Changdeokgung palace and bindaetteok at kwangjang market

Took it easy in the AM blogging and watching the World Series game (yay Giants!) then headed to Changdeokgung palace. It's time for colors to turn here and so I wandered around getting pics of the building and the foliage, practicing with my camera, which I'm still learning to use Unfortunately it was overcast which flattened the scenes somewhat but who can complain after the great weather so far? Here, without further commentary, are some scenes from the palace.

I had no plans for the evening so I googled the area and found the kwangjang market was an interesting spot. I wasn't expecting much, as it was Sunday night and most of the stores (largely specializing in linens and cloth) were closed that day, but thought there might be a few restaurants open. It turned out to be a quite lively place.

A couple of cool food items - some kind of presentation confectionery?

Nicely displayed fish.

The market is well known for its bindaetteok, a mung-bean paste based pancake - here's one vendor grinding mung beans.

I drifted to the back of the market and ran into this friendly vendor so sat down to eat.

She offered three types of bindaetteok - with scallions, with kimchi and with peppers. I chose the scallion version and some rice wine.

I ended up in a pretty sketchy conversation with a couple of other guys who were sitting at adjacent stools. We had a good time trying to communicate and the guy next to me really took a shine to me. About halfway through the meal he got a small plate and went to the other diners at the table and convinced each of them to give me part of their meals and added some from his plate. So I got to sample all the flavors as well as another thicker version. One of those really nice memories that seem to come if you wander enough and keep an open mind.

I was stuffed after the meal and wine so I paid my bill ($6!) and said warm farewell to my fellow diners.