Dear Korean Vacations and Escapades (Part I: Jinju Lantern Festival)

Ok ok, I know I promised to write here more. I actually meant it, I really did, but then stuff just kept getting in the way (the 7th season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn't just going to watch itself...) But now that the weather is cooler, and I have some free time (SPOILER: Buffy wins and the world doesn't end), I am going to catch up on this blog, and write about some of the more interesting things that have been happening.

In my writing absense, I have actually had some pretty awesome vacations and adventures traveling around in Korea and elsewhere. I'll start with the most recent: The Jinju Lantern Festival.

Lanterns on the river

Jinju is a medium sized town/city about 2 hours from Changwon. The city is split by a river which runs down the center. For the Lantern Festival, different groups, organizations, school groups, or just general citizens create elaborate sculptural lanterns to float along the river. Most of these are pretty amazing and ornate:

Chinese Zodiac Rooster

Tiger Slayers

Traditional Korean Table

Even though there was a slight drizzle of unpleasant rain, it was still a lot of fun to walk along the river and see all these crazy creations. As it was a festival, there were also lots of tents set up along the river banks for carnival-style games, the selling of trinkets and other touristy items, and of course lots of food stalls.

At one area there was a bamboo forest where they had set up a "lovers' walk," with "romantic" lanterns mostly depicting mating instects:

Pictured: Romance.

Of course, what would a romantic walk be without some familiar faces?

Rocky Balboa?

Hillary Clinton?

After our romantic escapade amongst the amorous insects, fictional boxers, and random political celebrities we headed back to the riverside where they had set up "The Hall of Lanters for the Expressing of the Desire" which after some consideration we figured out could have been better translated to "The Hall of Wish Lanterns." The idea was that you wrote a wish on a slip of paper and attached it to the lanterns. The "hall" was quite long, and really very beatiful all glowy red at night.

Make your expression of desire!

Everywhere you looked it was lanterns. The river was aglow with them, the parks and nearby forests were illuminated, and everywhere we walked we saw luminous displays of craftsmanship.

Even the trashcans were lanterns!

The next day the weather had cleared up, and the sun was shining brightly. We headed back from our super-sketchy love motel (cheapest places to stay when traveling in Korea) toward the riverside. During the day the tents were out in force, with stalls selling everything typical of a carnival or festival. There were even several stalls selling that stupid "Slap-Chop" kitchen gadget you see on the crazy info-mercials.

After seeing all we wanted of the stalls, and grabbing a quick lunch at a random Turkish Kabob stand, we decided to try our hand at lantern-making at one of the craft tents. After all the brilliance we had seen the night before, we figured it couldn't be that hard, right?

The Frame

The Gluing of Paper

The End Result

After almost 4 whole hours of hard labor and a constant crowd of curious Korean onlookers, we ended up with what looked like a fat, feather-less chicken, but which was in fact supposed to be a kiwi (Ross is from New Zealand, so the kiwi was his idea). None of the Koreans had any idea what it was that we were trying to make, and guesses ranged from elephant to balloon. However, we were proud of our endeavors, and hung our little flightless bird up high, for all to see and admire.

Exhausted, we boarded the train and headed back, visions of lanterns dancing in our heads.


Next time: Jeju Island!