Lantern Festival

Last week Mike had a short work week with Thursday and Friday off for Veterans Day. Giulianna still had school on Thursday though, and we were trying to figure out an adventure for the day to do after school. We had talked about going to the Zoo but decided to put that trip off until Friday so that we could get an earlier start. Instead, we decided to go to the Lantern Festival that evening. So I looked up info about it on the Internet which was pretty vague, and not super insightful over all. We felt that the best way to get there would be via the subway. We also decided last minute to invite Doug along!

Out into the streets of Seoul we ventured and down into the subway we went. This requires a bit of explanation so you can get the feel of the experience. My first impression was WOW, how very clean. I mean you don't want to lick the floor or anything but it was pretty nice. There were even glass walls with sliding doors, over the track, that only opened when the train doors opened. This would prevent a great many accidents I would believe, and can you imagine the maintenance of having to clean all that glass?! The other really cool notable thing was the large touch screen, interactive map on the wall. There weren't a lot of these but if we could read Hangul I bet they would have been very useful. (See picture below) All the signs with all the stops labeled and the announcement for the stops on the train were also all in English. The only big complaint was lack of elevators. There were some but it was not consistent nor conveniently located.

The other very notable thing I must add about the subway is that you could essentially live down there! There was a "rest area" called 6789 or something were you could rent or hang out in a room with a couch, feed your baby, take a nap whatever at some of the stops. At another there was a FACE SHOP store, a pajama and underwear store and a clothing store. There was a guy selling DVDs, several convenient stores and even a shop to buy scarves, purses, wallets and belts. I am sure depending on the stop, and there are many, you could find just about anything and never leave the subway!

The Interactive Map

A Vender

Glass Doors so you can't fall on the Track!

Yep, She is just cool with everybody!

Doug is her buddy! She wanted to be big like him and hold the handle too!

Just relaxing and chatting on the phone, this guy was not a bum!

This stop had an Art Museum in it! And Marble pillars!

Haechi painted on the stairs.

Clothes, and cheap!

Need any cosmetics?

How about a new pajama set for less than $10?

The Crazy Looking mannequins got 'em!

So anyway, the Lantern Festival was being held on the Cheonggyecheon (sounds like Chong Ga Chong) stream. Now the Cheonggyecheon stream itself has an interesting little history I will share with you. "Cheonggyecheon is an 8.4 km long, modern public recreation space in downtown Seoul which flows into the Han River. From 1948 to 1960 it was covered with concrete roads and in 1968 an elevated highway was built over it. A massive urban renewal project launched in 2003, costing $900 million, changed the space from a road, back into a popular destination among city residents and tourists." Copied from Wikipedia. I had seen this stream before when I went to the Fabric Market at Dongdeamun with Laurie. So I at least had a guess as to what direction we were heading. However the key word here is guess. The Lantern Festival website gave the following directions:  Address Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul Subway Line 2 City Hall Stn. Exit 4 Line 1 Jonggak Stn. Exit 4 or 5 Line 5 Gwanghwamun Stn. Exit 5 Bus Seoul Shinmun / Gwanghwamun 150, 101, 405, 402, 506, 501, 707, 700, 703, 600 7016, 1711, 7019 9409, M7111, 9714, 9709, 9703, M7106 I realize this means nothing to you, and it means almost nothing to us too! I am not sure how we got there in hindsight but we took the subway as directed to Dongdaemun. Now I was feeling all smart because I even knew which way to exit the train station to get to the Cheonggyecheon! Then we arrived and saw... Nothing!

Thankfully we brought Doug who has an I Phone and can get Internet! So we Googled it on his phone and got the same vague info given above. We decided to just wing it and walk upstream along the stream bed. We also asked a Korean Security Guard who knew enough English to let us know we were heading the right direction. Then we walked, and walked and wlaked some more. It seemed like forever. It was a great evening at least, not to cold, the moon was out and the flowing stream water was rather relaxing. Then all of a sudden... people!!! Lots of them, and an giant lantern shaped like Taekwon V. (Robot Taekwon V (로보트 태권 V) is a South Korean animated film directed by Kim Cheong-gi and produced by Yu Hyun-mok, the prominent director of such films as Obaltan (오발탄) (Aimless Bullet) (1960). It was released on July 24, 1976, immediately becoming a mega-smash hit in the late 1970s, and consequently inspired a string of sequels in following years. Robot Taekwon V was released in the United States in a dubbed format under the name Voltar the Invincible. Robot Taekwon V became the first Korean film to receive full digital restoration treatment in 2005.) Copied from Wikipedia. 

