Galati Travels: festivals

I have a confession. One of the most fun activities I have done in Korea was partake in the Ice Fishing in Hwacheon. I have gone to Hwacheon twice, once with an official tour which provided a ton of benefits, and then with an unofficial tour that took us to a few other sites including the Hwacheon Dam.

Hwacheon is known to be the coldest city in South Korea, in the province of Gangwon-do, and also right next to North Korea, within nine kilometers of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.Given the reputation of being one of the coldest places, Hwacheon is home to the annual Hwacheon Sancheoneo ice fishing festival. Sancheoneo means wild trout, and the festival takes place in the Hwacheoncheon (stream) during nearly the entire month of January.

The official tour operators made there pickups at three locations: Hongik Univ. (Hongdae) Station Exit (8:00 am meet-up time), Myeongdong Station Exit 2 (8:30 am meet-up time), or Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station Exit 12 (8:40 am meet-up time). Unofficial tours leave from different areas. We've done both official and unofficial, and it took an equal amount of time to get to Hwacheon, which was 2 and a half hours, with low traffic.

We began the trip by making a stop at the Hwacheon Peace Dam, which is meant to prevent flooding from the corresponding dam in the north, Geumgangsandaem by North Korea. There's an interesting piece on the Peace Dam by New York Times which is worth a read here.

There was a bell you could ring as well at the Dam sight, and a small park, where we explored and took some pictures.

Then,we were back on the bus we drove for another 40 minutes and arrived at the festival area. The bus drooped us at a random corner and we had to walk up a street lined with tented restaurants. We then walked under a tunnel and came out in the festival area. The fishing took place mainly on a frozen river.

We wandered for a bit and found the tent where we got our fishing poles. We were in the special foreigner section, which was nice as it meant we had a better chance of catching some fish. We spent ages bobbing our fishing rod up and down in the hole, and nothing happened. Finally, I caught a fish and then Omar caught three fish!

Sadly though, we had to return these fish. I'm not sure why, but I was pissed to kill and torture fish and find out I still won't get to take them home. Later I found out there was some mix up with the tour groups and technically, we should have been allowed to take the fish with us

Though ice fishing was undoubtedly the most popular event, and also the bare hand ice fishing (shivers), there were tons of other things going on all around us. There were areas for sledding, skating and ice hockey as well as curling. Food vendors and ajummas were all over the place and the entire city was on party mode.

For us, the next stop was the snowhill and snow tubes. With each ticket, we were allowed three slides and this was definitely the best part of the festival. After standing in line, we were given these tubes, and we climbed to the top of a hill. Once the whistle was blown, we went sliding down the hill with the snow tubes. It was a lot of fun.

After that, we spent the time exploring the entire area as well as the city, which is fairly fun. We were also told to arrive for lunch, to a designated spot for they grille the fish for us.

The last sight on the trip was the ice sculpture exhibition which was extremely entertaining and you could slide on the buildings. Most of the structures were the Gates and fortresses of Seoul.

By 7 pm, we were pooped and exhausted from the cold, so after some warming in cafe's, we headed home. But let's just say we like this festival and it was a perfect way to embrace the January chill and spend the day doing something a little different.

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Jeollanam-do has some great sights - particularly forests. In March, just as the weather was getting better, we had another weekend trip further south, where we visited Jangheung and Yeonggam. Jangheung is a small county in Jeollanam-do that is located near the sea of Boseongman Bay, and by the big lake created by Jangheung Dam and Tamjingang River. It's also the same place they have the water festival, but this time around, we visited the Cypress Forest Woodland there. Needless to say, if you are in the region, it is certainly worth a visit since cypress trees are not a common sighting in Korea and make for a very pleasant hike.

The Cypress Forest has great walking pathways, all over the forest, and it is located around Eokbulsan Mountain. There are also various hanok-style pensions, for people to stay at, and some random sculptures in the forest.

Following Jangheung, we made our way to Yeonggam to participate and enjoy the Wangin Culture Festival. The festival is meant to commemorate the achievement of Korea’s Dr. Wangin, who traveled to Japan some 1,600 years ago to spread knowledge about Korean culture, and arts. The festival takes place in two parks, the Bongseondae and Sangdaepo Historic Park.

Within the area, there are excellent views of the Cherry Blossoms, as well as a number of games and activities, from Hanbok wearing to tug-of-war games.

There is also a section for trick art.

This is followed by a parade with drummers and women in traditional attire, that "see off" Wangin.

The entire historical event of Wangin leaving Korea for Japan is re-enacted.

Wangin is believed to have been a teacher to the emperor of that time. His teachings included the Thousand-Character Text and the Analects of Confucius. The person was also highly proficient in teaching writing composition to the Japanese and helped with developing the foundations of education, which had a great influence on some areas of study such as social science, politics, economics, culture, and art.

