Bupyeong Market

We eventually stumbled through getting directions to the festival and since weather was perfect, we stopped at the Bupyeong Market on the way. It is a huge outdoor market with everything from produce, meat and seafood to bedding, fabrics, household goods, clothes, shoes, etc…anything and everything! It’s not uncommon to see live octopusses (octopi???), squid, eel and other sea creatures swimming around in bins of water. Kinda creepy (I’m slightly terrified of the ocean), but you know you’re getting fresh fish! Oh, and lots of dog meat (pic above). While we were walking through the seafood aisle, we happened upon a vendor whom upon recognizing that we were foreigners said “USA?” When we said yes he asked if we wanted coffee and invited us into the back of his shop. We went back and they had a huge spread of several dishes laid out on a small table. He asked us to join them (him his brother and two other women working there) for lunch. We sat and sampled many things, some with tentacles, some mysteriously chewy, but it was all delicious. There were some things I wasn’t too sure about, but I tried it all because I didn’t want to offend them. Because we didn’t know each others languages, there was lots of nodding, pointing and gesturing. It was the best lunch I’ve had here. We were blown away by the warmth and hospitality.