Every year Jinju, a city near Busan, transforms into a city of lights and lanterns. Last year, Markus and I were unable to make it to the Jinju Lantern Festival, but thankfully we made it this year with Emilio and Gina.
The festival is free and only an hour and half bus trip from Busan, an easy day trip. Once we arrived in Jinju, I quickly realized that this event was much bigger than I anticipated. Many of my friends attended last year and they said that there weren't many people and it was a fun way to spend the day. We were stuck in traffic for at least 30 minutes and we hopped out before we reached the bus station. We headed down towards the river and immersed ourselves with the crowds.
I love living in Korea. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to live here and I rarely complain about it, but there is one thing that really annoys me. When there are huge groups of people gathered in a small area it's horrific. It's the most ridiculous thing, people walk in front of you when you're trying to take pictures, they bump into you even if you make room for them and worst of all, they cut you in line. It's terrible. The Lantern Festival was no exception.
Despite the crowds, the lanterns were pretty fantastic. I thought that it would be a little section of lanterns, but there was so much to see. My favorite part was the lantern walkway, it was beautiful. The festival felt a bit like a carnival, there were heaps of food and game booths. Emilio and I couldn't help ourselves and we tried a few games. We even won some prizes.
We were at the festival for about five hours and that was all that was needed. After hour three, my feet were achy and I was tired of being pushed around. I felt like we were cattle just following the flow of people around us. Also, I was a bit lanterned out. I think that happens when you see too much of one thing. Overall, it was a good time and I'm so thankful we were able to experience it before we left Korea.
I love these creepers.
