Oh man, I wanted to like 노량진 Noryangjin. I love seafood, I love weird markets, this seemed like the perfect combination. But this was definitely a low point in the trip. We hopped on the subway and took a few stops down to Noryangjin. After exiting the train, it was a little hard to figure out where to go so for future reference: exit the station. THEN you will see the bridge overpass that will take you over to the fish market. I didn't take too many pictures because Koreans don't like strangers taking their picture and taking pictures of vendors make me feel like I'm participating in poverty tourism, not that Korea is a third world country, but hopefully you know what I mean. So these are the only pictures I took:
The balcony before you descend into the market.
These are the biggest mussels I've ever seen. The were as long as my shin.
After walking around the market for about 5 minutes, I had to pull Justin into a corner. The vendors are very pushy, calling everyone and anyone over to them, Sometimes, they will attempt to block your path, which makes me very uncomfortable. Holding a camera marked me as a tourist, which is fine, however walking with Justin didn't seem to give them a clue as to where I was from. Most tried Korean (fine), but there were several that called to me in Chinese (okaaay, I do look slightly Northern Chinese), and there was one that tried Japanese (are you serious? I don't look remotely Japanese). I was starting to get freaked out with so many people yelling at me in so many different languages and I was hungry and starting to not think clearly. I walked up to the first vendor that looked like they had what I wanted and weren't yelling me.
We told her that we wanted a sea bass, which I had read which was good raw and for soup, but the woman refused to give it to us, telling us it was too big for two people. Okay fine, what would you suggest, random fish ahjumma? She fished out two fish, one of which was a flounder and I think the other was a yellow croaker. I asked for some clams and shrimp, which she obliged. I then told her that I wanted some 개불 (gaebul), which she looked at me funny. Gaebul is alternatively known as "fat innkeeper's worm", "spoon worm", or "penis fish" due to its misfortune of looking like a.... ahem. But of course, me being me, I had to try them.
The fish ahjumma asked us if we wanted a table or to sit on the floor and we told her table. She handed off part of our fish to an ahjusshi, who then handed us off to someone else. They lead us to a restaurant down a skeevy alley to a restaurant.... that had seating on the floor. We shrugged, and took off our shoes. I was struggling a little bit more because I had boot covers on my shoes (the fist market is very wet and I like my shoes). I wasn't sure where to put my shoes or where the hell Justin had disappeared to in the mean time, so I left my shoes. One of the waitresses started SCREAMING at me, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. She then pointed to my shoes and some bag in a crate and I got the meaning I was supposed to put my shoes in the bag and take them with me. I bent down and struggled to stuff my boots and boot covers in this bag. Apparently I was taking too long for this waitress and I was in her way, so she PUSHED me and I toppled over into the desk. I was so shock and pissed the next little bit was a haze. Justin had finally come back from wherever he had wandered off too and I finally sat down. If I hadn't been so hungry and been able to think clearly, I would have insisted we leave immediately. I started to cry because I was so hungry (seriously need to work out this blood sugar problem) and underslept and so freaked out about being yelled at in so many different languages.
This was not the end of our problems. We realized that we hadn't given the fish ahjumma a name, so we had no idea how we were going to get our fish. I saw a courier bring up several platters of fish and saw that one hadn't been claimed. I kept pushing Justin to see if it was ours, but he wasn't sure what to say (seriously, Justin get with the program). The waitress FINALLY brought it over and asked if it was ours. Sure, how the hell are we supposed to know? The last time we saw that fish, it was ALIVE. She huffed and took it back to the kitchen. In the mean time, two of the waitresses got into a fight, one threw some plates (which narrowly missed Justin) and got into a knock down, hair pulling fight and had to be separated by other workers while the other patrons yelled for them to cut it out. We ended up waiting for 40 MINUTES for our soup. The only redeeming thing was the soup was very good. I had never had 매운탕 (maeuntang) before. The gaebul was fine but I wouldn't order it again. It just tasted vaguely salty and was VERY chewy. The fish was good 회 (hoe, pronounced hway), but I definitely just prefer sushi. I want to try maeuntang again; I think that I would prefer it in a less stressful environment and without the floor show. As we were leaving, I realized that my boot cover velco had caught on my shirt and snagged it. It was the end of a very disappointing lunch. I'm pretty sure they over charged me too.
개불 (gaebul)
회 (hoe) in the background
매운탕 (maeuntang)
We left the restaurant from hell and caught a cab to 선정릉 (Seonjeongneung). Seonjeongneung is the burial site of a royal couple, King Seongjong and Queen Jeonghyeon, and their son, King Jungjong. This was a surprisingly nice place to be, peaceful and quiet, like a park that dead people just happened to be buried in. This area is located in Gangnam (forever immortalized in Psy's song). Gangnam literally means "south of the river."It's the same nam in "Namsan" or even Vietnam (Southern people).
Some info on Seonjeongneung.
재실 (Jaeshil) where the body was taken to be purified, washed, and dressed. Offerings were also prepared here.
정자각 (Jeongjagak)
정릉 (Jeongneung), tomb of King Jungjong.
Jungjong tablet.
Again, the higher road was the spirit road and not allowed to be walked upon.
예감 (Yegam) Incineration chamber
Red pines.
500 year old ginkgo tree. Old trees are very precious in Korea since the Japanese cut down all the trees when they invaded.
왕후릉 (Wanghureung) Queen Jeonghyeon's tomb.
Apparently this was one of the tomb's gate pillars uncovered during excavation.
선릉 (Seolleung) King Seongjong's tomb. This was the one you could get closest to.
정자각 (Jeongjagak)
Monument tablet.
일주문 (Iljumun) the red gate and spirit road
Inside 정자각 (Jeongjagak)
수복방 (Subokbang) the tomb's guardhouse.
We spent about an hour at Seonjeongneung. It was a good recovery from Noryangjin. You could easily just to come here to walk around in the woods. Admission was 1,000 KRW.
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