A friend called early one morning, to see if we wanted to join him for a quick run to the local fish market.  He is an amazing chef and always serving up the best seafood dishes so we had to go and meet his dealer, maybe try a little for ourselves.  Of course, I went for the fresh fishes but more so for the experience and adventure of it.  Wanna join me for what was a hour plus jaunt through the many aisles of the Noryangjin Fish Market?  WARNING:  I am sharing a lot of pictures.  You are welcome.

It kinda felt like a visit to the aquarium.  Except that if you wanted to eat any of the exhibits…you could.  PETA would absolutely HATE this place.

One of the very first booths we stopped at, a woman yelled at me what I assume was “NO PICTURES”!  I was feeling pretty down about it and also a little scared to point my camera at anyone…but then this guy came to life ON HIS VERY OWN and my faith in humanity of the fish market was restored!

So you can literally buy any type of fish or ocean dwelling creature in this market.  I think.  It really seemed like it, at least.

And if you are the type that makes decisions based on the online reviews you read, ignore the google reviews on this place.  All those bozoes that left 1 star reviews (I read all of them) clearly didn’t make it past the very first row of vendors.  Yes, the main row of vendors seemed to be the most expensive but again, this is an adventure to be had!  Wander the aisles, see the selection and find the price you want for the item you crave.  We were specifically looking for fresh salmon and a sushimi platter, which we found, but it did take a few rows to find for the price we wanted to pay.

The cool thing is, you can choose your seafood and either have someone at the market cook it for you ON THE SPOT or you can take it to certain restaurants and have them cook it for you.  No.  Did you hear me?  You can shop for your own seafood and then have a chef prepare it for you.  WHAT?!  Call me simple but that just blows my mind!!

I did not know what half of these things were.  I did not wish to ever eat most of these things.  But I did not tire of looking at all the options, that is for sure!

She sat there trimming off all the [somethings] of these muscles.  She didn’t look up once, she wasn’t listening to music and she didn’t seem to be on drugs…she just worked hard on the task at hand, moving each shellfish from the waiting pile to the completed pile.  It was like staring at a lava lamp….I couldn’t look away!

Live octopus for purchase.

Wait…just kidding.  Sorry little guys…

Some of it was just downright gross.  And uncertain.  And gross.

He sat there rolling rice balls.  Not sure if they were his lunch or if they were for sale but he sat RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the walkway.  Can you guess that the people and culture here are just fascinating to me?

This woman was picking up live octopus, ripping there legs off with her bare mouth in broad day light and then organizing the parts accordingly.  It made me want to gag but I could hardly look away.

Negotiating is totally acceptable.

You can ask for the EXACT cut of fish that you want.  And then watch them cut it, very precisely out of the (sometimes live) fish.  Amazing.

Live crab, dead crab…crab that are trying to escape the tank or giving you the evil eye.

The squid are still covered in ink.  Again…am I the only one TOTALLY enthralled by this?!

Seriously the biggest lobster I have ever seen.  It was the size of my thigh and I am terrified of how much it might have cost!

Fresh scallops look a lot like a spine.

It always feels like…somebodies watchin me.

A few of the vendors wanted to show off!  She spent a quick second cracking open the shell and saying things I couldn’t understand, only to hold up this little guy and yell “TURKEY!” in plain English over and over!  I love Korea!!

Cutting fish is an art.  He hooked this sucker right out of the tank, filleted it up and arranged it on the plate before I could say “NEMO”!

Welcome to the gun show!

Just outside the fish market were a few vendors selling things to go along with the main dish.  I know it is just a fish market…but I am so in love with Seoul.  I want to eat all the food and talk to all the people and hug all the little old ladies saying things I don’t understand.  If you live here, if you are visiting, or if you just want to see an edible aquarium…come to the fish market.