Bucket List: Visiting A Morning Market in Busan

South Korea, Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan

This article was originally posted on this blog on November 2019. It described my experience visiting a morning market in the city of Busan.

Should a travel bucket list item be something totally off-the-beaten-track and out-of-the-ordinary? Yes and no. Anything not generally experienced in our everyday lives or out of reach of most folks certainly qualify as a travel bucket list item. But for me, it is not so much doing or experiencing something that not many people have done before. In my personal travel bucket list, an item can also be something that I personally enjoy and do not generally get to experience at home unless I travel. It also mean interacting with locals, seeing and sharing the everyday lives of people in the destinations that I traveled to.

Where better to mingle with locals and share their everyday lives in a non-intrusive way other than to visit the local markets! This is one of the reasons why I always make it a point to visit local markets when I travel and in some cases, such an activity certainly ticked off as a travel bucket list item for me.

Here is one such example. ⛰

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It was late morning when I arrived at the market. After spending a good part of the previous night chilling out at the many cafes in town, I had woken up later than usual in the morning and had my breakfast at the hotel before sashaying out of my room into the glaring sun-lit street to start my sight-seeing of Busan. 

Fruits were plentiful and sold at many stalls during my visit in November 2019. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

My first stop for the day was the market. I enjoyed going to the markets in every city I visited. Always mindful not to get in the way of the locals going about their businesses at these markets, I made it a point to be as non intrusive as possible. For a start, that meant leaving my DSLR camera in my backpack. Out came my cellphone, discreetly recording my visit to the market and never directly filming or photographing anyone without their expressed permission.

Morning market in Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

But instead of just sight-seeing, my trip to the market in Busan had a purpose. I was there to buy kimchi. This is a traditional fermented vegetable often eaten as a side dish in Korean cuisine. A delightful assortment of seasonings were also used as part of the fermentation process, resulting in a most delicious dish which I craved each time I visited Korea. The kimchi I was buying was intended to be brought home to savour during meal time. For this, I bought a large plastic container and gave it to the friendly lady who was manning her kimchi stall. She kindly washed the container, making sure it was clean and dry before proceeding to scoop the famous staple dish into my container. Speaking in halting english, we had a good conversation and she was delighted to learn that I had travelled all the way from Singapore to visit Busan. After paying for my purchase and tucking away my precious container of kimchi into my backpack, I carried on with my casual stroll in the market to take in its sights and sounds.

The kind and friendly lady at the stall scooping kimchi into my container while I waited. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

This was the kimchi I bought. This variety was made from napa cabbage which is my favourite. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

Kimchi made from Korean radish. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

More kimchi. This was another variety using a different vegetable which I can't identify. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

Another variety of kimchi. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

More kimchi. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

I left the market after about an hour, my personal mission to buy kimchi completed. And another market in another city visited. 

More Information

The market I visited is located near the Gwangan Metro Station (Line 2). Within the station, there are signs and directions to the market, which is about 5 minutes walk away.

Seafood, a harvest from the sea. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

Busan ia a port city. Thus, it is not surprising that seafood features prominently on the local cuisine. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)

Live fishes sold as seafood at the market. Gwangan-dong, Suyeong District, Busan, South Korea (2019)