23rd MARCH 2019 ~ After the long time spent at the fish market, the next mission was to find souvenirs from Busan to bring back home. I headed to Gukje Market after seeing the sign board but it was not as easy as I thought. Again, there was other markets too that were connected to other markets. I had a pocket wi-fi with me but the Google Map just did not function when I tried to search for directions. Actually I was not that familiar with the apps. So I had to utilize the traditional method: asking people I met on the streets. Have English, will travel.
This market was not just for tourists and there were locals too at that time. There were also similar things put on sale with the ones I saw at the night market.
I was getting worried as there were no shops selling touristy souvenir items to be seen.
Finally, I saw a few shops putting up colourful items on display at one section of the market. Unfortunately, there were too many K-pop memorabilia with the photos of Korean pop stars printed on the items.
I met this Indonesian lady in one shop who is married to a Korean and has been staying in Busan for many years. We conversed in Malay/Indonesian language and made me feel at home. In fact, it was easier to deal with her when we could communicate well.
She was kind enough to offer me a glass of warm orange juice in the cold weather. In fact, that should be my very first warm orange juice ever. I wanted to take a photo with her but there was this big group of Malaysians which just arrived and she was too busy.
I was happy I had found what I was looking for and I would not be going home empty-handed. I was not sure whether there were other places where tourists could get their souvenirs from Busan. One more thing, people used to buy other things from the city like clothes, cosmetics and beauty products which would be something I would never get to bring back.
No comments:
Post a Comment