Namdaemun Market...

After the hash, I met Ashlynn for an afternoon of wandering around Namdaemun Market. Along the way we passed Sungnyemun, the South Great Gate, one of eight gates built in the fortress wall surrounding Seoul in 1398. Before a devastating fire in 2008, the pagoda was Seoul’s oldest wooden structure.

Dating back to 1414, Namdaemun Market is one of the largest and oldest continually running markets in South Korea. The surrounding streets were built before cars were common, so goods are still mostly transported by motorcycle and carts. 

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of a ginseng shop as I recalled being yelled at by the shopkeeper for aiming my 35mm camera at many years ago. Oddly enough, that was the one blank photo on my roll, so he likely wasn’t yelling, but rather cursing me.

There were a large variety of interesting food stalls...

...but Ashlynn and I were excited to try some of the homemade veggie pancakes. 

Downstairs we discovered what appeared to be a busy black market of imported goods.