April 26 Sunday
Today I headed out to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. They have the festival every year to celebrate Buddha's birthday. It's in the area near Jogyesa Temple. I went to the Buddhist Street Festival and the Lantern Parade.
There were tons of people at the festival. The streets were packed. From 12-7 they had the Buddhist Street Festival. There were a lot of different booths where you could make crafts and other things like accupunture. I didn't participate in any of the activities I just walked around and looked.
I went over to the performance area and saw the performances. I watched all of the foreigner traditional dance show. There were performers from other Buddhist nations such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Mongolia. Then they had a Buddhist ceremony or something. They were chanting and dancing. The show was put on by students who are studying at the Buddhist University.
I left after the Buddhist exhibition and went to get something to eat right near the festival. I chose Mcdonalds. That's all I ever want. I'm surrounded by new foods and I just want Mcdonalds. What's my favorite Korean restaurant? Mcdonalds! Looks like a lot more people chose Mcdonalds too. It was packed!
I saw something interesting while I was walking around. There was a man in a suit riding a bicycle with this huge flag that said "Lord Jesus: Heaven on one side and "No Jesus: Hell". It was interesting to see them riding near the Buddhist festival.
They also had a sort of talent show for teenagers. It was interesting. The first act sang "Let the Bodies hit the floor". They had their own groupie. There was this white guy who was in front of the stage jumping up and down. I think he was drunk. He had a can of beer in his hand. I saw him flip off the camera. and later he shouted 'mother fuckers'. I enjoyed the girls who did a hip hop dance and there were some B-boys.
Then I headed down the parade. I should have claimed a space early, but I didn't. So I ended up in a not so great spot. It wasn't a great view for photo taking. The police were in my way when I was trying to take photos-i still got some decent photos.They were standing there so no one would go into the street. There was this one old lady who they kept telling to move back but she never really listened. Plus I was right under a lightpole so some of my photos didn't turn out too well. The parade was suppose to start at 7:00 but it didn't start till 7:30. It was packed where I was standing. Shoulder to shoulder and when I would raise my arms to take a photo I didn't have room to put them back down. It was really cramped. And people kept pushing through the crowd to get in and out. I wasn't too impressed with the parade. It was just a bunch of people carrying lanterns through the street. I enjoyed seeing the big floats that were lanterns, but I didn't care for all the groups of small lanterns being carried. The parade was way too long. 2 hours! After the parade they had a Daedong celebration. Its sorta like a huge party. The street is closed off and everyone is standing in the street listening to various singers and watching performers. I didn't stay for the celebration. I went to eat at Mcdonalds and then I headed home.
After seeing all of my pictures I realize how much I really need a DSLR. (Nothing is wrong with my camera-its great)I want a camera with point and shoot capabililities. My camera has a delay so its hard to get action shots. I want to be able to buy all kinds of different lenses also. My camera is only 3 Megapixels so I'd like to have a better picture quality also.And I want to learn how to use all the cool features of a dslr. I think I might just have to splurge and get one. I really want a Nikon D40-I like it because its smaller than most DSLR cameras. I've seen good reviews about it too. I might be able to find a good price since people are probably dropping prices because of the economy. I need to start shopping around.
I fell down the stairs in the subway station. I heard the train I needed coming so I was going too fast down the stairs and I think I missed a step and I landed on my rear end. I was fine. I didn't get hurt. I just got up and got on the subway.
I am so tired!! I had to get up early 3 days in a row! And I didn't go to bed any earlier than usual.
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