Lee Jungha/Place/Tue 1pm

Lee Jungha     - Flea Market  My mom and I often go shopping on weekends. We usually go to Dongdaemun. It's been a quite long time to shop in Dongdaemun since mom took me from childhood, because we can buy not only fine but inexpensive goods there. But its' not an only reason we go to Dongdaemun.    After we finish shopping in Dongdaemun, we walk along the Cheonggyecheon toward north, destination is near the Dongmyo Station. It's an old flea market. Mom loves that place, because she enjoys looking around, finding interesting products. That place consists of narrow alleys like spider's web but we usually look around the main street, which is not too narrow, not too broad road. That street is always crowded with a plenty of people. Most of them are middle-aged or old, I barely can see young people. I think it's because there is a park besides the street, so many old people take a rest there. Before long you start walking from Dongdaemun, you can easily find many market stalls and colorful parasols on either side of the road. Merchants are selling an antiques and exotica such as an elephant stature, a fancy painting. Also, I still remember that when I sometimes turn my head to the right side on the street, mom often prevented me from doing that. Actually, there were display of erotic videos with picture of naked women on their cover. It is still the same. One more, you can see crowded shop with many people. Maybe that store is showing the trial performance. For example, a merchant says "This knife can cut anything!" or "This mixer can mix everything. Look at this!". And whenever I visit there, I smell of cheap and strong scent of perfume from middle aged women who wore thick makeup. I also smell of cigarette from old guys. so I usually hold my nose tightly.    On the main street, a pile of clothes are sold at just 1,000 won each, because they are secondhand products. But if we look through piles carefully, we can find clothes with pretty high quality. However, for finding good one, it takes quite a long time. So when I was a small child, I became bored while my mom spent time to search through clothes. I started to grumble, then mom had to buy snacks to calm me down. Well, It's the same even now. Of course, as I grew up, I quit grumbling. But instead of complaining, I often visit an old bookstore that sells secondhand books. Black high bookshelves are packed with thousands books from light fiction to professional books. I pick a book I'd like to read and then go to a cafe located on near the 4th entrance of Dongmyo Station. At the cafe, I wait for my mom, reading a book.    This market is one of the popular flea markets in Korea, gaining even more popularity after Cheonggyecheon was renewed by government, and from being on the popular TV show recently. This place is precious to me, as I can spend time with my mom, making and having made memories from the childhood. And maybe looking around the market will be small happiness for old people. So I love there.