Day 104

A quick note about photos...

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2012 Seoul Lantern Festival

A few weeks ago I heard about a fancy lantern festival happening in Seoul.  It was going to be happening for a few weeks, from November 2nd to the 18th.  "Oh, I have plenty of time," I said.  "I'll go... but not today."  Well soon enough it was November 18th, the last day of the festival, and it was time to haul my procrastinating butt down to Seoul.

You can walk through the lantern tunnel!

The festival, which was started in 2009, is located on a 1.5km stretch along the Cheonggyecheon Stream.  The lanterns are lit from 5pm-11pm every day of the festival.  I got to the entrance at 5:30 and the place was already packed.  The line wrapped around and around the square, winding back and forth.  Fortunately the Koreans are fairly efficient and it only took 30 minutes to get in.  There were also several lanterns to help keep people interested.

Pretty cool!

Look at the detail on the roof!  On the shading of his outfit!

There was also a large to-scale lantern of a palace in Seoul... not sure which one, but it was very cool!

Okay, maybe the guards aren't to scale.

After waiting in the freezing cold, I finally got in.  The festival is dedicated to showing Korea's 2000-year history, and I think they did a pretty good job!

This represents the creation of Hangul, the Korean language.

The stream had walkways on both sides, and both sides were one-way.  Efficient!  The lanterns were placed on platforms in the stream.

Archer!

Very detailed shading.

Close-up of this guy's clothes.

There was a large platform that played music, I'm pretty sure the sign said it represented traditional music in the palaces.  All of the signs were in Korean and English, thankfully!

These guys were playing some peaceful tunes.

Manning the bells.

Lovely streets of Seoul in the background.

Not sure what this stringed instrument is called, but the man playing it looks very serious.

A drummer in the water, a temple on the bridge.

Look at the gorgeous detail on the lantern!

A better view of the bridge paper temple.

Geez, look at that detail.  I can barely paint my nails.

Let's be clear: I am not a photographer, I am a person using an expensive camera.  I am not skilled or educated in photography and my camera rarely makes it off the 'creative auto' setting.  I am not proud of this, but I am telling you because I want you to appreciate the effort I went through to take some half-decent nighttime pictures.

Travelers!

I have no idea what's over his head.  It looks like small fans?
But seriously, how cool is that lantern-horse?

See how few people are on the other side?  LUCKY DUCKS.

A procession of people with odd beards.

There was a tunnel at one point with some cool art inside, as well as a place to buy your own paper lanterns.  People get flat sheets of paper, assemble them, decorate them, and set them afloat.  They all gather at the far end of the stream segment.  I think they'd be more interesting if I could read Korean properly.

The camera actually made a pretty good photo here!  Good job, fancy camera!

Buy a lantern!

Decorate and assemble your lantern!

Set it free!  

The lanterns were especially popular with couples.  There were tons of young couples at the festival, I suppose it was romantic?  Personally I do not find cold, cramped places to be romantic.  But that's just me.

Also, I now have photographic proof of a Korean using an iPad as a camera.  (Look at the girl in the previous picture.)  Tons of Koreans use iPads as cameras!  Maybe tons of Americans do too?  I tend not to hang out with Apple users.

Gathered lanterns at the far end.  It's only about 30m/100ft away from where they're released.

Yeaaaah I can't read them either.  I'm sure they're very inspirational or something.

Back to the impressive lanterns.

I wasn't sure if this guy was selling baskets or things in the baskets.

Opposite view!

I LOVE the fish on this lady's head.  So detailed!

Metalsmiths!

Loomery!  (Weaving?  Spellcheck says 'loomery' is not a word.)

Aw yeaaaaah kites.

Traditional Korean wedding feast.

Same horse guy, from the other side.  What's on the horse's nose?  Is he Rudolph?

Being the last night, the festival was absolutely jam-packed.  Things were moving slowly but steadily until a certain point, where the path bottlenecked and everyone was smushed together like canned tuna.  I was freezing, hungry, and worried about missing the last train home, so I decided to skedaddle.  I probably saw half of the lanterns, and while I'm disappointed that I didn't see them all, I don't regret my decision to get out of dodge.  Once you're on the path you're basically stuck there till the end, so I crossed a small makeshift bridge and went back on the opposite side, which was blissfully uncrowded.

On the other side was a cool work-in-progress lego-esque wall:

It's a lego wall!

Like the lanterns, you can buy, assemble, and decorate your own 'brick.'

For some reason this reminds me of the Skymall magazine?

Back at the entrance/exit, I got to take a closer look at this beauty.

I can barely draw a recognizable igloo.

Oh hey, what's that in the corner?

Seriously, guys.  Look at this attention to detail.

Paper palace...

... real palace.

Daaaaaang.  The lantern festival was very cool, and it has inspired me to learn to use my camera better. I've had the thing for two years now, and while I can take some very nice pictures of bugs, I should probably be able to shoot other things too.  I guess that's a goal for next year!


Until next time,

Ashton / 애쉬돈