I took 354 pictures at the festival. It was really awesome. Most of the lanterns were large metal structures covered with paper. Some of them were made of fabric or plastic materials. They were shaped like animals, people, scenery and all sorts of things. About halfway down the exhibit there was an area where you could make your own lantern and float it down the stream. We made 3, one for each Giulianna and Rhyon and one for Doug. Then we wrote Blessings for Giulianna and Rhyon respectively, and for Aunt Lisa and Mr Davison (a very special teacher to Mike and I from High School who has become suddenly very sick). Unfortunately, our lanterns didn't look as cool as the ones some of the Koreans made since ours were not written in Hangul. That was still a very cool experience to share as a family (even though Rhyon slept through it). Then we walked along and saw even more lanterns. The funny thing about it was though, we ended at the beginning! Oh well guess they should have given better directions on the website! 

Now I will attempt to share only a few of my pictures. Enjoy!

While walking along the Cheonggyecheon there were lots of "stepping stone" bridges to walk across. Nice picture of Giulianna and I.

Cheonggyechong Stream

Just plain cute and happy!

A view downstream toward Dongdaemun.

Taekwon V

Super Man!

Na Na Na Na Na Na,Batman!

Loving it!

This was a moving, fire breathing peacock! WOW!!!

You can see how big the bird was, and how crowded it was. It wasn't even a weekend!

We bring Doug along to take great family shots like this one for us! LOL

Doug and the Statue of Liberty!

Statue of Liberty representing the USA!!!

All these trees had Lanterns that represented traditional lanterns from various countries. I have close up shots of them all but there were way to many to include here. They were really cool! 

Koreans always do the peace sign when posing for pictures! Not really sure why...

Love the detail on this one!

This is my favorite shot!

Rhyon couldn't stop looking at the lanterns!

She really enjoyed it!

Friendly Trolls from Korean Folk Lore.

Hand made lanterns floating down the stream.

Doug and Mike making the lanterns.

Giulianna helping me with the tape.

Making our lantern together.

Rhyon helped by holding the plate and candle while Daddy assembled.

A few final touches...

Getting it lit. That's he just gave a 3 year old an open flame!

Another great family shot thanks to Doug!

Giulianna all ready to launch...

Doug all set to go...

Korean Lantern Band

Us in front of a 1/2 scale model of Namdaemun Palace

So much detail!

Haechi Seoul!!!

The Entrance! We went backwards, oh well!!!

Sculpture by famous artist Claes Oldenberg at the entrance of Cheonggyecheon.

Random picture taken while walking down the main road outside Hannam Village. The Building with the diamonds is a different color every night.

So this boggles our minds, a Korean Musical about a legendary Mexican being played (presumably) by a Korean. Despite the language barrier I think we may have to go see this!

Just in case anyone was wondering how I found out about this event there is a blog I was introduced to called englishvisitseoul.blogspot.com and then I also googled Seoul Lantern Festival, which took me to another site. The following information describing the festival if from there. 

Enjoy Dazzling Displays of Color and Light at the 2011 Seoul Lantern Festival! 

The 3rd annual Seoul Lantern Festival will be held from November 4th to November 20th this year at Cheonggyecheon (Stream), starting with a lighting ceremony at Cheonggye Plaza.

With the theme of "Stories of Seoul's Past through Lanterns", this year's festival will highlight Seoul's long history and many traditions. This year visitors will also get to enjoy twice as many lanterns as last year, with the lantern exhibition starting at Cheonggye Plaza and stretching all the way to Gwansugyo (Bridge).

Highlights of the festival will include an 18-meter lantern tunnel made up of over 3,000 cheongsachorong (traditional Korean lanterns with a red-and-blue silk shade); a 1/2 scale model lantern of Namdaemun Gate; a lantern of Seoul's mascot, Haechi; lanterns that offer glimpses into traditional Korean life; and lanterns of popular animated characters including Batman, Spiderman, Superman and Robot Taekwon V. Lanterns from the annual lantern contest will also be featured, along with small-scale lanterns from 20 different countries, including lanterns from the Japanese cities and prefectures of Goshogawara, Aomori and Yuzawa.

This year's festival will also be hosting a variety of experience programs at Gwanggyo Gallery, starting on November 5th. Programs will include lantern making and other crafts.