I’m fortunate to have been in Korea going on three years now. I’ve seen a lot of things, eaten a lot of things, and learned a lot of things. Sometimes I just go through my daily routines forgetting that I’m on the other side of the planet from “home”. I guess that’s because this is home now. For now.
So for me to see something new that catches my eye and really makes me stop to look is uncommon. However, when I moved into my new neighborhood in Busan, I found myself walking past this bus stop on many occasions that has an incredibly cool flea market nestled around it. I often wait at this very bus stop as well. Each time I walk through the market, I see something that amazes me or makes me laugh.
This a true Korean flea market. Many vendors come to set up shop and peddle their goods each and every week, and those goods vary greatly.
Everything from junk to OMG-worthy items. Many of the items for sale are very old memorabilia from days gone past both in Korea and even in the West. The EXTENSIVE collection of vinyl records bears witness to that very fact.
What was of particular interest to me was the collection of old cameras and turntables (to play your vinyls on, of course!). I saw cameras from today, the 80s, 70s, and dare I say even 60s. The turntables too. There were units there older than ones I used to play with growing up in the 70s and 80s.
There was also a great number of either truly old or replicas of truly old historic items from Korea’s past. In either case the things were cool. So was the price tag on some of them.
What may also be of interest to people are the han-ja (한자) calligraphy posters and paintings. Many of them are framed, some look very worn (in a cool way), and others were…meh.
No matter how you cut the cake on this little, random, awesome flea market, you’d find that there is likely something there that will catch your eye and temp you to take out your wallet.
The flea market is located right outside of Guduk Stadium in Dongdaesin-dong in Busan, South Korea. Check it out. I approve this market.
Enjoyed your tour of the bus stop flea market & I find it most informatative.
I have a couple of questions for you if you have time to answere:
Are you still in korea? Are you teaching english?
Regards
Robert
Yes, I’m still here teaching. Probably will be for a while. If you want, you can PM me at my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/SeoulTee