Saturday, December 11, 2010

Market Day in Banyawol

I really, really love my neighborhood here in Korea (which is also where I lived when I was here in 2006-2007). It's near the eastern edge of the city, meaning that the crazy-jam-packed-with-people madness that goes on in downtown Daegu never reaches out here. It's a laid back kind of neighborhood, very friendly, and incredibly safe. South Korea touts its modernity at every opportunity, and many neighborhoods in Korea are nothing but modern highrises as far as the eye can see. My neighborhood is different. True, we have our fair share of newly constructed modern highrises, as well as the ridiculously oversized and opulent Lotte Plaza, but we also have the smaller, more traditional homes and alleyways of the original neighborhood. We also have market day, a day when food, clothing, and household goods are sold on the street in the age old manner of a street market.

Market day in Banyawol happens roughly every five days. It is held on days ending in 6 and 1 (with the exception of the 31st). I've been waiting for a market day to fall on a weekend during which the weather was sunny and I was feeling healthy. Today, December 11th, was the first time all three factors coincided. I'm not good at taking pictures of people, so most of my pictures are of dead fish and of the decaying area of Old Banyawol in which the market is held. My complete set of photos
can be seen here. My favorites are below.

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Koreans eat a lot of fish, and the marketplace was filled with vendors selling fish of all shapes and sizes, living, fresh, frozen, and dried. I don't like to eat fish, which perhaps is why the fish in the markets fascinate me so much.

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I didn't get many people shots at the market, but this was definitely my favorite.

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Korean mailbox and home gate

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An abandoned property

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No, it's not a Nazi swastika, it's a buddhist manji, and it's showing the location of one of the many small temples located in Banyawol.

CLICK HERE to see the complete set of photos!!

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