Soup, After Admitting Defeat

“Im·mer·sive [i-ˈmər-siv ]: providing, involving, or characterized by deep absorption or immersion in something.”

Currently our “something” is Seoul. And our immersion isn’t even that deep. But it makes us all feel like we’ve been here for a lot longer than 24 hours. Maybe it’s the jet lag? Or remnants of the 16 hour jet ride?

Immersion, to the point of drowning, was also the experience of Namdaemun market, Seoul’s oldest market that has been in the selling business since 1414. Last visit we strolled through the outside portion, this time we wanted to scratch the surface a bit and venture into the indoor stores. Eeks, it was overwhelming for us rural-dwellers. It’s hard to describe, and left our photo-fingers Frozen. Burrowing through the endless stalls merged together into one mass was fascinating but unmanageable. System overload. Lost in the maze. My broken brain strained to navigate. Clothes, bags, knick-knacks, booze, snacks…

Eventually we escaped to the outdoor vendors below a calming drizzle. I always feel better after a successful haggle: one bag for ₩20,000 ($14) turned into 4 for ₩50,000 ($35). I was feeling chuffed. Until I found the same bags elsewhere starting at my end price. But you bargain with the price in front of you, right?

Later we retreat to the more manageable and familiar environes of Insadong Cultural Street. There we nurish our newly walk-worn soles with glorious bowls of soup, served blistering hot in a hotpot.