Each year, this festival seems to attract a few foreigners as the local area has been trying to promote it. So if next year you want to go, take a bus to Mokpo and head over. Though the program isn’t announced early, there are many activities and great food options.

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The past weekend, we were invited to take part in a tour to the towns of Jangheung, Gangjin, Muan and Gwangju on the West Coast. It's somewhere down south in Korea, in the same level as Busan but on the other side of the edge of the peninsula.

After several hours of travel and a few pit stops for a wee-wee break and sustenance replenishment, we finally arrived in Jangheung. Jangheung is a small county in Jeollanam-do that is located near the sea of Boseongman Bay, and by the big lake created by Jangheung Dam and Tamjingang River. We found out that each year, in July, the Janheung Jeongnamjin Aqua Festival is held. We had no idea what to expect, but were handed water guns. What began was one of the largest water fights, and there were huge fire trucks raining water down on us.It was a GREAT way to have fun and cool down in the summer heat.

Advice: For getting wet, bring somewhat covered clothes. No one in Korea gets wet in a bikini, or even swimsuit. Shorts and T-Shirt and towel! That is all you need. No guy is shirtless either, so save the skin for European beaches.

After that, we walked around and there was a pool; canoeing, river obstacles and much more. We didnt have time to do much but by the end of it, we were soaked. Not long after, perhaps another hour, we were in Gangjin. Gangjin is thought to be a must-visit place for exploring the southern provinces as it houses varied historical cultural assets. Goryeo Dynasty, one of the three dynasties in the Thee Kingdom Period. At Gangjin, we mainly visited the Celadon Festival.

Celadon is a kind of ceramic often seen in many Korean museums. The complex techniques of firing and coloring celadon were imported from China around the 9th century and subsequently improved by craftsmen. At this festival, we had a chance to see how celadon pottery is fired and try it ourselves.

There was a really nice parade that took place and we also participated in the water slide!

That night, we also did a "Hanok Stay"in Gangjin. Hanok Stay refers to staying in a traditional Korean house and not only is it a good opportunity to experience traditional Korean life, but to enjoy home cooked food. In our "hanok", it didn't look too traditional, as the house had a massage chair. Additionally, we had a sofa and bed to our disposal. We were fed amazing Korean food!

We were lucky that the other couple with us could speak Korean so we managed to get by!

The next day, Sunday, we made our way to the city of Muan. Muan is the capital of Jeollanam-do, South Korea but didn't look like much was happening there. There, we visited the Muan Ecological Tidal Flat Center. Mud flats are basically coastal wetlands which are under the water in high tide, but are exposed in the air in low tide. Since Jeollanam-do has a long coast from the Yellow Sea to the south sea, it so follows that it has great mudflats. Muan is a Ramsar Convention wetland, and famous for small octopuses and Deukryang bay where is a repository of tideland’s living creatures.

At Muan, we had the chance to walk out along the sprawling mud flats and catch glimpses of, and learn all about, the various creepy crawlies that inhabit this unique ecosystem.

We saw the crabs in display. They were white sand crabs, very well camouflaged in the background. They are also a bit like Fiddler crabs in that they have one claw visible and the other was too tiny (or perhaps not there?)

From there, we went to Gwangju, which is the sixth largest city in South Korea. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of Jeollanam-do until the provincial office moved to the southern village of Namak in Muan County in 2005. There, we stopped at Boribap Street for lunch. The street is named after Boribap, which is a barley rice topped with an overwhelming range of fresh sautéed vegetables, red chili paste and sesame oil. Eating barley rice has a handful of health benefits, including good digestion and weight control.

Well, it wasn't over. We made our way to the Penguin Village. The entrance is quite unassuming...

But then, once side, you see that the neighbourhood has alot of character. It is said to be unchanged since the 70s and 80s. It is named this because it is believed that the old people in the neighbourhood walk like this.

Its a great photo opp place, with some quaint pictures on the wall. Does anyone know the deal with why there are so many fish?

After the Penguin Village, we visited the Gwangju National Museum. It is a large, six story building with two stories above ground and four basement floors. We were there for only 30 minutes so sifted through the various historical artifacts, most of which were found in Jeolla region. There were many relics related to Buddhism and earthenware during Baeje, unified Silla, Goryeo, and Joseon dynasties; and some underwater discoveries from Sinan shipwreck. There was also lots of Celadon displayed here too! We didn't stay too long, and then headed back home to Seoul, but certainly, its something to spend more time at.

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In an earlier post, I mentioned about the capital of the Baekje empire, Buyeo, in Chungjeongnam-do. Well, I wanted to highlight a particular aspect of Buyeo, and that is the Sabi Heritage Festival.
Sabi is another name for current day Buyeo, and this festival marks the place's history. The festival includes a parade in the main city area, followed by a concert at the Jeongnimsa Temple as well as a light show.

I happened to see a parade with people dressed in wooden masks.The mask dances are called talchum and are a a form of drama featuring the wearing of masks, singing and dancing.

