The Cheongju Jungang Market is a traditional Korean covered market in the heart of the city — the kind of market that rewards slow wandering without a shopping list. Stalls sell everything from deboned pig faces and live eels to plastic toys and hand-made tofu. The food section is the most interesting: tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), sundae (blood sausage and glass noodles), pajeon (spring onion pancakes), and vendors who have been at the same spot for decades.
Come hungry — the market eating is cheap and good, with no pretension at all. The covered halls are busy in the morning and wind down by early afternoon. Near the flagpole outside the Cheongju Department Store (the iron post that is the last remnant of a Buddhist temple) the snack vendors are particularly well-regarded locally.