Shopping and Tourism in Anseong

Good evening, today is Sunday May 11, 2008 and I'm still wondering how the stars aligned to put me in Korea.

I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. My coworker Erik snuck in a care package for me with our last shipment of machine parts: I may be in possession of the largest stash of whole-bean coffee in the city of Anseong, perhaps the entire province of Gyeonggi. I've only been able to find instant coffee in the markets, which is fine in a pinch but it's just not right. It is truly heartwarming to know people back home care about me.

I packed my coffee press in my luggage and a pound of coffee that lasted for about a week, but I didn't pack a coffee grinder figuring one could be found here in town. Lotte mart is where I've been shopping for most of my food and housewares so it was where I went to shop for a coffee grinder.

Lotte Mart is a lot like a Korean WalMart, but they do things differently here. On the road between parking lots is a man directing traffic and he's polite to a fault: he waves his arms furiously to stop the oncoming traffic, directs me to turn in to the parking lot, and executes a perfect bow as I enter the intersection. Finding a parking spot is easy, too, there are two ladies greeting people driving into the lot and directing them to empty spaces.

After parking, I walk over to retrieve a shopping cart and fortunately I have a 100 won coin with me - the shopping carts are locked together, and it takes a 100 won deposit to unlock the cart from the queue. When you return the shopping cart and lock it back in, your 100 won coin is released.

Once inside, Lotte Mart looks like a blend of shopping mall and department store, with various departments set apart by aisles and individual cash registers, but there's also a line of check stands for purchasing food and household goods.

The store is on two levels with an escalator between them with the shopping carts riding on the escalator with the people. To keep the loaded carts from mowing over people downhill, the ridges on the wheels nest into grooves on the escalator belt, allowing the wheel fenders to lock onto the belt. Ingenious.




I was partially correct about finding a coffee grinder, Lotte Mart does indeed sell coffee grinders... unfortunately, they're of the hand-crank variety. Fortunately, they have a housewares section where I found a small blender that does a bang-up job on coffee beans. This morning I brewed a fresh pot of coffee to drink with breakfast. Life is good.

Erik, when you come to visit you're always welcome to come by for a cup of coffee. I even have a spare mug.

The Anseong Machum Museum

I've been driving past the sign pointing toward the museum for a few weeks now and I finally stopped in Saturday afternoon to look around. It's a nice place, costs 500 won to get in, and most of the displays have an English and Japanese translation of the Korean text. I learned that Anseong is renown for its metalworking, especially white brass. There is a large collection of pieces on display from the brass foundries that were in Anseong, along with displays showing how the artisans made the pieces. Some of the culture surrounding the use of brass tableware is also explained.

There are some other pieces that I found interesting also, like the antique mousetrap on display. The round inside portion is about seven inches around and looks quite heavy. There wasn't an explanation of how it worked, I can only imagine... poor mouse.




I revisited the totems today, and someone has repainted them! I took a bunch more pictures and it was sunny this time:






And finally, I'll sign off with a self-portrait. Mental note: the bright orange shirt really stands out when taking pictures along a road - traffic notices. It's also stands out when trying to take pictures of wildlife - birds notice, and flee.











That's all for now, it's getting late and I've got to rest up since tomorrow is another holiday, it's Buddha's birthday.

Jerry.