4 November 2022
After Dark
A brief walk around Insadong
A rare third update in a single day.
I am not even tired, this is concerning.
I did 35,000 steps today on no sleep, also concerning.
For the first time in a long time I was out after dark, OMG, as a reverse vampire, this can be dangerous.
I did not go far as I was already beyond the level of steps that are generally considered wise on basically no sleep, but I did find a great dinner, a field of flowers, shops, lights, and then a roof garden.
Brief update is brief, now for some photos of the night.
This is the guitar wholesale market. Earlier I posted the shoe market etc. I went to this place years ago. I wonder if it is still as popular as it once was, Korea was the place to make guitars when Japan became too expensive, now Korea is too expensive and most guitars are made in China or Indonesia.
My wanderings took me to the royal residence. It appears to be a recreation. It is also free, and therefore, I was happy to go in and complain that it was a bit boring and not worth my money.
The aforementioned sea of flowers. I think its a pop up sea as it appears to be a recently demolished deconstruction site (does that make sense?). The flowers were past their best, but I still thought it was impressive, and quite a few people were wandering around posing for photos with dead flowers. The photo does a good job at hiding the all the flopped over dead brown flowers.
Nearby is Insadong, which is where every tourist goes to buy trinkets. There are some new shops in this area. Also cartoon characters in some kind of temple welcoming everyone to offer a prayer for great success in making purchases.
These maker markets as I call them seem to be very popular all over Korea.
I found a good pork bibimbap for dinner in one of many GRAND OPEN! places in a new looking shopping centre. It was delicious, and not too huge. The Melbourne ones I like are very large serves, and I never realise until it is too late.
I started mixing it together before I remembered to take the photo.
This is the actual place most westerners buy gifts from, including me in the past.
The mall in Insadong seemed a lot longer and mysterious at night. I have only ever been in the day before.
And finally, as I got in the lift in my hotel I saw it said roof garden, and who can resist a roof garden? Here is the view from said roof garden. That's all for now, hiking tomorrow probably, most likely a shorter 'warm up' hike.