We present….the unusual, different, sometimes gross, but always interesting sights of Bujeon Market. But it could be almost any market in Asia, where living, once-living, and agricultural products are laid out and sold. It seemed that 80 percent of this market was seafood and more seafood, so the first photos start with once-alive (most likely recently alive) fish, squid, octopus, clams, mussels, crab, shrimp, and sardines. Then we graduate to the still-alive, with living octopi in a basin aerated with a soda bottle’s help and some eels that looked like sea snakes. After that, yummy pig’s feet and a pig’s head, unfortunately caught with a woman’s head, but she was very much alive. My grandfather was a butcher, and a favorite dish back in the day was pig’s feet jelly, eaten with boiled potatoes and vinegar. I was afraid of the pointed hooves as a child, but my grandfather would pick off small pieces of the hooves’ tender pork for me, and it was delicious.
Next….very much alive, wriggling, squirming silkworms! Apparently, they are delicious deep fried with lemon and pepper, taste like roasted almonds, and they help hurting shoulders and necks…so, if you ache….. After that, here comes the garlic! Just look at all the bunches ($10 a bunch) and how they wrap around the corner. What in the world does one do with this much garlic? One bunch would last us the rest of our lives. Ay!
Then we passed a local Dunkin’ Donuts, and were amazed by the local flavors of donuts….Tornado Potato Donut, Ugly Potato Ring, and Black Sugar Chewing Donut. Local branding is so colorful and so much fun to look at! Following the donuts are two overview photos of the market, followed by the subway station closest to us that took us to the downtown area. As you can see, there wasn’t another human being in the entire station. We were alone. It looked like they were ready to film a movie there, having gotten rid of everybody!
We end with our amusing photo of the day…the seat for the pregnant woman. Sounds like there is only one in the entire city, huh? We first sat there until we noticed the sign, then moved. There were two pregnant seats in our subway car for the one pregnant woman, and guess who ended up sitting in them? Of course…an old, old man and an old, old woman!
