Lotus Lantern Festival 2013 in Seoul

I visited the 2013 Lotus Lantern Festival (연등회 연등축제) in Seoul in May. It is a festival to honor Buddha's birthday. The one in Seoul lasts one whole week.

According to Buddhist beliefs, lanterns symbolize wisdom in that they bring light to the world. “Yeondeung,” which means lighting lantern, is an important ritual in Buddhism gives respect to Buddha.
Source: http://visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=1002416

One of the festivals' goals is to bring Koreans and international visitors together. There are a lot of stalls, where foreigners can experience traditional Korean arts, eat Korean temple food, etc. I made two lotus flowers myself, learned how to make a Hanbok Origami (traditional Korean clothing) and ate temple noodles. I also got to drink Matcha at the Japanese Buddhism stall and talked to a nice lady from Nagoya. There was also a stage, where they did games with foreigners and locals. Buddhists from Thailand or India performed a play in colorful costumes. I also got to see a traditional Korean rope dance performance (줄타기, Jultagi).

I visited the lantern exhibitions at Bongeunsa Temple (봉은사) and Jogyesa Temple (조계사). It is astonishing to see all these colorful lanterns next to each other on the temple premises. People can write their wishes on papers that hang on the lanterns (but I don't know what happens with them afterwards).
In the evening I went to see the lantern parade. Hundreds of people carried or moved thousands of brightly lit lanterns in the shape of Hangul (Korean alphabet) letters, lotus flowers, elephants, dragons, Buddhas, etc. The people waiting near the road were cheering and singing. It was a great atmosphere and the lanterns were truly magnificent. Everybody put in a lot of effort into making them.

Afterwards, there was a post-parade celebration, called Hoehyang Hanmadang (회향한마당). Korean traditional singers performed for the crowed and all ended in a circle dance (강강술래, Ganggangsullae), were locals danced enthusiastically with all foreigners. During the dance small pieces of papers were blown into the air and it looked like a huge flower petal rain. It was so beautiful!

I uploaded some photos and videos for you. Please enjoy!

My first day at Chungnam National University in Daejeon, South Korea

I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but I have a bad cold since two weeks and rather spend my free time sleeping than being at the computer ε-(´・｀)

But I really need to write about my experiences, otherwise I will forget them....

So, after a horrible first night in Daejeon I left the motel and took a taxi to the campus of Chungnam National University; my new home for the following months. The driver needed some time to find the right dormitory (7-dong), but there were a lot of young men in uniforms guiding the arriving cars. At first, I didn't understand why they needed so many people there. I arrived very early (around 9:30am) and by noon there was a very very very very very long line of cars waiting to bring the students and their luggage to the dorm. So everyone of them did a good job guiding the cars ^^;;
One of the uniform guys talked to the driver and told me how much I had to pay (6.000 Won, that's 4€) and asked me in which dong I will stay. I wasn't out of the car, but another guy already manhandled my two heavy suitcases on a sack barrow. We two (or even me alone) could have easily rolled them on their rolls, but whatever. So this guy took my luggage and brought me to the building 7-dong. We having some smalltalk. I remember that he was a physics student and that he earned money with helping the students move into their rooms. I haven't seen him every since and I don't remember his face. Sorry sack-barrow-guy, you were really friendly to me m(_ _)m

We arrived at 7-dong and I had some registration to do, while the guy waited. The girls couldn't answer all my questions, but I registered my hand, got my room number and the code for the room's lock. Why register my hand? The dormitories are gender separated. The women's dorms are always closed and you don't get a key or a key card. There is a hand scanner at the entrance, which scans the veins on the back of your hand. Someone told me, that the pattern is as unique as your fingerprint.... But you need the hand scan for getting food in the cafeteria, too. The basic dormitory fee covers breakfast and dinner from Monday to Friday. I also paid for six extra meals per weekend. So before going into the cafeteria you have to scan your hand. If this doesn't work properly you have to enter your data into a list every time, which is a pain. After two days the scanner always gave me an error when scanning, so I had to re-register my hand. It's an easy process in the dormitory building 3 (first floor, go to the right after entering the building), but it's best to take someone with you who speaks Korean. Nowadays, I hardly get errors when scanning. Sometime you get used to how you have to place your hand under the scanner (it's very sensitive).
I will make a video about this hand scanner.... If you have never seen it before it's hard to comprehend ^^'

So, the guy took me to my room. There is another code lock, but you just have to enter a four digit code. This is actually very convenient; there is no key to lose ^_~
I opened the door and saw, that there was someone sleeping in one of the beds. My roommate already moved in. I thanked the guy and brought my suitcases inside.

