A mute adventure to Namdaemun Market

Rather than sitting around my apartment FOREVER, I decided to have my own solo adventure today. Now, there are only so many things you can go do without needing to ask questions or speak at some point, so I decided to go on a small adventure. I packed up my purse and headed out in search of the Alpha Stationary Store near Namdaemun Market.

I had not yet been to Namdaemun which, I discovered today was a mistake. That place is AWESOME!! But I'll get to that in a minute. My main reason for going was I had heard of this five story stationary store and I had to go check it out.

The directions I got online were kind of crappy. They said to walk straight out of exit five and that there would be a staircase and a yellow sign past the optical store. So I set out walking from the exit looking for an optical store.

There were three right outside the exit.

Ok. So, we know that landmark isn't going to work. So I'll look out for the stairs and the yellow sign.

After walking up and down that road, I still hadn't found any stairs with a yellow sign that said Alpha. There were stairs going underground to a clothes place but no stationary store. Rather than cry and head home, I decided to just walk around and enjoy the market. So I turned down the first road that I came to and what do I find? A yellow sign with Alpha written on it! No staircase OR optical store in sight. I was just lucky.

I'm not sure it was worth all the fuss of searching for it, but it was still pretty fun. The whole time I was in there, I was thinking, "Man, Mom would have a hay day here." They had all kinds of junk. The first thing I saw was a big wall hanging with paper that Mom would have gone nuts with. I personally liked the one with all the black swirly stuff on it.

Beads beads beads beads beads beads beads beads beads...

Lots of fun clay molds for Tia Bette. My favorite was the one for tiny desserts. That might have been because I also so these really cute baby cupcake earrings on the lower level that I should have gotten to go with my cupcake necklace. Maybe next time.



I thought Mom would especially like these. They are like cardboard molded masks in different shapes. They got the normal kinds (bunny, cat, regular face) as well as some more "Korean" style ones.



I could have used these this summer making Diane's bridal shower invites! I needed loose paper flowers but I was never able to find enough. Oh well. These were only 300 won, about 26 cents... though I don't know if that's for one, a dozen, or what.

After the stationary store, I decided to spend some time walking around the market. Namdaemun market is HUGE. I didn't look around a whole ton, only about an hour and a half. I would have stayed longer, but I was honestly scared I would get lost. I am not really good with directions and with all the different stalls looking very much the same, it was difficult to find visual landmarks. While I could normally just ask "Hoehyun yok?" and someone could point me in the right direction of the subway, I didn't want to break my vow of silence just for that. Also, it's just never as much fun to go shopping without friends. Next time I go back, I'll have to bring some peoples.

I did find lots and lots of fun things, though.

There were lots of stores devoted to merchandise based on celebrities like posters of adorable Korean men, key chains for K-pop bands and even Korean drama paraphernalia. Take this store for example: you can see the stuffed pig thing from My Lovely Sam Soon (which happens to be my absolute favorite drama) as well as a full size pig rabbit from You're Beautiful. Jesi would be jealous! I kind of really want the pig...

The holiday season has also started up in Korea! There were a few Christmas stores along the way with cheap Christmas decorations. I was hoping to find a nice ornament to commemorate my Christmas in Korea, but nothing yet. I'll have to check the mall.

There were also big indoor areas. One area had clothes, clothes, clothes. There were about three stalls in there with hanboks. I kind of made the lady angry that I was taking pictures of her hanboks, though. Won't do that next time :/

Lots and lots of stores like this next one, too. Just assorted junk like toys, masks, and paper goods. You can see some cool hot air balloon paper lanterns hanging up. They were really pretty.

I also saw the cutest earmuffs known to man. They looked like strawberries!! Too cute! I would have gotten them, too, but they were more than I wanted to spend on silly looking earmuffs and I couldn't talk the price down (since, you know, I can't TALK!!! Man, this is frustrating.).


Speaking of not talking, I decided to learn how to sign "I can't talk" in ASL. I found that it is a very effective way to deter salespeople. When they talk to you, just use this sign, and they will get a dumb look on their face and either walk away or just smile and nod at you while you continue to shop. Either way, it shuts them up. :)

At the end of the day, I made very few actual purchases. Actually, only two. At the stationary store, I got a little set of origami-esque paper dolls with costumes from around the world. I thought this would be a fun way to waste time while I was bored for the next few days.

I made a few while I was on Skype with Mom (who has been kind enough to waste time with me when I'm not really doing anything... I don't have to miss home with Skype). They little dolls look really cute sitting in my little Christmas tree. :)

I also got some individual facials. I saw some in front of this store and thought the sign said that they were 1,000 won each. That's a pretty good deal so I grabbed two and headed inside to pay. She then told me it was 10 for 4,000 won. THAT is a super AWESOME good deal! So I went outside and grabbed another eight. When I went in to pay, she walked back out and came back with an extra one as "service" meaning "free item to get you to come back again." I love service. It's like free samples at the make-up store but BETTER.

I got a bunch of different "flavors:" pomegranate, herb, tomato, grape, green tea, lemon, cucumber, red ginseng, and "brightening" essence. The ones I usually get back in the States are just a packet with a bunch of gel that you put on your face. These were even cooler. It's an actual MASK that you put on your face! It feels kind of like a moist towelette but wetter.

Much as I would rather have kept this to myself, Mom insisted on pictures. Actually, she insisted on a picture of me reclining on the futon with the mask, cucumbers on my eyes, cotton balls between my toes and a towel on my head. I think this is a fair compromise.

After putting on my pomegranate mask, I closed the eye flaps and laid back on my couch with some Barry Manilow playing and took a nice twenty minute half nap.

And I got ten more of these suckers to use. YES.