Hey all,
I'll start this blog post by letting everyone know that the photos I'm using in the post weren't actually taken by me. In my haste, while packing for the weekend trip up to Seoul, I forgot to pack my camera. But, since I know how much people have been enjoying the photos in the more recent posts, I decided I would do some borrowing and don't worry, I will cite my sources. This first picture is of many lanterns that were hanging outside the Bongeunsa temple in downtown Seoul, near Gyeongbukgong. Most of that area of downtown Seoul (basically all around Insa-dong as well) has been lined with lanterns for weeks and there is a symbolic lantern that has been lit at the City Hall plaza for a few weeks as well. This picture came courtesy of newspaperadvertisements.wordpress.com. At and around the temple they had many different activities you could participate in, such as making your own lantern. Unfortunately we arrived to the party late and missed out on the opporutnity. Not that I would've made my own lantern anyways, those of you who know me well (which is most, if not all of my readers) know that I don't really have much talent or skill when it comes to arts and crafts. The festival is held in honor of Buddha's birthday and as you can tell by the first picture and the next few to come, it is a very vibrant celebration. The highlight of the festival is the parade, which was last Sunday night. People and floats begin up near Dongdaemun and march down Jongno-ro through downtown Seoul. When night fell, the parade got even better, because everything was lit up. Again, I missed many fantastic photo opporutnities and I've made a promise to myself (and all of you) that this won't happen again. Most of the floats had some image of Buddha or Buddhas, but other floats displayed elephants or fire-breathing dragons. My favorite float was of Buddha sitting in a helicopter. I'm not sure if this float was an accurate representation of a modern-day Buddha, but I thought the juxtaposition of old and new was great. Anyways, here are some pictures from the parade for you to enjoy.
Photo courtesy of http://www.izsak02.com/ Photo courtesy of http://www.discoveringkorea.com/
Photo courtesy of seoulcityblog.com http://www.llf.or.kr/images/induction/festival_photo5_7b.jpgThis week has been pretty busy so far, so I'm definitely looking forward to the long weekend. We're taking the KTX (the fast train) both ways, which should be nice. Unfortunately the weather doesn't look the best, but we'll make do. Otherwise not much else is new here. I can guarantee there will be much more to write about in the next post. That's all from here, hope all is well wherever you are.
What I'm listening to: "Over the Stairs" by Guillemots
Link of the week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuZo7pLnL7c
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