A 3 meter tall statue (about 10 feet) greets you as you enter an unnamed building in Bucheon.

Welcome to Bucheon, my second destination this weekend (Sunday, 6 July 2008) and the town I live in. It’s sometimes described as the little town between Incheon (home of the international airport closest to Seoul) and the gigantic Seoul, and it’s actually where I call home. I live in a more residential part of Bucheon (in a district called Sosa), so I thought I’d get out and see what else there was to see.

I arrived at the Bucheon subway station (only one stop away from where I live), and instead of going to the E-mart connected to the station (like a Walmart, only bigger), I went out the exit and found a whole new world. A smorgabord of shopping, eating, and shopping for eats (more on this later).

Whether accidentally or not, I found the shopping district -they’re easy to recognize after you’ve visited a few of them. You’ll notice many different types of shops (traditional brick-and-mortar stores, outdoor vendors with a permanent-looking setup, and transient sellers that may or may not be entirely legal), along with a lot of noise from employees trying to get customers into their store.

An elaborate building and arch, but almost nothing of note beyond it – a number of stores stretching into urban sprawl oblivion.

A quick look down at the subway lines while on the bridge above. Since we’re some distance from the busier Seoul areas, the two outside areas make stops at every stop along the way, while the two inside lines are considered ‘rapid’ subway lines.

The entrance to the highlight of the trip – an outdoor, semi-permanent market setup in the alley behind the row of buildings that faced the main road. This market had everything, although food, clothes, and tools / practical stuff dominated. There wasn’t a lot of variety, or difference in price; perhaps you choose a place to shop based on proximity or if you know the seller? Of the food, much of it was fresh:

For those used to buying chickens in impermeable bags that are considered sanitary, get ready for a big change. Those are raw chickens in the freezer – priced and grouped according to their size. The seller will handle the chickens with gloves and place them in a plastic bag before you buy them – still sanitary perhaps, but a big difference from the American way of doing things.

It’s the same story with fish and other fresh stuff – but at least you see what you’re buying. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to an American store and not actually seen the thing I’m buying since it’s disguised in packaging / a bag / a box. It seems unsanitary, but it’s quite normal in these open-air markets.

Other things are more normally sold in their raw form. Potatoes, garlic, onions, spices, and a number of Korean items I couldn’t identify.

On a side note, there wasn’t much price competition – in other words, it wasn’t worth it to walk the entire kilometer-long stretch to find something a little cheaper. Most places had around the same price – although the actual products differed, the price wasn’t more than a few hundred won (30 cents) different. This seems to go for most shopping in Korea, as long as you’re shopping at the same kind of store. Where you shop probably depends more on a personal relationship or proximity to the seller.

Bucheon has a LOT more worth seeing – but I don’t (yet) have a map of the area, or even an idea of what buses go where. Once I get those I’ll be visiting more of the city I live in. It’s not exactly a tourist destination – in fact in my travels the entire day, I didn’t see another foreigner at all. In this particular area of Seoul, I’m relatively alone…