My roommate is a nice French girl. We have a good time together and I like living with her. Before coming here I wasn't sure about living with somebody else in a small room. But now I think I would be pretty lonely, if she wasn't there. It's nice to have someone to talk to and it could have been worse. I now that some people hardly speak with their roommates *---*
I was hoping to have a Korean roommate, but almost every foreigner is in a room with another foreigner. There are just one or two guys who have Korean roommates, but none of the girls.

The room itself is small, but we have our own bathroom. At first I didn't think that all the stuff I brought would fit into the small closet and shelf that I have, but there is a big space underneath the bed. I emptied my suitcases and still had space left ^_~

At 3pm, I met with my lovely supporter Juhyang, who I met for the first time in person on that day. She always helps me when I need things, and on my first day she went shopping with me to a near department store. We took the bus to Home Plus and I bought some necessities, like a blanket, a pillow, coat-hangers, bathroom shoes, a cup, etc. The blankets were expensive, but what to do, I needed one. But this one blanket wasn't enough. I was freezing at night. So I went back to Home Plus the day after, and guess what?!? I found cheaper blankets in the same space inside the store. I think a lot of students moved in on Saturday, so the cheap blankets were probably sold when we came there   （￣へ￣）

I met a big group of other exchange students for dinner. My roommate was kind enough to invite me ^^
We went to eat Samgyeopsal, which was sooooooo delicious!!! Afterwards, we went drinking (Makgeolli, alcohol made of fermented rice) and to karaoke. I had a lot of fun <3
The group of exchange students is multicultural, but there is a big group of French (at least 6 people) and Germans (7 people including me).

More about my stay here is (hopefully) coming soon. CU ＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ

Busan Part 1

As mentioned in one of the post before, the ferry from Japan to Korea was really nice. It was a comfortable journey. The very first sight of Korea were skyscrapers built near the sea. Lots of them. All looking the same. After being here more than a week I can tell you, this is a sight you see very often in Korea. I don’t know if these are flats or company buildings.

Then we arrived at the harbor and underwent the normal procedure: immigration, security check and customs. In Korea you also have to give your fingerprints and take a photo for immigration.

The following hours weren’t really pleasant. We wanted to ask for directions at the tourist information. The next subway station seemed to be very close on the map we found. Unfortunately, it was closed, due to the lunch break. So we walked around a bit until we found the exit and took a look at the first bus stop information sign we found. Then a taxi driver came to us telling us “No!” while crossing his forefinger. First we ignored him, taking another look on our map while he still told us “No!”. Then he asked “Busan station??”. We said no and told him the name of the nearest subway station we were looking at. He wanted to have 10.000 Korean Won. But he wasn’t really speaking any English. One time he said “Tenga!” to my boyfriend. He just repeated “Tenga?”, because we both didn’t get what the taxi driver wanted to tell us. Then the driver enthusiastically repeated “Tenga, tenga!”…. no comment

So we weren’t really sure if the drive would cost us 10.000 Won or more. Then another taxi driver came to us and started to pull on our map. My boyfriend told me, that the name of the subway station was on the bus station sign and pointed his finger at it. The first taxi driver then placed himself in front of the sign so that I couldn’t read it. He again told us “No!”. It was really enough. We felt so pressured. So we took our suitcases, said we’d walk and went away. On the next exit we found a group of young Koreans who told us the way to the station. It took us 10 minutes to get there. Surely not a taxi drive that is worth six to seven Euro.

Getting a ticket was no problem. The ticket vending machines also have the option to display everything in English. The subway stations in Busan (and also Seoul) have big glass doors, which keep the people from jumping onto the tracks. So we waited at one of these doors for the next train. A lot of people got off and we waited until they all were outside. Then I took my suitcases and went in. Right when my boyfriend was about to enter the doors closed. He managed to jump in, but his foot was stuck between the doors, which DIDN’T open again. I somehow pulled his leg in, but of course was hurt by the doors. SCREW YOU KOREAN SUBWAY! We only had like 20 seconds to get inside the subway. Why won’t the doors open again in this situation???

We got out at our station and searched for the right exit. Exits are numbered in Korea, as well as in Japan. That makes things – most of the time – easier. On the hostel’s website they said it was okay to take exit 2 or 10. Funny thing was, both exits were pretty far apart from each other. AND there was another exit between them. Exit number 2 didn’t have an elevator or an escalator, so we decided to go for exit 10. This one was in a shopping center, where we could take the elevator. Wrong decision. We wandered around for quite some time without knowing where to go until we found a tourist information and they told us the way. We took the wrong exit number 10. There are two of them, which we didn’t know. The one which we took, which was part of the subway exits, and one, which was part of the exits of the underground shopping street x____X

We entered the hostel, and everything seemed to be fine. Until we saw our room. First of all it was directed to the main street, which was pretty loud. Closing all windows didn’t help. You could still hear everything. The walls were also really thing. Secondly, it was really cold inside. The windows didn’t keep the warmth inside. We had to heat all the time. We didn’t get linen to our bed either. It was just blankets and pillows, which were (hopefully) washed after every guest. We found stains and hair on the bed, so we put towels on the pillows and took a clean woolen blanket from a closet, which we put over the dirty part of the blanket. The hostel also didn’t have a kitchen, just a microwave, a sink and a refrigerator. It contained three plates, some cups, chopsticks, one fruit knife, and only dirty spoons. That was it.

