Insadong is even better than I imagined. While there are many foreigners flooding the busy streets of this cultural district, it is easy to turn off onto a quiet, winding side street lined with tiny tea houses, restaurants, and little knick-knack stores. Insadong seamlessly blends the old with the new, offering impressive modern shopping centers like this one while maintaining its ties to traditional Korean culture on the side streets.
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| A modern shopping complex in Insadong |
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| Traditional restaurants off the beaten path in Insadong |
My first priority in Insadong was to find a traditional tea house and try some cha. "A cup of tea costs around W6000 (as much as a cheap meal), but it's a quality product and often served with a rice-cake snack," the Seoul City Guide acknowledges (114). Inside the tea house, soothing instrumental music played quietly while customers talked over their tea and rice snacks. We ordered several different types of tea: citron tea (iced & hot), cinnamon punch tea (iced) and five-tastes tea (iced). With our tea, we were given complimentary rice cakes.
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| The tea house we visited. |
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| Inside the tea house. |
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| ONU students enjoying tea in Insadong. |
It was a very enjoyable experience and I plan to try another tea house, Yetchatjip, where "half a dozen little song birds fly around inside" (116). "Antique bric-a-brac so clutters this hobbit-sized teashop that it's hard to squeeze past and find somewhere to sit" (116).
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