Moran Shijang

Seoul’s Largest Farmer’s Market

Last Saturday, I went on what will probably be my last cultural experience for this trip to Korea – Moran Shijang.

Moran Shijang is a famous farmers’ market – the largest in Seoul. Traditionally, Moran was on the outskirts of Seoul. But now, I guess you could say it’s a busy suburb, with a stop on the subway line. The market is a “4 and 9” market, held on the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th and 29th of every month.

The lanes in the market are narrow and jammed with people. The theme is very old-fashioned, the way it used to be. Moran Shijang is keeping it real in Korea. Presentation is everything.

I watched an old woman make sesame oil and another make red pepper spice. Some guys were selling shots of snake alcohol from 66 ounce bottles with big snakes in them. It looked a bit like science lab class. The men claim the drink improves sexual stamina.

I watched women at work who are experts in preparing and cooking the fetuses of various farm animals; then others who were experts at cooking up eggs in the moment just before they hatch. There is a strange fascination with the unborn here as a savored delicacy. Crowds gather round to watch the process, take photos and get a taste of the very expensive treats.

At two blocks from the station exit, turning right in the crowd, I passed the dog cages. There are hundreds of dogs caged on the sidewalk. Directly across the lane, an arm’s length away, people are sat at plastic tables, drinking soju and eating dog meat.

When I passed the fourth or fifth dog cage, the butcher pulled one of the dogs out of the cage with a rope tight around its throat. The dog was frothing, baring its fangs and chewing on the rope. The crowd stepped back to watch. With one arm he pulled the dog up off of its feet and with the other he electrocuded it with a long poker-type thing. The dog screamed and cried, then laid quivering on the ground. The man then hung the dog up on the wall by the legs and skinned it…right there in front of us, while it was still kicking. He made a few cuts. Then with one quick jerk, the whole coat comes off. Blood - everywhere.

I guess I expected all this to happen in a back room somewhere. But it happens just a few feet away from where you sit down to dine on a plate full of dog – in full view as you eat.

The happy couple who had chosen the dog stood beside me, watching with excitement as the butcher prepared their dinner. Buying a dog is popular for family picnics, parties and special occasions like that.

Dogs that had already been skinned were thrown on top of the cage of live dogs – on display for sale. Then a scooter came plowing through with a bucket full of skinned dogs tied on the back. A couple of women stopped him to look them over.

One dog in the cage, who reminded me of Marmaduke from the cartoon pages, same face, made eye contact with me and was crying. It was a rough sight. It’s hard to walk away from this without any resentment.

Walking on, deeper into the bizarre, we passed smaller cages full of smaller, palm-of-your-hand sized puppies for sale as pets. Now that you’ve got dinner taken care of, why not pick up something for the kids.

By mid-afternoon, everyone in the market was drunk or getting there and stumbling all over the place. Alcohol kills the smell of the place and takes a bit of the edge off. Probably the only time that alcohol has ever settled my stomach. As I said – on the list of things I only need to see once.

When you live abroad, there are moments that humble you, but you tend to see most things with a natural and unconscious superiority. Home is always done better. When you get past that, you flow in and out of extreme moments, peaks and valleys – times when you say,”you’ve got to hand it to them. They’ve really got that figured out!”. And other times when you say, “what the hell are they thinking!”

Somewhere out there, there’s a foreign exchange student lost and alone in a suburb of some Canadian city in the dark, dead of winter, writing like mad in his journal. I’ve met him. I’ve heard the stories.

In Korea, there’s a television show that every Korean watches. The name translates to something like “talking to beautiful women”. And it’s exactly that.

There is a panel of women from all over the world. They have three things in common – they’re hot, they live in Korea and they’ve learnt to speak Korean. They’re beyond famous. It’s one of the most popular shows in the country.

They sit and talk about their experiences – things that surprise them or perplex them. Then there’s a panel of Korean dudes who try to explain/defend themselves.

If it were ever tried in Canada or the US, it would be a gong show of lawsuits on political correctness.

It not only plays on the Korean taste for beautiful foreign women, but Koreans use the show to learn how the world perceives them. So I’m wondering if the beauties have ever discussed Moran Shijang. I really don’t know how far they go.