Ceramics Village, Insadong, Jump, night shopping....

Tuesday – Yes, Bill, I admit, maybe for the first time on our holiday, you beat me to the blog entry last night. But only because your dear wife (was she a clever decoy?), and a few other lovely mums (Sue, Deb, Barb, Liz) joined Linda (who is over here picking up her baby), and Lisa (Deb’s Korean girlfriend) and decided to hit the shops last night after tea...  A very late return – was it after 11.30pm? I was too exhausted to lift a finger to the keyboard last night....  But Bill, where are your pictures???? More of that later...

Let’s get back to the rest of the day. We all boarded the bus at 8.30am from Casaville, and headed off an hour or so out of Seoul to the Le Chen Pottery Village – a traditional pottery making area of Seoul, probably most famous for its green Celadon glaze. We wound our way around back streets, to a studio of a famous Korean potter, who helped us all paint a design (cherry blossoms were a popular theme) on a plate reading for firing. After he has glazed and fired them all, he will deliver them back to us to take home.

OK, who in their right mind would decide that giving delicate porcelain plates, a paint brush and black ink/paint to 3 three year olds would be a good thing? No, actually they all behaved themselves pretty well, despite them all wanting to ‘help’ mummy, daddy and sibling (or anyone else that got too close) make the final touches on their masterpieces.

It was a fun morning, topped off by watching Liz and Bill reinact the scene from Ghost on the potter’s wheel (read Bill’s blog – link from this website on the sidebar) to read more.... most hilarious!!!!

A quick stop at the potter’s beautiful pottery shop and a chance to purchase some of his equisite pieces, before being bussed off nearby to lunch buffet.

Then we were dropped off in Insadong (one of our favourite art/teahouse/shopping strips) for an hour or so. A few of searched again madly trying to find a traditional drum shop that would ship to Australia, but to no avail. Never mind – Bill and Liz are on the case tomorrow. We all couldn’t pass by the hottock stand again (think big fried donuts dripping with a roasted peanut and honey centre) without buying a couple. It was quite cold today, so a hot, calorie inducing treat was just what we needed.

Then it was off to see a performance (at the end of the Insadong strip) called “Jump”. This comical, martial arts production has played around the world (even reaching Adelaide) and was absolutely hysterical. It was a show made for audiences of all ages, and was a brilliant piece of comic timing. The actors literally threw themselves all over the stage doing back flips, front flips and all manner of high rolling acts, while acting out a funny script. We had front row seats, and I don’t know which I enjoyed more – watching the brilliant show, or watching all of our kids almost wet themselves with laughter. Well worth seeing if you ever get the chance.

Off to a restaurant specialising in Samgateung (which I make at home sometimes). We all enjoyed our hot stone bowls filled with a whole chicken (yes, each!) that had been stuffed with glutinous rice, chestnuts, jujube (like Korean dates), ginseng and a few other spices. It was delicious, and just what we need to refresh us before our next adventure.

Yes, we are setting a cracking pace on this trip, and last night was no exception. After tea, we farewelled the dads and kids (and poor Andrea who had a cold coming on), and met Linda and Lisa and hit the shops. Oh my goodness, we hit them hard. Firstly there was some browsing (and dare I say buying) along Insadong, and then we all caught a couple of taxi’s to Gwangjang – a market specialising in handbooks. Then it was off to Dongdaemun market, but our mission was to get to a big department store (filled with market type stalls) next to Doota (which of course we also had to have another look in). Our target was Milloria (not sure of the correct English spelling), but it is easy to see from Doota. Well, imagine about 8 or 9 floors (that we visited – there are probably more) absolutely jam packed with stalls selling everything at great prices.  The jewellery stores here (hundreds of them) are amazing, selling good quality sterling silver and 14kt gold, as well as great costume jewellery. We all succumbed to the pressure, and all bought some jewellery, and most of us also bought some kids clothes, and some beautiful leather handbags too.

Can you believe the big stores like this are open until 4.30am! We didn’t quite stay that late, but we did stay until we could almost no longer stand from weariness!  Off to catch a taxi home (very, very cheap and safe here) and to fall exhausted into bed. Thanks dads for the night out!