Euljiro 3

I’ve been in Seoul a month now and I’m quite settled in.  There’s not much that surprises me here anymore, but every now and then I’ll come across something that just blows my mind.  Last Friday it was the hardware market in Euljiro.

I decided to break away from the group for a day and see some of the city on foot.  After walking from my apartment in western Seoul to Hongdae I decided to take the subway to the old city.  I wanted to explore the area around Insa-dong (the main market street of the old city) so I got off the 2 line at Euljiro 3.  When I emerged from the underground and got my bearings I found myself surrounded by open storefronts selling nothing but hand tools, power tools, fasteners, air compressors, HVAC ducts, and pretty much anything that could be used during the construction of a building.  At first I thought maybe it was just one block of shops dedicated to the building industry, but as I walked north I found that the shops were spread across an entire district.  Each shop carried its own specialty, and each block catered to a different trade or niche of construction.  Some stalls carried nothing but a single item, like fire extinguishers, the rollers that go on conveyor belts, or WD-40.  Couriers on mopeds buzzed in and out of the area picking up items for delivery, and there were crews of them sitting around on their lunch break.  Business there was fast paced even during the lunch hour.  I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the way as I walked through, as if I were on an actual construction site.  This was by far the most surreal experience I have had to date.

LEARN KOREAN – architecture:

geonchuk