Gwangjang Market- The nation's first market~

Gwangjang market is one of the places that tourists often make the effort to visit. When I visited this place on the morning of our day 3 in South Korea, most of the faces I see sitting on the benches enjoying the local market food are foreigners instead of the locals.

Directions: 
1) Take the subway to Jongno 5-ga station via Line 1 exit 9 (8min - 4stations)
2) Take the subway to Euljiro 4-ga station via Line 2 & 5 exit 4

if you go via option 1), you will see the North gate 2 entrance upon exiting.

Operating hours: 
General stores: 0830-1800
Restaurants: 0830-2300
Clothing stores: 2100-1000(next day)

The market layout is shaped like a cross, so you can go to 4 different directions to explore the different stores. They sell mostly traditional market food items like gimpap, bindaetteok (fried pancake made from mung beans and brussel sprouts), ddeokbokki, chicken feet, octopus, pork intestines, juk (porridge), red bean soup and many more.

The ground floor shops also offer souvenirs, traditional costumes- hanbok for children, agricultural and marine products, handicrafts, Ginseng candies and many more. On the other hand, the second floor of the market has all kinds of silk, satin, linen bed-sheet stores.

I personally think visiting this market is a good experience but some of the food stalls were not very hygienic and they tend to overcharge foreigners. We ordered 2 dishes from a stall while a local couple ordered 4 dishes but they charged us more than the Korean couple. Also, I noticed two strands of hair in the chicken feet my husband ordered. The bindaetteok we ordered from another stall on the other hand was quite good even though it contains brussel sprouts- something I have hated to consume my entire life.. We even met a family of Malaysian from Sungai Petani who travel to Korea on their own. We can totally recognize the northern Hokkien slang from miles away... haha... It's always nice to meet fellow compatriots when you travel overseas. They even offer to share their food with us. Heartwarming... :)