Komainu (a guardian lion originating from the Tang Dynasty in China) posted at one of the entrances to Dongdaemun.
Dongdaemun Market started as a traditional market in 1905 and experienced its first major transformation in 1970s as it began to develop as a center of the textile industry (both wholesale and retail), further contributing to the fast economic growth of Korea at that time. With the later construction of mega shopping buildings in the area, the market became reborn as the most famous fashion street in Korea.
Dongdaemun has every fashion item imaginable: fabric, clothes, accessories, and wedding goods. The newest fashion trends, along with the newest fabrics, often make their debut in the market. It is home to the largest clothing suppliers in Korea, and aspiring designers also come to here to hone and test their skills. Cheap and diverse clothes attract not just fashion leaders but also the average consumer. It has become a place frequented by major Korean and international buyers as well.
Wholesalers across the country visit the market at night, forming an iconic night image in Seoul. The market is a mixture of both traditional and modern stores. Some stores maintain their old buildings, selling clothing materials, crafting clothes, or processing them. Modern shopping malls (such as Cerestar, Migliore, Designer’s Club, and Doosan Tower) popped up in the late 1990s, attracting young people by holding frequent music and dance performances at night. Various fashion shows and festivities are also held year-round.
Even though stores may sell goods wholesale, individual consumers and tourists purchase them at retail prices. The market offers special fabrics not found anywhere else and sells material and accessories at very reasonable prices. Simple accessories can even be made on-site at some stores. Plenty of currency exchange services and information desks provide a pleasant shopping experience for international visitors.
Doesn't this make YOU want to get a cut and curl?
"Raw Abalone and Raw Baby Octopus.
Or maybe you just want "common" octopus.
In Japan, Valentine's Day is typically observed by girls and women presenting chocolate gifts (either store-bought or handmade), usually to boys or men, as an expression of love, courtesy, or social obligation.
On White Day, the reverse happens: men who received a honmei-choco (本命チョコ?, 'chocolate of love') or giri-choco (義理チョコ?, 'courtesy chocolate')[4] on Valentine's Day are expected to return the favor by giving gifts. Traditionally, popular White Day gifts are cookies, jewelry, white chocolate, white lingerie, and marshmallows. Sometimes the term literally, sanbai gaeshi (三倍返し?, 'triple the return') is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two to three times the worth of the Valentine's gift.
White Day was first celebrated in 1978 in Japan. It was started by the National Confectionery Industry Association as an "answer day" to Valentine's Day on the grounds that men should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts on Valentine's Day. In 1977, a Fukuoka-based confectionery company, Ishimuramanseido, marketed marshmallows to men on March 14, calling it Marshmallow Day (マシュマロデー Mashumaro Dē?).
Soon thereafter, confectionery companies began marketing white chocolate. Now, men give both white and dark chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts, such as jewelry or objects of sentimental value, or white clothing like lingerie, to women from whom they received chocolate on Valentine's Day one month earlier. If the chocolate given to him was giri choco, the man likewise may not be expressing actual romantic interest, but rather a social obligation.
Eventually, this practice spread to the neighboring East Asian countries of South Korea, China, and Taiwan. In those cultures, White Day is for the most part observed in the same manner.
In South Korea, White Day is also observed as a day for men to give women sweets, as a sort of repayment for the gifts women gave on Valentine's Day (usually of the chocolate variety). However, in contrast to Japan, men generally purchase lollipops or other hard candies for the holiday. Chocolate gift sets are also sold for the holiday, but the majority of the gifts sets are filled with hard candies.
Fancy dog. Notice his shirt collar.
The Teenie Weenie Store.
And . . . across the street . . . My Long Dong Theater.
Whatever.
Cat Café. "40 cute cats are waiting for you with coffee and music!! Make special memories in this awesome place."
To their credit, down the street is one with dogs!
New Balance shoes are THE most popular, trendy and expensive.
Coffee cup sculpture.
Garlic chef?
Five floors of fast food.
Super cook.
Surprised cook.
