I love markets

If there's anything I love it's markets. I know I love other things but markets are among my list toppers. And the market I visited today didn't let me down. Let's take a tour of a traditional Korean market, shall we?

There was everything you'd imagine at a market and them some. Plants and flowers, herbs and medicines, grains, fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, prepared food, clothing, belts, watches, shoes... oh, and live animals. Just you wait and see.



Here are some grains. Don't believe me? Well, I'm just guessing too. My not-so-accurate Korean skills tell me this is guk san kawtu heskaws. What? No idea.



This is the favourite snack of young boys country wide. Jenny, my Korean coworker who brought us to this market said it is 'butterfly eggs' but her English is only so dependable. I know kids eat larvae and things. Whatever this is, it looks tempting but I had just eaten some tolsot bibimbap.



Too bad this picture doesn't capture the wriggling, ALIVE quality of these crabs and the many fish for sale in this market. Buckets of water and even baskets without sported wriggling, flipping, crawling, gasping fish, crabs, and even turtles. I'll show ya.



A fresh turtle soup would set you back fifty bucks. Maybe you could use the shell for something. A shield? A helmet? Maybe a candy dish?



If you can't see the details click on this picture and look at it in a larger size. This market stretched on and on. It was truly unbelievable. Notice the toilet paper hanging from the roof. Convenient easy access for all wiping and blowing needs.

And then we reached the section that really killed me. Broke my heart and cheered me up at the same time. I've never seen pets for sale at a market before but here there was a row of vendors with cages and cardboard boxes loaded with tiny puppies and kittens. Mostly small breeds like poodles and bijon frise types. There were even some daschunds but they didn't let me take a picture. And there was a pomeranian. Corky in her next life? I hope not. I would not want to be a dog living in these conditions, and I was this close to rescuing one. Sixty bucks for a puppy! Five for a kitten. Five! If it wasn't for the fact that I'd have to clean up after it and deal with it while I travel next summer I would have bought one. What a sight.

I also was tempted by this adorable little redhead. It only would have cost me sixty dollars. A dog like this would be something more than ten times that in Canada, I think.

Not quite free range bunny, is it. Awful, I know.

Here you'll see the famous dogs that are not sold as pets. These sleepy fellas will be bubbling in a soup by morning. It makes you feel sad but it's really no different than eating any other animal, right? Still I think the Koreans are sensitive to their tradition in the eyes of the world, perhaps because of an incident with some famous Brit who said the 2002 World Cup shouldn't be held in a country that eats dog. Whatever, man. I was only able to snap this not-so-great picture before they told me not to take any more.

What a market. What a place. What a day.