lotus lanterns

May 19 & 20 saw us visiting Seoul again for the Lotus Lantern Festival.  This is an annual festival that is held near Buddha’s birthday and featuring, you guessed it, lanterns.

Although Stu and I had planned this trip for the two of us, we opened it up for our friends to join as well.  And they did.  Eight of us traveled to Seoul on Saturday morning to spend the weekend exploring the festival.

The festival did not officially start until Saturday afternoon, so we engaged in other activities until then.  The guys went to Braai Republic to have South African eats and watch rugby, while the girls went shopping.  Admittedly, I went shopping, although rugby would have been more apt for me.  I needed to buy a bathing suit.  Having found what I needed, I traveled to Itaewon and found a most glorious bookstore where I was able to buy much-needed travel guides for Thailand.

When I got to Braai Republic, it was nearly time to go watch the start of the festival.  There was an event at 4pm to start the festival and I had hoped to make that.  We didn’t.  In fact, it became increasingly difficult to motivate anyone to leave the bar.  Eventually, two friends agreed that we ought to go, and we journeyed out.  We had dinner at a lovely Indian restaurant (I really do love curry) and just barely made it to the parade route when the parade was starting.

Actually, the parade had already started when we made our way out of the restaurant.  We ran along the road, finally rushing in front of the parade and finding a lovely elevated spot from which we could watch the entirety of the parade.

The parade was oh-so stunning.  Words won’t do it justice.

We were even privy to our own private musical performance!

Hours later, the rest of our friends trickled in after having a difficult time with directions, transportation, and various other issues.  We followed the parade route to the after party, where live music was playing, thousands of people were dancing, and pink bits of paper were being blown through the air, simulating lotus petals.

For me, the night ended when the music did.  The following morning, Stuart and I woke up and walked to the festival grounds once again.  Hundreds of tents lined the street, full of activities, information booths, art projects, and other such entertainment.  Men and women in traditional costume enacted some ceremony.  A child was tightrope walking above the crowd.

Stu and I soon learned that if you received a certain number of stamps at various booths, you would receive a free t-shirt and gift from Templestay Korea.  Soon, we were toting new bags, shirts, and pens/notebooks.

This part of the festival was lovely, but the day was hot and soon it was time to head back to Daejeon.