We had the pleasure of seeing one of the more beautiful natural events on this side of the world this weekend. It's sakura season (cherry blossoms) and they bloom for a short window of time which is about a week before they blow away or rainfall gets to them first. The Japanese sakura are very popular and well known, but these beautiful trees also bloom here in South Korea!
A special thing about this is that Cheongju also held its 10th annual Art Festival downtown by the river, which just so happens to be a big place to see all the trees in bloom. So not only were there tons of people out and about to take pictures with the scenery, but the art festival meant lots of families and art students out as well. It really was a lovely weekend and we had an awesome time. It's a special thing to see the trees in bloom in part of the world where they're such a beloved event.
First things first, after stopping at the usual stores in Shinae (Anipop and Artbox) we had to go get lunch at Rice Story. Rice Story is delicious and we have a tendency to get it to go when it's nice out and go eat by the river and have a sort-of picnic. Zach got the red curry and I got kimchi rice. Delicious!
I figured it would be fairly busy down by the river because of the sakura blooms, but what I wasn't anticipating was a huge crowd due to the 10th annual art festival in Cheongju. I'm glad we got to see it though, it was pretty neat. Lots of kids activities and some entertainment. Lots of artists too, of course.
This was pretty neat. There is apparently a local college that has some sort of silkworm program and they help educate people about silk and silkworms. There is apparently a silk museum somewhere in Korea too. I picked up a cool pamphlet with pictures, but I can't read it. At least it looks neat.
These fellows were very cool. The kids were getting a little rowdy and pestering them to get a reaction out of them, but they were very patient. Pretty impressive. You can't see it, but the man on the right has a sword.
It was a lovely day for being out. So many people though!
We walked by some live music by some young guys. They were pretty good.
We walked up toward the road and the line of cherry blossoms and saw lots of artists at work. These were particularly vibrant.
I also spotted someone with their mind on the sakura. Lovely art!
Because I insisted that we walk toward the Buddhist temple, we happened upon a festival going on there too. It was a good decision! We walked in initially and had people directing us toward the food stands (despite just eating lunch) since the whole thing was free. It was neat with live music, balloon sculpting, lotus lantern making, cotton candy, tea sampling, and various other things.
I made a lotus out of a cup, paper, and rice paste/glue. It was fun and easy and now I have a fun little souvenir to take home. You can see more complete versions than the one in my hand further back.
I mentioned live music, here there were drummers! There were also ladies that came out to sing in hanboks too. They were all pretty amazing.
These ladies were stunning. You can see a video I posted on Facebook using this link. Click to change the video to HD for better quality. :)
I like collecting fun and unique things and Korea has been fun for me in that aspect. I spent a good amount of time looking at the bracelets and things on a small table near the temple and the lady was very helpful. In the end I got two very beautiful bracelets and Zach got a strand of prayer beads. The lady was so helpful and slightly after we stepped away she took this picture of us. There is also a balloon dog in my hand that a man rescued and turned into a "poodle" for me. Everyone was so very sweet.
We finally decided to continue our trek and found tons of people taking pictures in front of the cherry trees. The picture above is very Korean to me and I thought it was kind of cute. We did the same and I speculated while all this was going on about why the do it the way that they do. By that I mean that most people had cell phones in hand and despite the ability to ask one of the many, many people walking around if they could take a picture of them or their group, they decided to take "selfies" or photos of themselves.
As another note, as unpleasant as it was, there was a man throwing up down near the line of bushes while we were people watching. He was dressed nicely and someone (presumably a friend) was hitting him on the back while this was happening. Seems like someone spoiled their sakura viewing with too much soju! A guy even snuck up with his cell phone (what seemed like a stranger) and snapped a photo. It was... interesting.
This was definitely a worthwhile venture, enjoying the lovely weather and sakura in bloom!
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