This market was amazing.. 5 enormous buildings and just full of flowers. This building was my favorite one. It was where the orchids were sold. If you look carefully, you'll see the signs with numbers? They each represent a different person's 'flower shop'.. I loved going to this place. The air was moist and smelled heavenly of flowers. It was like going to a Botantical Garden. The aisles were wide and no one was shoving and pushing- which is an unfortunate result of living in a city of 16 million. The shop owners were so nice and friendly- I don't think that many Americans were part of their regular customer base.
I have lived in Seoul three different times and in times past.. one of the shop keepers was near one of the exits and made a point to stop at her place last- Even though she and we/I didn't speak each other's language.. all it took was a gesture to our ear like we were using a phone and say "TAXI" and she would always call us a taxi and let us keep our bags of purchases in her shop so that we could make the rest of our purchases.. She sold fresh herb plants and I always planted herbs in a window box.
Here's a view of a couple of the aisles.
*Trust me, you'll want to click on the photos for a better view.
Here are just a few of amazing orchids that they sold...
Needless, to say.. I always had orchids blooming in my apartment in Seoul.
There are only a few types of orchids for sale here.. the normal colors: white, that pinky purple color, and I have seen a few yellow ones for sale.. but, those are the basic orchids sold any place that sells orchids.
They are also twice the cost of the more exotic orchids found in the Yangjae Flower Market. I would make a Saturday morning outing of the flower market every couple of months. It was well worth the long subway journey to get there too.
There are always experiences, foods, views, and local experiences and cultures that you miss when you move from one place to another... even if it is just to a new house with a different view. I am missing Yangjae.
On the other hand, I have a yard, trees, and my own window boxes filled with new flowers ready to greet myself, my friends, and my neighbors.
5 comments:
i love the pictures!
i know you will bloom where you are transplanted. so soon, you will find all the neat and cool places to visit and shop in germany!
go get'em!
The Yangjae Flower Market looks like a Fantasy land. The scents must be intoxicating!
I really loved just walking around that place... it was more of a bontical garden experience than just a shopping experience.
There were very few flowers w/ prices on them.. just nicely displayed and so many of them.. it is hard to capture just how many plants/flowers one tiny shop would have. It was nice while it lasted.
I have a friend and former neighbor whose husband's job as a nuclear engineer took them to live in a number of foreign (to US) places. The one place she always recalled the most fondly was Seoul, South Korea. She loved the people, and everything about it.
See, there you go... I didn't like the evil yellow dust.. because.. well, it was air pollution and dangerous for my 'volcano lungs' to breathe.. nor did I like the spitting on the sidewalks...
but, overall.. there were many good things about living there. It was an adventure to just walk out on your street... you never knew what you'd see. Of course, I did get and and explored so, as a result.. I enjoyed it more.
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