Nau speak: Seoul: Dongdaemun neighborhood stroll

Dongdaemun is a pretty big, busy neighborhood with a lot going on throughout much of the day with a lot of tourists and vendors coming and going at all hours. Despite being a prodigious business hub, there are plenty of residents who have made this corner of the city their home. Small apartments and homes hide amongst the taller, window-studded shopping centers and restaurants and fruit carts jostle for sidewalk space among the foot traffic. Signs in a wide array of languages join the visual mix, advertising to the international community any number of delicious looking foods and mysteries only the language speakers themselves would know. It's quite fun to walk the little roads and alleys interlacing the larger roads and intersections, zig-zagging and winding their ways through the city like a maze. I definitely recommend taking your camera because you never know what you might stumble upon in your adventures! Check out that art above, I never would have been able to share that with you all if I hadn't thought to take my camera along on my stroll.

Dongdaemun Market, advertising in another language as well as the local Korean! You certainly see a fair bit of English and Chinese throughout Seoul given the American occupation and proximity (and cultural interconnected-ness) of Japan, but they're absolutely not the only country in this great big beautiful world of our's who share an interest (or ex-pat community) in South Korea! After all, Russia isn't that far, either- did you know there's actually an 11-mile area of the North Korean border that's shared with Russia? Given their proximity, it should come as no surprise that there's a pretty good Russian ex-pat population living in Seoul. This has lead to an area in Dongdaemun that's come to be known as "Little Russia" where you can find Russian signs crowding in and restaurants serving nostalgic favorites. I'm not too familiar with Russian cuisine, I must admit, so I won't hazard a guess at what those dishes might be. There's also a large Central Asian population, making this a mini-melting pot in Seoul. It's an interesting cross-section of cultures, for sure, and it makes me happy to see different communities and cultures mingling and coexisting with eachother in peace. It's not a far walk from exit 5 of Dongdaemun Culture and History park station, so if you find yourself in the area and curious, check it out for yourself!