Happy Birthday Buddha!

Friday, May 21st was Buddha's Birthday, which meant we got the day off! Thank you Buddha, for being born.  The Sunday before the holiday, there was a Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul to celebrate the holiday. The festival was fantastic. There were a million booths full of free activities. We made lotus flower lanterns and candles, watched free performances, and got free books about Korean history. In the evening, there was a lantern parade, which may have been the longest parade in history.

The beginning of an entire street of booths.

We were shocked to see that, unlike most the festivals at home, most of them were not selling stuff.

 

Lanterns at the Jogyesa temple.

Clayton meticulously creating his lotus flower candle.

 

The lantern I created at one of the booths.

Lantern Festival Banner!

  There was a false ceiling of multi-colored lanterns throughout the entire temple. 

 Lunch/massive feast time in Insadong!

The street right before the parade. 

 Elephants and peacocks and fire-breathing dragons... Oh, My!

This lantern was given to us by one of the people in the parade!

Sometimes it pays to be the loud, cheering foreigners in a crowd.

Since the actual holiday fell on a Friday, we had a lovely three day weekend. We joined a group of friends for a trip to Deokjeok-do, an island off the west coast. The island was beautiful.  We stayed in a little pension about a half-mile from the beach. We barbequed and hung out with friends. And even though it rained on Saturday, we had a great weekend.

The beach in the afternoon. The water was fairly warm, but it wasn't really swimming weather.

Sometimes you just have to play in the sand!

The view along the road that lead from our pension to the beach.