Lantern parade, laughter in ice gallery and lights in a Seoul Night-Club! ,

"A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, travelling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints." Wilfred Peterson

I just love this quote and somehow sums up my life for the last 3 months. Yes, that's right-I have already been in South Korea for 3 months! A glorious adventure!

Last weekend was no different! Straght after a day at school, where I had the boys singing "If I had a million dollars" I was off to the bus terminal for another action-packed weekend in Seoul and as always it did not disappoint! There is something about that city-the enchantment, the buzz, the hype, the vibe! It is just plain "CRAZEEE" as my students love to shout!

A bus ride, 2 subway-lines later we were led in the wrong direction for over half an hour before we finally arrived at our "Love Motel" to check in. As the name suggests the rooms are hired by the hour for certain "love business". They are not as seedy as it may sound and are actually an affordable and decent form of accomodation. After having some soju shots and mochili(fermented rice wine)at the local pub, we headed off to bed.

The next morning, a breakfast was in order! And all i felt like was bacon and eggs. Alas, we were in a very local part of town and instead a rather measley bacon and egg sami had to suffice. I must admit the local prices were rather nice though too! :)Then to check out the festivities in Jong-no, as the main event for the weekend was the lantern festival in celebration for Buddha's birthday that is in fact only tomorrow.

The city had beautiful rainbow coloured lanterns hung everywhere resembling Disney land in a way. The main touristy area was alive and buzzing! Every Tom, Dick and Jane in South Korea had seemed to have made the pilgrimage to enjoy the festivities!We all agreed though, that sometimes it is nice to feel like a foreigner in this foreign place. Hanbok dresses, chopsticks, cherries, side-walk food, chinese fans, Korean gizmos and gathches were displayed waiting to be snapped by any eager tourist! I must say - the only thing that caught my eye-was a cute retro gold beenie thing and none-other than a flying pig wind charm-with real feathers! Perfect ornament for lovely porch! :)We enjoyed watching the people from a rooftop tea house! Magnificent-summer weather, a bit of jazz, good company and divine peach tea. :) Lunch was next- a lovely fishy vegetable concoction! I am addicted to seaweed!

After much confusion about trying to meet our 20-man group of friends I got agitated. I do realise how much everyone loves one another and needs to be united, but travelling in a group bigger than 5 or 6 is seriously pushing it! GRRR! In true JO-hasn't-had-enough-sleep-fashion, I marched off to the information desk to find us the location of the ice-gallery!

Somehow the ciy never seems so big when you end up bumping into another group of Safa's (South Africans) on our way! Oh man and was the ice gallery cool when we fianlly got there! MAn-O-man! Freezing! We donned the big jackets used for ice-storm conditions and walked quite literally into a huge freezer!
Somehow a toilet and a computer made of ice is such a novelty! I particularly enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, although the piano was awesome too! The sculpting of huge ice slabs is truly an art and I would recommend anyone to check it out!

Out of the North Pole and back to reality, Chen and I decided to mission to Itaewon to check out "What the book"- the famous foreigner book-store that could be missed if you blinked going by. Underground lies a haven for any book-lover with a great selection of classics. I got the Phillipines Lonely Planet and Invisible Man by Ralph Waldo Ellison. Back in Jong-no we caught the parade that began at 5pm. Huge marching bands and dancers dressed in magnificent traditonal dresses in every colour imaginable waltzed passed us! The backdrop of the sun setting over the mountain seemed like the ideal backdrop for the lit-up elephant and dragons floats. After the eye-catching procession, we gallpoed (with a new found jump in our step)down the street to the Yeungsam temple. Covered in a cloud of lanterns, buddhists meditated and bowed in respect and non-buddhists admired in awe.

Back to the hotel for a refresher, and a change of clothes! A cold noodle soup later and we were off yet again to the Clubbing district -Hongdae ie. party central! Clubbing in Seoul is very different, perhaps for the meer fact that no bags or cameras or anything for that matter is allowed into the club and needs to be locked outside in lockers. One assumption is that the banning of cameras eradicates any evidence of the Korean underworld! However, it wasn't anymore dodgy than any other club. I have convinced myself though that the reason all females in Korea wear 5-inch heels is to avoid the pee in the toilets. First time, I have been unimpressed with toilet quality! The CLub, M2, was pumping! Unbelievable lighting and DJing. But by 2am I was buggered and it was time to call it a night. A final stop to get fried chicken and a R90 taxi fare back to our hotel, meant the day was done an so was I!

Sunday-it was Jo's birthday-another SAFA from PE! :) A delightful breakfast at a quaint, trendy restaurant with a cool breeze and more jazz-what more could we ask for! The choco cake sponsored by Jo's principle was devoured in seconds! Back to te festival for more fun and this time it meant getting involved-making traditonal Buddhist prints, making lotus flowers and observing Yoga, monks painting and meditating.

It was now time to head home-or was it really?! On a whim we decided to see if we could get tickets for a late bus back to CHuncheon and return for the climax of the entire festival-the official Lantern parade starting at 6pm. We were in luck. I had written down luckily the order of events and so we were able to check out the beginning of the procession starting at one of the sports venues at the Buddhist university. A gathering of over 30000 people from different temples singing and dancing, waving colourful boards in even more colourful costumes was out of this world. One-by-one the groups took up their lanterns for te 3hour procession across Seoul. TO our delight we were positioned perfectly to witness the police convincingly halting Seoul Traffic- a feat on its own. And then, the music blared announcing the beginning of the parade! Up first were the monks. We walked with them along the sides of the crowds until we found a suitable postion for viewing the lit lanterns in the dark. An eerie moment that I will not forget- striding in perfect synchronisity, the silent monks seemed to be saying a million things, as the usual jam-packed streets lay bare in front of them. The backdrop of skyscrapers and cranes contrasted with the ancient apparel and bald heads of the monks.

Eventually about 2km later, we perched on a raised ledge a bit away from the road, to observe the passing show. Across from Namdaemun, the joyous thousands held their lit lanterns high, as fire-breathing dragons roared and the traditional marching bands resounded!

A late bus road home and BED eventually. Oh dear-another week lay ahead! But only four days luckily-thanks Buddha!

And a "Happy Birthday to you!"

Bisous
JO