Mini Vacation

I had an absolutely amazing Sunday. Actually, I had a pretty great weekend all around. The highlight of the weekend was Sunday though. Seoul was hosting the Lotus Lantern Festival and a group of us went to check it out. Basically it was a street festival with performances, booths where you could make your own lanterns, fans, boxes, etc. Or dress up in traditional Korean clothing. The list goes on and on, there was tons to see and do. We got the details mixed up a little bit and didn't realize that the street fair closed at 5:00 so we missed out on a bunch of stuff.

There was a temple all decorated with lanterns on the outside. On the inside were three huge golden Buddhas and people praying. Obviously we were obnoxious foreigners who didn't realize people were in their praying and walked in to take pictures. It was awkward and I hightailed it outta there. The group got split a bit after that and 4 of us made our way for dinner in a cute Korean restaurant in Insadong. The atmosphere of this place was fantastic and unlike most places you see on a normal basis.


We had some time to kill before the parade so we walked across the alley to an outdoor wine bar and ordered a bottle of wine. Sitting there in the middle of one of the busiest areas of Seoul, you never would have known. We were surrounded by trees and some restaurants, but off the beaten path. Very relaxing, none of us wanted to leave.

However, we came to see this parade so we managed to drag ourselves away, go purchase some lanterns and arrived just in time to grab a spot for the parade. There were tons of people walking with lanterns and smiling and waving. There were also huge floats including fire breathing dragons. Pretty cool. But it went on forever. I've never been a parade person, I think they are kinda stupid. So while I enjoyed this one, after about half an hour I was done. Apparently the other three felt the same way but no one voiced their opinion for another hour.

We eventually made our way back to the temple, met up with the others, witnessed more traditional music and dancing where a bunch of ajummas (older Korean ladies) joined in and started busting a move. You could tell this day is definitely one of the highlights of the year for them. Exhausted from all the standing and waving and smiling, we made our way back to the wine bar, which seemed even more secluded at night. One bottle of wine led to four and cabs back to Incheon. It was an expensive day/night but worth every cent.

We joked how it felt like we were on vacation, but it really did. And now it's Monday and we're all back to reality.