An Evening in Insadong

After we sold our precious books for peanuts we decided to go to Insadong to complete another task on my "must do before I leave Korea" list. You see, I've always admired han bok and there is no way that I am going to buy one so the next best thing is to rent one and take pictures. You can do this at the Tourist Information Centre in Insadong for the bargain price of 3,000 won/person.

Unfortunately the selection is slim and the jacket that actually went with my skirt didn't fit me properly. I didn't want to change the skirt though so imgaine that my jacket is equally as stunning and gold, not pink. There was only one male han bok so it's lucky that Matt is average size. What do you think? Are we Korean royalty or what? Or does it look like I'm wearing a giant, silky mumu?

We spent some more time walking through Insadong and enjoying the sites. There is always something unusual or interesting to see in this neighbourhood. Look at this picture. Look closely. There's a trumpet, some swords and... hmmm... what else is hanging for sale at this booth? Hehehe.

Then we went to various stores to look at the lamps that we love but can't buy. Maybe one day when we have a lot more money. These lamps are made COMPLETELY from paper. Mulberry paper, I think. Of course the electrical stuff isn't made of paper but the base and light covers are. Despite being made of paper they are surprisingly flexible and sturdy. We could have bought a small one and brought it back to Canada but Matt and I both agree that the ones we really love are large and would be incredibly expensive and hard to transport. So one day when Matt is a successful lawyer I will be returning to Seoul to pick up our dream lamps.

The nice thing about Insadong is they are used to a lot of tourists so they gladly let me take a million pictures of all their products. Actually, at one point a saleswoman came over and I thought I was going to get in trouble but then she offered to take our picture by the lamps!