So, on Saturday morning Dawni, I, Johnny and Lina boarded the train bound for Jinju and set off to see the famous Jinju Lantern Festival. For some reason, I thought it would be pumpkin-sized lanterns floating down the river...I was horribly mistaken. When they do a lantern festival here, they go all out! Unfortunately, I wasn't too happy with most of my pics, so you'll have to be happy with the few I uploaded...The trip, however, gave me a chance to try out my Tamron 70-300 VC USD lens and I must say I'm very happy with it. I took a chance selling a much more expensive Canon L telephoto lens to free up some cash and bought this lens and I really don't miss the Canon much.
Anyhoo...the lanterns were less lit up pumpkins and more floating statues...they were amazing...there were probably close to 100 of them, maybe more...they even had them up at the fortress. What was really cool about this festival was that it presented two different, but equally interesting sights at night and during the day. Oh, also, the whole thing started with what was probably the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen...
Some of the sights...this is a very famous pagoda-type thing that Mark and I saw in real life in Gyeongju...
During the day:
And at night:
Lantern tunnel during the day:
And at night:
A bunch of cities had their mascots on display:
There was a fire-breathing peacock...because they're cool like that:
Some more displays:
Last one:
All in all, an awesome day...and it was just the beginning of the weekend!
On Sunday, Dawni, my Specialized and I boarded a bus (once it actually felt like showing up) to Suncheon to sell the bike. The sale went smoothly, so Dawni and I decided to walk around Suncheon since we were already there. Interestingly, the people were much more friendly towards us than they tend to be in our home city. Sadly, I'm beginning to notice that the people who warned me that racism/conservatism are much more pronounced in my area than elsewhere in the country were right. We wandered the sleepy streets of Suncheon on a Sunday (w00t, alliteration!) and found out that it's a much more boring (though still nice) city on a weekend than Masan or Changwon. Also, it's not a very photogenic city...so no pics for you!
On Monday...well, on Monday after sitting by idly while my landlady and a rude plumber (would it kill these people to say "hi" when they come into MY apartment?) ripped my place apart in Episode 94 of: Koreans looking for a water leak. Of course, the best time to do this is at 9 a.m. on a holiday Monday. Thank you for that.
Once they were gone, I hopped on my bike and headed for Ipgok County Park, about 9 km from my place. I have been meaning to go there for months, but never got around to it...to my surprise, it had a beautiful lake and a wicked waterfall.
Then I got kind of carried away. What was supposed to be a leisurely Sunday ride, turned out to be an 87 km trek. At first, I found a road at the back of the park, so naturally I had to see where it goes. Turned out, it goes to Haman. From there on, I was wondering how far Uiryeong would be...so I started riding. It was the perfect ride...found this:
And then got to Uiryeong a cool little town in the middle of farmland. It had a wicked gate at the entrance to the town:
At the top of the gate:
And the view from the top of the gate...the fine gentleman in the red coat on top of his white steed is General Kwan, credited with commanding the first wave of volunteer soldiers to fight the Japanese invaders in the 1590s. He's a big deal around Uiryeong...
More Uiryeong sights...
Some sort of neato statue:
They also have a shrine to General Kwan, one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Korea. It's a walled-in compound with a little pond, tons of beautiful lawns, 300 year old trees, etc...and, of course, some cool buildings:
All I have to say is Uiryeong is a big surprise in a small package. It's a little town seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but it's one that's obviously proud of its culture and heritage and has plenty of sights to see. Along the riverfront they have a big walkway, they're building a new sports complex (I think)...they have things going on, I'll be back!
Oh, and technically not part of the weekend, but while I'm here I might as well throw these in...on Tuesday I went for another ride...out into the country and found some beautiful places (forgive the quality of the shots...using my ancient 1.3 MP Samsung cellphone). Sunset from the dam of an irrigation lake...overlooking tiered rice paddies nestled in a valley...yeah, it's nice:
The irrigation lake:
Okay...that's it...in the last 3 days I've put 180 km on my bike, by the way! So stoked...I'm loving the freedom, the exercise and the exploring...
Have a great day, everyone!
T
The next time you decide to head to Uiryeong, remind me to show you thinks like the 'petrified rain' that Uiryeong also sports. The Shrine park you were at... is about 2 minutes from my house! So you were REALLY near by! You SO should have messaged me! LOL
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed the Lantern festival. It was SO crowded on Saturday night, and is just the start... imagine what it will be like next weekend!
Your adventures around South Korea are awesome! I love reading about them. I wish I'd thought to do something like this in 2009 when I came over here... I feel its a little too late to begin something like this now. Good on ya!