Shopping Spree in Yeoju

Today I took a bus trip with a church group, including Erika's sister-in-law and a couple PWOC friends. Much of the nearly hour and a half it took to get there was dedicated to circumnavigating Seoul. Then we went through a couple tunnels and wound among beautiful hills before arriving in Yeoju, center of the South Korean ceramics trade. The group sends a bus about once a month, and many of these ladies had favorite shops and knew exactly what they were looking for.

The novelty this trip was a ceramics festival. There was a lot of beautiful stuff, but for the most part the prices were higher than we wanted to pay.

Outside the exhbition hall were plenty of other shops of the cheaper, more permanent variety, where I found some small things for Christmas gifts that I think my Sunday school class will enjoy.

I bought several bowls of this blue pattern on a previous trip.

The factory outlet had lots of different shapes and sizes, but I decided my cupboard didn't need more dishes.

Another stop found us crowded into a tiny room with this elegant white-on-white china. These companion shapes are commonly sold together as male and female. If I didn't live in a cabin in the north woods, I might have been tempted.

In the larger area, one of the few children whose parents trusted her to come on such a trip watched a potter making more.

What I really had been hoping for was something like the blue and gray bowls I already had, but with touches of red like you see in some of these gorgeous pots. It was this last shop that would have really tempted me if I had more space, not just in my luggage, but in my house.

Korean fast food seems to be often served State Fair style--on a stick. This "fish bar" would have been nicer fresh and hot instead of handed to me from under a heat lamp. As it was I would classify it as one of those things I'm glad I tried, but I won't be rushing back for more.

This is only a portion of what our ladies brought back under the bus. Some of them are getting ready to leave and want a remembrance to take with them. Some of them just enjoy living in Korea.