The Talchum was originally a regional term only applied to mask dances traditional to Hwanghae Province. It eventually became a general term referring to all forms of the art after the Hwanghae Province style of mask dance received extensive publicity. At Buyeo, the masks were really well done, and the dancers and paraders even posed with us.

The performances began with a fan dance performed by ladies in Hanbok. This kind of dance is called Buchaechum’. Buchae means folding fan in Korean, which is very colorful with many different paintings. Buchaechum is famous for using these folding fans in each hand while dancing. Buchaechum is a traditional form of Korean dance, usually performed by groups of female dancers. The dance appears to have evolved under influence of both shamanic dance and traditional Joseon Dynasty court performance. It reminded me of the Whirling Dervishes in Turkey. See if you note the similarity too.

After this was a hip-hop K pop dance which was just wow! It seemed more like break dancing and all the dancers were super athletic. There were a number of movements they did including top rock and down rock and a bunch of freezes. As you can see from the video below, they did a great job!

After this was a Taekwondo performance. Taekwondo is one of the most famous martial arts to have been developed in Korea, though it has been referred to by different names throughout the country's history, as it combines a variety of Korean martial art forms. Originally, it was a defense and combat technique used by the armies of dynastic Korea to develop strength and speed and continued to be used as an unarmed military technique up until the Korean war. The fighting technique uses all parts of the body, but focuses on the feet and the fists, as its translated name suggests.

Then, from the kicks came the wood. Breaking has always been the aspect of martial arts that stands out in my mind as the most impressive. How a human being can physically break piles of blocks with a single chop of the feet or hand is beyond my understanding, but I always loved watching the professionals do it in the movies. I was suddenly super stoked to watch the performers give us a kick-butt demonstration.

After all these dance performances, we had the entire procession go walk to the Jeongsin Palace.

Following this, we walked over to the temple where we saw two dances. One was the Talchum dance that comprised of the masked dancers I spoke about. This was followed by a lion dance. This dance began in China, and in Korea, may have been recorded as early as the King Jinheung's reign in the 6th century during which a tune titled "The Lion's Talent" was composed that could be a reference to a lion dance.Two main traditions of lion dance survive in Korea, the saja-noreum, which is performed as an exorcism drama; and the sajach'um which is performed in association with masked dramas. We of course saw the Saja ch'um accompanied with the mask dance.

In many of the traditional masked dance dramas, the lion dance appears as one part of a number of acts. Lion dance as an exorcism ritual began to be performed in the New Year in Korea during the Goryeo dynasty.

Thus ended the performances for the day! I can certainly say we had a great time posing with our stars.

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I was lucky enough to attend a Korean wedding within a week of my visit to Seoul and discovered it was a traditional one. That is a rare thing as most people choose to have a western style wedding. The ceremony itself takes about a half an hour, but there are celebratory performances before the event and dining after the ceremony.

Our ceremony at Korea House took about three hours including the ceremony and food. The Korea House was in Chungmuro and itself is beautiful as you will see from the picture below.

Before the main ceremony, there is a traditional dance with a number of instruments. The dance is called Samulnori, which means a dance of four objects. This is because they use four instruments in the dance that are supposed to signify thunder, wind, rain and the clouds.

After the dance, the main ceremony begins. In the main ceremony, the groom enters the courtyard with a person leading the way with the wedding geese. This person is called the girukabi. The wedding geese is fake by the ways and symbolizes harmony and love between husband and wife. We saw a wooden geese but before, live ones are also used.

The girukabi hands the geese to groom. The groom places the geese on the table and bows twice to his mother-in-law. The mother-in-law takes the geese into the house where the future bride is currently. She brings the bride out.

The groom stands on the east, and bride walks to the west side of the wedding table.The helpers (two each for bride and groom) wash the hands of bride and groom. The helpers spread the mat on the yard for each other. The groom bows, then the bride and groom stand on the mat, facing each other (bride holds her hands to cover her face). First, the bride bows twice and groom bows back once. Then, the bride bows twice again, then groom makes a deep bow and kneels down. The bowing represents the promise of commitment to each other.The helpers are quite important as the bride’s bow is required to sit cross-legged on the floor and stand up.

Finally, the helpers of bride and groom prepare drink (usually rice wine) and side dishes. The groom bows, then bride and groom present the drink and side dishes to the sky (to the greater existence who’s looking down on everyone). The helpers pour the drink. After groom bows, bride and groom raise their cup. The helpers fill the cup which made of gourd dipper and groom bows. Bride and groom exchange gourd dipper. After this ceremony, there are lots of pictures being taken so we took one with our friend and the bride too!

Finally, we eat! There is a lot that they serve, from fish, beef (bulgogi),bibimbap, rice and soup. Also, a special thing served are banquet noodles or guksu.Because the noodles are traditionally eaten at weddings, the expression "When are you going to feed us guksu?" is a way of asking "When are you going to get married?"

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