"Help Me Ho Dong!"
A combination fork and bottle opener.
Cotton candy.
The chick would NOT move.
Dragon's beard candy - better than cotton candy ANY day! I bought $20 worth.
The legend of Dragon's Beard Candy was first notably practiced during the Chinese Han Dynasty. As the story recounts, an imperial court chef entertained the Emperor one day by performing steps involved in making a new confection. The process of making the candy involved stretching a dough-like mixture composed from rice flour into small, thin strands. These strands reminded the Emperor of a dragon's beard, and were sticky enough to adhere to one's face quite easily, so thus the concoction was there-forth named as Dragon's Beard Candy.
The name may also be attributed to the status of the mythical dragon as a symbol of the Chinese Emperor, so presenting the confection as Dragon's Beard Candy was deemed acceptable due to the social nature of the candy, as it was reserved only for the ruling class, likely due additionally to the complexity of the preparation process. Dragon's Beard Candy provided a source of conflict several centuries later, however, as during the Chinese Cultural Revolution the Red Guard, acting in accordance to the orders of the Communist Party of China, forbade the Chinese populace to hold activities that could be attributed to the Han Dynasty. Because the initially rare nature of the candy was at this point combined with government enforcement of disdaining this art, the craft of making Dragon's Beard Candy became even more isolated and sparsely practiced.
Nevertheless, in recent years, the art has resurfaced in tourist destinations such as various street festivals, and has even spread to farther reaches of the globe through dedicated masters of the task.
Traditionally, Dragon's Beard Candy is made from sugar and maltose syrup, although recipes based on corn syrup are now used in the United States. The main ingredients of Dragon's Beard Candy include approximately 75 grams of fine white sugar, 75 grams of peanuts, 75 grams of desiccated coconut, 38 grams of white sesame seeds, 150 grams of corn syrup, and 1 bowl of glutinous rice flour. Due to the presence of large amounts of syrup, the candy is very high in fat and sugar.
For preparation of Dragon's Beard Candy, the preparer must initially boil and melt the saturated maltose solution (which may include sugar or corn syrup) for 5 minutes until thickened, followed by leaving the mixture to chill for 10 minutes until a solid state is reached. This resulting solid, which is somewhat flexible or elastic, is then formed into a torus. Next, the preparer must take the gooey sugar, corn syrup, or sugar cane based gel and dip it into the sugar dough. Thirdly, the gooey chunk must be shaped into a ring resembling a doughnut, the key feature being the large hole. This step must by followed by repeatedly pulling, twisting, stretching, and folding the dough over on itself, doubling the number of strands created after each repetition.
While the candy is being folded, it is recommended to keep the dough covered in toasted glutinous flour to prevent it from sticking to surfaces. The dough must then be stretched into paper-thin strands, where each strand should be three to four inches long. Then, the strands should be tangled into a circular shape, and dipped into corn flour to keep the strands from sticking together. Finally, the ring should be cut into small pieces and wrapped around crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, crunched chocolate, or coconut inside. Specific Dragon's Beard Candy filling depends on several factors, such as region, purpose, and respective chef.
Who DOESN'T need a Desert Eagle plastic model?
Or better yet, a GOLD one!
Scary.
These boots were made for sparkling!
MSG Quinn and SFC Swanson hitting on the cardboard Korean girl.
You can't even IMAGINE how many people were at this market. As seen from the skybridge at the Lotte department store.
Point of reference.
I'm pretty sure this is "Lucy in the Sky . . ."
LTC Tom Harvey.
SFC Bill Swanson.
Part of the Lotte Art Project.
No one needs this much bling.
Swarovski actually has a beautiful factory in Wattens, Austria. I bought a wonderful brandy snifter there for my mother. It's silver crystal. They also make world famous binoculars.
These are travesties made from the leftovers.
An insurance ad!
Feeling frisky?
Feeling friskier?!
You are here.
And by here, we mean . . .
When on the subway, give up your seat to elderly women . . . and give lollipops and love to strange men.
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