Insadong and the Light Festival

So this weekend I got to go to a really cool place with one of the Korean teachers I work with, Kiera.  We went to Insadong which has a ton of really neat places to shop for souvenirs.  Then we went to this place called  Ssamziegil and here was a four story shopping area.  But you walked around a spiral to get up and it was a big open space in the middle.  I have pics to better explain but it was very cool.  After we went to dinner and then on to the light Festival at Cheonggyecheon Stream.  Here they had things light in the stream and you walked along the stream to see them all.  There were soooo many people there and it was a lot of fun.  Here are a few of the pics I took.

First we ate this really good sweet thing.  It was fried and then had peanuts, seasme seeds and sugar inside.  Yumm!!!

This guy sold food things that looked like poop.  Yes, it was on purpose to look that way.

Keira and I on the second floor of the neat spiral shopping place.

All along the walls people write their names or draw pics and I liked this one!

Dinner.  Bibimbap, yes I ate everything in it!

The sides!

Starbucks in Korean.  I thought it was cool because mostly it is always in English.

The festival.

Look at all the people!!

Just to show all the people and this was only one part of the stream.  I think the lights went on for maybe a little over a mile.

Cool buildings along the stream that left all their lights on to be part of the festival.

We finally made it to the path along the stream and we had to wait in line for 30 minutes to get down.  It was so worth the being cramped in line to get here.  And I mean cramped, sardine style and everyone pushing you forward.  Slightly dangerous at times!!

Crazy laser show with a water wall as the screen.

Lanterns lining the whole way down the stream!

There were so many people trying to get to the stream path and out they added a ladder to help people out.

My favorite piece.

From China

So this whole festival is also for the G20 that is happening in Seoul this week.  This is one of the light pieces with all the flags on it.

Lantern made of hundreds of light bulbs.

Official mascots of Expo 2012 inspired by plankton.

The 20 flags for the G20 (not all flags pictured).

Here you could by a lantern and write a wish on it, then they would hang it here.  I didn't buy one because the line was really long.

A Korean fighting boat with actual fire coming out.

Popular character here and I don't even remember the name

This guy was an amazing violinist. 

A neat sign thing when we finally found our way back up to the street.  I will tell you it was not easy finding a way back up to street level.

Another great day and Kiera showed me so many neat things.