had). 

 A western building that sits on the end of the lot. The Russian embassy is back there somewhere. 

 Another view. Odd to see the two types of buildings sitting next to each other. 

 Square dancing pavilion. 

 Back to food! I went to the foreigner part of Seoul to this South African BBQ place. I have committed a cardinal sin in calling it BBQ. You must only call it Braai. Braai is the word that they use, and it is awesome possum (contains no possums). I got the sampler platter while I read a book that talked about South Africa (which is a tremendously interesting country). Here in the picture you have boerwors (handmade sausage), another sausage, and lambchops with marmelade. Garlic mashed potatoes, coleslaw and creamed spinach. Holy tamole. This meal was outrageously delicious!

A look around Braai Republic. 

 The owner asked me after I was done if I wanted a pie to finish. I said yes. He explained that he was kind of joking because they don't have fruit pies, just meat pies. He then told me that they were really good (he wouldn't lie right?). I waited around and got one. It was really good as well. Not as good as the big meal, but dang good. 

 Smeared with gravy and oozing with spicy, sacy joyness. 

 CHURRO! A little dry, but it was only 1/10th of the cost of getting one at Disneyland (more like extortionland amiright?).

 The rare double corn dog. Take a corn dog, then bread it again and you have the double corn dog. Really good, but unfortunately it was kind of cold in the middle. This made me sad. Did I stop eating it? No. Are you crazy?

 Krispy Kreme. How could you not go? 

 Best donuts I have had in months. 

 Blueberry cheesecake and regular old mind-numbingly delicious glazed. 

 One night in the hostel I went with my new friend from Germany, Singapore, Korea and America to a Korean BBQ. If you have never been to one, you need to go. 

 Bibimbap. Everything here was stupid delicious. 

 I don't really know what this was, but I will call it fluffy egg in a pot. Can you guess? It was good. 

 A real restaurant lets you cook your own food (that way if you get food poisoning, you have to sue yourself. 

 I also ventured to a place called Vato's Tacos. Hailed as the best tacos in South Korea, I have to agree. They were like regular old street tacos you would find in Mexico. 

 These types of places are everywhere. They are on the street all over in Seoul. People just duck into the tent and eat themselves stupid. You can see dumplings, tempura sweet potatoes, tempura shrimp, tempura octopus and tempura questionmark food. We had the dumplings, sweet potatoes, shrimp and octopus. I have to say that I am quickly becoming a fan of octopus. 

 Also they had kebabs. Covered in delicious Korean BBQ sauce, I could eat these until I puke. Then eat more. Gross. 

 Oh yeah, did I mention DOUBLE CORN DOG PART 2!

 I passed a legitimate dumpling place and couldn't help but stop and eat some. They were crazy delicious. The chairs we sat on were untrustworthy, but the dumplings were really good. 

 9 dumplings to try. I liked the deep fried ones best. 

You can see my fancy hat that I am wearing. I will explain what the reasoning was behind it later. I liked the guys hat that he was wearing. You can also see my new friends.

The last Korean food I tried was an egg and bread. I asked what it was called, they said it was called eggbread. Clever right? It was OK. Unfortunately the egg and bread ratio was not evenly distributed. 

Overall the food was egg-celent. You bread-er believe it. 

- Jeffrey 'Puns of fun' Kinsel