Firework Festival 2013

Every year there is the firework festival where four countries come to Seoul and offer spectacular firework displays. This is our third year attending. The first year was practically happenstance, at least it felt like that for me. We were walking around that evening with some friends when we heard them going off so we hopped up on a pillar and watched from above everyone else. Last year, some members from church invited us to their home where they were going to have food and a party sense their window looked out at the river from a ways up. Both were nice in their different ways. Since this was our last year we wanted to see it close up. Yeah, I said it, our last year. It is starting to be that feeling where you think, "Oh, this is the last time we will ___"

So this year we decided to go along the river close to where they shoot them off. It was a good two hours, maybe, before the show started and there were people already picnicking a ways from the center of the action. Then along the river it just got more and more crammed. I do not do well with Korean crowds. I cannot stand their rudeness...rude to me anyway. They were taking up almost the entire pathway! There was just enough room for one lane of walkers. That may have been fine except that there were TWO lanes of pedestrians going opposite directions...not to mention bikers. We found a spot on and a hill and had the launching pad in front of us. We settled in and waited, and munched on our Korean treats. A lone old man offered Hunny five circles of these rice disc things. I don't know really how to explain them. I have seen them all over but have never had one before. They are very light and thin. Airy but flat. I bit in and was cracking up the whole time! They were delicious and so fun. They would stick to my lips and I was flapping them at Hunny while he is trying to explain something about work or something semi serious. All I could think about was getting my hands on some more and what all I could do with them! Oh the dips and spreads they needed, these rice discs!

And the Korean chocolate milk in those little white cartons, GET ONE! They are the BEST chocolate milk I have EVER had! I might just have to walk down to the GS25 and grab one right now....

Eventually the show started. Canada was first. Hunny was worried it would be really loud since we were so close but it didn't bother me until there was a stint of one MASSIVE one right after the other. Guys, this is no 4th of July Firework Show. The tourist site says, "the Seoul International Fireworks Festival is an annual event of extravagant firework displays by firework masters from home and abroad."

After Canada was Japan. And talk about stellar! O.O Wow! I mean they were FANTASTIC! They had a theme I felt. It seemed like it started with It's Not What It Looks Like. There were some that would start off looking like a regular firework but they would either change color or direction halfway through. It went with the music and was beautiful. Not just throwing up whatever looks cool. Then my favorite were these floating spirit looking lights. After the explosion, a light seemed to float like a fairy or spirit, think Japanese. Hunny pointed out they had little parachutes that held them up longer. Man, their whole show was just astounding.

France was next and their show was okay. They had some typical French music and pretty straight forward fireworks. Korea's, I have to say was pretty disappointing. About half of their show was on a small barge or something just off to the side from us that if you were in a building or on the other side of the river, there would have been long breaks between the fireworks. Meh... it was okay. We all just waited around for the bridge to light up like last year. :) And then everyone gasps like it was new or unexpected. ◔_◔

If we thought getting there was hard, getting out was a nightmare. We ended up climbing straight up the hill to the road where a few lanes were closed off and there were a few parked cars...some empty. We walked and waited for the bus, of which we may have been able to out run. We fell asleep on it and an hour later we still had a long ways to go. We figured, maybe we could try the subway now that we are far enough out of the area. But we picked a station where the train only ran every 15 min and we missed one car because there wasn't enough room. But just across the street was main post. Hey, we could take a taxi :) So we walked on base a ways and called a cab. Finally one shows and we slowly make our way home . Four modes of transportation, if you count walking, and about three hours later we get home. I passed out upon walking in the door.

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