Posts Tagged ‘seoul subway’

These pictures are from the 2009 Lantern Festival around Dongdaemun in Seoul. I took these back in April of 2009, my third month living in South Korea.

The Lantern Festival is a celebration for Buddha’s Birthday, which is a really big deal in a lot of Asian countries. Buddha’s Birthday falls on May 21st and, according to wikipedia, many temples offer free food and tea to all visitors on this day.

This year (2010), the parade will be held on May 16th from 7pm-9:30pm. Get more information here: http://www.llf.or.kr/eng/03introduce/introduce.asp

To get to the festival, I took the Seoul Subway to the Jongno-3 Station and followed the huge crowds. The parade was by the shopping district in Dongdaemun.

If you go to the Lantern Festival, let us know what you thought about it in the comments!!!

What makes Insa-dong unique?
According to Seoul’s Best 100 guide, ‘in 1998 Insa-dong was designated a traditional culture district in order to preserve its look of a traditional Korean market place’. On Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays, it is a car-free zone. Many Sundays, festivals are held here.

How to get to Insa-dong
Take Seoul Subway line 3, and get off at Anguk Station. Head out Exit 6 and walk straight for about a minute, and you’ll pass a tourist information booth. You’ll see the main courtyard-style street of Insa-dong almost immediately after on your left.

What to do Insa-dong

Rub the frog statues for good luck as you enter the area.

Shop: most people come to this area to peruse the copious amounts of souvenirs. A lot of the merchandise looks mass-produced to me, but there are some stores with some good finds. Look for traditional Korean paper dolls there; they are quite beautiful and tastefully constructed. I also found chopsticks, chopstick rests, fancy tissue box covers, placemats, and tea strainers to bring home for my friends and family. The prices were reasonable, you can bargain a bit and the gifts were a big hit back home.









Drink tea: you can find many traditional Korean tea houses where you can sip on tea, relax and take a break from shopping.

They have tried to maintain an old-world feel in Insa-dong and a lot of the signs are in Korean only…even Starbucks.

Have you ever been to Insa-dong? Did you find or do anything special while you were there?

I at JustEnoughKorean.com had no idea what to do for New Year’s Eve in Korea. I found a few bits of information about a New Year’s Celebration happening in Seoul and that’s what we are going to do.

I’ve heard that the Times Square-style thing to do in Seoul for New Year’s Eve is to take the Seoul Subway to Jongno and head to the Bosingak Belfry area.

There, they ring a big bell 33 times to ring in the New Year. Then, the spectators shoot fireworks and roman candles into the air (hopefully into the air and not into me!).

I haven’t been before but that’s what we’ve pieced together from the internet. I am planning to go this year and I’ll let you know what it’s like.

Instead of going to your favorite bar for a New Year’s Eve party, why not try something a bit more Korean???

If you’re planning to attend and would like to meet up at some point, email me here:
jermil@justenoughkorean.com