We bought cereal, milk, toast and cheese for breakfast. Cheese is really expensive here. The same goes for ham. We put the cheese and milk in the fridge and took the toast and cereals with us to the room. On the next day when we wanted to have breakfast, we only had three slices of cheese left and somebody also drank from our milk… We couldn’t believe it. Somebody ate our food *___*

At Busan, they have a fish market. We went there for dinner, because of a recommendation from the hostel staff. On our way there we saw merchants selling fish and seaweed. And the fish and seaweed where partially lying on the streets – something I had never seen before. In the market fish, clamps, crabs and other animals from the sea where cramped together in tanks. There is a restaurant floor on the second floor. A lot of them sell Sashimi (raw fish fillet). But after seeing, what we saw before, we weren’t in the mood for raw fish. There was a restaurant with pictures of their menu. We had our first Korean meal there. The picture just showed a grilled spiny lobster but we also got a lot of side dishes, like Kimchi (Korean’s famous fermented cabbage), cabbage salad, sweet potatoes, etc. It tasted really good. And it was cheap. We paid approximately 8 € per person.

We also went to Taejongdae. It’s a natural park at the sea. You have a beautiful view over the ocean while hiking. Of course, if you are lazy, you can take the “train” that stops at the major sights. We decided to walk, but a lot of Koreans took the train. There were long lines on all the stops.

Taejongdae was really beautiful even if it was very cold.

But how can you access Taejondae? Only by bus. We know how hard it can be to ride a bus from our time in Japan. So we asked the staff for a detailed description on how to ride a bus in Korea. It was really good we asked that. There were no English signs on the bus. You can’t even go by counting stops, because the bus doesn’t stop if there’s nobody to get off or on. Luckily I can read a bit Hangul (the Korean alphabet), so I was somehow able to trace our route. In Korea you also have to pay when you get on the bus (that’s different from Japan). So be sure to have the right amount ready. You pay 1200 Won (~0.85 €) for each ride, it doesn’t matter how far you go. When I got on the bus I searched for the place I had to put my money into. There was just a large donation box filled with money. This is where you have to put your money. Because I wasn’t sure about that I showed the bus driver my money. He just shouted something in Korean I didn’t understand. He shouted again. I threw the money in and he was satisfied. I think he probably got nervous, because we were taking so long to pay. The next thing you need to know about Korean buses: If you have the chance to sit, then sit!

Riding the bus in Korea is really rough. Especially, when there are no other cars on the street. You have to hold on to something with both hands if you don’t want to roll around the bus.

We also walked around the market streets near our hostel. It’s really different from Japan or Europe. The vendors put shoes in front of their store. But sometimes it’s not like you know it. The just throw all the shoes they have together, so that you have a mountain of shoes in front of you.

You can always find something to eat in the markets of Busan. There are small stalls or kitchens everywhere. For example at PIFF movie plaza we tried Busan’s famous Seed Hot Dog. It’s like an American pancake or German Krapfen filled with seed (i.e. sunflower seeds). On the outside it’s a bit salty and the pancake itself is sweet. It’s a nice combination.
We also tried Garaetteok (Korean rice cake) boiled in soup like Japanese Oden, Gimbap (Korean Sushi, but it's not really Sushi, it doesn't contain raw fish, but meat and a lot of vegetables), Mandu (Korean dumpling), spicy noodles while (almost) sitting on the street (have a look at the photo) and other things.

Seed Hot Dog

Typical food stall in Korea

Undong (like jap. Udon), but the flavor wasn't that good, with side dishes

Bibimbap (rice in a really hot stone pot with vegetables and spicy sauce on top)

Samgyeopsal (pork belly barbeque), pork is really cheap here, beef is expensive

Jigae

I don't know the Korean name, it's egg boiled in water I guess

Noodles while sitting almost on the floor

Food stalls selling these noodles

Near Taejondae

Train at Taejondae

Observatory at Taejondae

View from Taejondae

Taejondae

Taejondae

Taejondae

Taejondae, small restaurant on the cliffs

Taejondae

At a Korean arcade. The guy in the middle was jumping around in front of the people.

Market in Busan

Sausage *-*

The Beetle, our ferry

Taejondae

Pizza at Pizza Hut. Sweet potato crust tastes funny.

Cliff at Taejondae. You can walk on it. There's no security.

Gimbap, in the background Mandu

In Busan