It seems that some of life's best experiences come about totally unexpected. Two schoolmates from Clarion, stopped by my dorm room on Saturday the 7th and suggested going into the town of Daegu (Appx 1 hr away) and having a picnic in the city park. So I put the school books away and off we went. Thankfully, I grabbed the little hand video camera and a 10 yr old point and shoot on the way out the door. I will NEVER leave campus with out my good camera again!
Once downtown we grabbed a sandwich of unknown type and a drink and went to the park. While there we kept hearing music. Naturally we followed the sounds and came upon a HUGE arena filled with people having the Lotus Lantern Festival which celebrates Buddha's birthday.
We sampled the free local cuisine (something cold and green and some kind of broth with rice and ????) and then proceeded to try to find a lantern to buy to bring back to the US. Some very nice ladies had some and when we attempted to talk to them about buying them it went some what strangely to we were now drafted into the "parade". Lanterns in hand off we went to sit in our section and had a wonderful time observing the events. Paper lanterns soaring unbelievably high into the night sky, fireworks, chanting, a very long parade, and more.
I got a little worried when two Korean men with cameras grabbed my arm while I was sitting there and dragged me away towards parts unknown. Turns out they wanted a photo op and not my head. Next thing I knew I was sitting with a group of little "monks" I would guess about 4 -5 years old in their robes and huge smiles. First they photographed me in the midst of them and then finding one brave enough to sit on my lap they happily shot away. (see pic below)
The parade itself finally got underway and the thousands of people lined up with traditional musical instruments and their lit lanterns and the necessary dragon float (among others). Off we went on what to me seemed like a death march but to the others a mere stroll. It went on for miles! The streets were lined with people and they were all dancing and waving. It was really nice to see a lot of their faces going from a small smile to a HUGE smile and frantic waving as the 3 Americans were spotted lantern in hand in the group. Many shouted out to us and seemed really, really pleased to see us involved.
We finally wound down and were left in a part of the city where we had no idea of our location. We hopped the closest subway and made our way to the main bus terminal in Daegu only to find we were to late to catch the last bus to the university about an hour away. So we had to "bite the bullet" so to speak and approached a cab driver and after some hand gestures and broken Korean were able to get him to take us to the University. Now mind you it was 11:26 pm and our "Curfew" is midnight. If you are not in the dorm by then you don't get in until 5am when they reactivate the electronic doors. We assumed we would have to find a place to spend the night or find some way to get in. Without asking him to hurry we made it with 6 minutes to spare. I counted 5 red lights ran and 3 times we went up onto the berm to pass a line of cars either stopped at the red light or simply to pass on the right.
Yeah it was a fantastic day indeed. So much for a quiet relaxing day in the park to relieve finals stress!
I hope you enjoy the videos and the pics!
Until next time!
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| Monk in training |
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| 3 Participants in the traditional Korean dress |
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| Our group - apparently school teachers |
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| Clarion students were a hit with even the young Koreans! |
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| Waiting to kick off the parade |
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| Follow the dragon! |
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| Traditional Korean musicians |
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| Smile! |
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| Traditional Korean women clothing heading up the parade behind the monks |
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| Filling the night sky with paper lanterns floating into the heavens |
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| Lantern check! |
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