Nirvana

We had to get the thesaurus out to try to find words to describe today! Dongdaemun Market, the largest market in the world. We just dipped our toes into one small part of the complex, the Fabric and Notions Market. Try to imagine 4 Hudson's Bay stores, 7 stories high, all connected by bridges, full (and I mean full) of nothing but fabric and notions (and people)! It was indescribable. You would look down one aisle and not be able to see to the end. There was fabric of every kind and description, lace, trimmings, buttons, embellishments, taylors and dressmakers. Rosé said most of the people there were design students. They had sketchbooks and were busy running from stall to stall working on their designs I suppose. I noticed one girl snap a picture with her cell phone of the stall name (and location) - it would be difficult to find again if you did not. The place was just packed.

We had noticed at the Hanbok market we went to yesterday that most of the stalls had these really cool Hanbok catalogues, sort of like pattern catalogues. Rosé asked one lady at a Hanbok stall today where we could buy one, and she gave us one of her old ones. It was so sweet. "Present," she said.

Other parts of the market are devoted to clothing, shoes, children's clothes and toys, paper and stationary and more. After a Korean BBQ lunch we went into a "department store" unlike any I've ever seen. Very high end but still individual shops. The clothes were very Korean: tailored, classic and very small! Just stunningly beautiful. I wish I could carry it off.

Rosé is off at dance and we have crashed.