The Country Mice

For about 800 metres along this quiet street, one can see and smell the ancient medicines still for sale in Daegu’s traditional-medicine market.

Roots the size of human thighs, jars of honey-coloured liquids, baskets of flowers, dried leaves and herbs sold by equally wizened merchants beckon buyers to these little shops.

Easily more than 100 of these shops are crammed cheek by jowl, all selling what appears to be the same items. Clearly the shopkeepers must distinguish themselves from one another but such distinctions are lost on the anglophones!

The aroma of something resembling like licorice root is what I noticed the most, followed by the humanoid forms of the dried and bottled ginseng root.

Most attractive, however, is the uniformity of the presentation and the obvious care taken in assembling the bundles and jars of dried plants, critters, antlers and powdered mysteries.