October Festivals

Okay, I know it is now December, but I've had a busy few months. October in Korea should just be called 'Festober'. There are literally a dozen festivals in October alone and it was so difficult to decide which ones to go to this year. I went to three this year. I already have marked down some other ones I want to catch in 2014.

Andong Mask Festival & Hahoe Village:
October gave us two mid-week holidays this year and I took advantage of one of them by heading to the city of Andong, which is a couple hours away by bus. Upon arriving at the bus terminal, we headed to the Hahoe Village first. This is a traditional village with straw huts and beautiful scenery. There was also a really interesting museum that explained the history behind masks and what different kinds represent. They also had displays of different mask dances from around the world. I found the Indonesian masks to be most interesting and appealing. After doing some exploring and watching a bit of a mask dance, we decided to head to the official festival grounds. The festival was packed with people and different tents where there were food vendors and people selling different kinds of merchandise. We wanted to see one of the dances but our timing was really bad that day and all the tickets were sold out when we went. I think I would like to return next year and check out some of the performances.






Ulsan World Music Festival:
The following weekend, Ulsan was holding a World Music Festival. It was nice to have a festival that we didn't have to travel to. There were a variety of performers from all over the world. My favourite was a group called Tahuna Breaks from New Zealand. They have a really funky sound. There was also this really cool DJ from Spain (I think). It was a really good time. It was nice to hear some live music.

Jinju Lantern Festival:

Another festival we went to was in Jinju. This one took about 3 hours to get to by bus. When we arrived it had just gotten dark, which is a perfect time to view some lanterns. The festival had so many lanterns that were really beautiful. They were displayed along a river and we ended up walking along the whole river checking out the lanterns and street vendors along the way. It was pretty much impossible to get a place to stay for the night, so we ended up taking the late night bus to Busan. We stayed in a cozy love motel and then spent Sunday in Busan for the last day of BIFF (Busan International Film Festival). We didn't catch a movie but wandered around and did some shopping. It was very enjoyable.

I had planned to go to the Busan Fireworks Festival as well, but I ended up getting sick and wasn't able to go. I heard it was amazing though and will definitely be checking it out next year.