I have yet to figure out what this woman is slicing with her big, rusty scissors, but it's some kind of candy that apparantly requires a dance and tape-recorded music to make the treats come out well. The loud clanging and weird mask also helps attracts customers, I guess.

Anyway, she's hocking her candy in Insadong, a neighborhood near Seoul city hall that shuts down every Sunday and becomes an art market. I spend the afternoon there Sunday. It was cloudy, but warm, and much more enjoyable than the last time I was there with Amy in the middle of winter. Here are a few pictures I took....

On Sunday afternoons, the main street in a neighborhood called Insadong closes to cars and vendors and performers take over.There's usually a lot of food, families and dancers in costume.  

This man loved the dancers. He clapped and sang through the entire routine. 

This was a performance in Insadong on Sunday, 

These dancers finished their performance, then the entire troupe had a parade through the market.

These boys were watching a man prepare a giant block of some type of sesame brittle at Insadong. He gave them each a piece after he finished cutting the slab by hand.

This is one of the snacks that's everywhere in Seoul: peppers, shirmp, scallions and imitation crab all held together by a batter, then deep-fried. It's then covered with mustard and spicy ketchup. I opted for a slice of pineapple for $1 instead.

This is a typical market in Seoul: potatoes, lettuce, silky worm larve (the brown things on the left) and other, ahem, groceries next to piles of socks next to piles of CDs next to piles of shirts. 

After 4 months, 24 days, 8 hours, 17 minutes, and a good deal of sake

I've finally done karaoke in Asia. I dodged the bullet for quite a while, but a meeting last weekend in Tokyo finally caught up to me. In the end, I only sang one song, "Come back home" by Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock. I sounded more like Kid Rock, but managed to suffer through it.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but you haven't missed much. Life has become pretty routine here -- work long hours during the week, then rest and go out on the weekends. I've got a fun group of friends, and my new boss moves to Seoul next week. Joe's gone to be Stripes' middle east bureau chief, a job based out of Germany. So Tim is moving from Japan and will be the replacement. He ran the office before, two years ago, and I'm looking forward to working with him.

The other big news is that spring has finally come to Seoul. More importantly, it's completely in bloom in Tokyo, and the cherry blossoms were all over this weekend. News reports said it was the best season in seven years. Here's the little evidence I have.....p.s. The above picture is my favorite store in Tokyo. It sells over-priced bling, but I find much more value in the truth in advertising.

This was a Stripes party Friday afternoon in the cemetary across from our Tokyo offices. The tradition to party under the cherry blossoms outweighs any deference to the dead, at least while there are blooms on the trees. The party was complete with a rotisserie chicken truck and two kegs. 

More blossoms.... 

It's tradition in Japan to have a huge picnic and party under the falling blossoms. At Yoyogi Park on Saturday morning, hundreds of families shows up to picnic. They brought food, games and caseloads of alcohol. A saw three guys lugging in kegs. They had to stop every few meters to rest. 

Cherry blossoms in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo.