Refusing to be demoralised by Saturday’s experiences, we decided to go check out the Cheonggyecheon Stream in central Seoul. The stream itself already sounded fascinating enough, and the fact that the Seoul Lantern Festival was (and still is!) made the decision even easier.
As challenging as finding places in Seoul can be, we noticed that if you simply study the city and metro maps well beforehand and figure out a working route to where ever you’re going, you will quite probably find your way there. Reading about other traveller’s experiences and paying attention to signs and – in the case of tourist attractions – paying close attention to the signs and maps inside the metro stations also helps a lot.
The festival obviously made it even easier to find our way to the stream – an arrangement of small food stalls started a few meters from the metro station exit, and a number of people were heading down the street indicated by these stalls. The stream area was easy to spot, even if the stream itself turned out to be quite a shallow and small one – small enough that you could quite easily wade across it in a few big strides. The area surrounding the stream was steadily filling with people, and looking down at the stream below revealed that the walkways on both sides of the stream were already full of spectators.
Since the crowd had already gotten big and we were feeling hungry, we decided to get something to eat before joining the endless sea of spectators. After searching for a while (we didn’t feel like street food), we ended up in an allegedly Japanese style restaurant, serving mainly deep fried stuff. Admittedly the main course was very typical Japanese fast food, but the side dishes of spicy vegetables didn’t quite fit the image – nor did my platter of cuttlefish with cabbage in a very spicy sauce. Good food nevertheless, even if I didn’t manage to eat such a ridiculous amount of cuttlefish.
With our stomachs filled, we headed back to the stream and bravely joined the slowly moving sea of spectators. The walkways were very full on both sides and there was a lot of pushing and shoving, but the “lanterns” (statues would be a more accurate name) were amazing nevertheless. Most of them were at least a couple of meters high, many even higher, and some even had impressive mechanics, such as the ice and fire peacocks flapping their wings, spreading their tail and breathing fire.
The stream is a few kilometers long, and at least two thirds of the lenght was utilised by the festival – every time you thought you had seen the whole thing, you noticed another amazing sculpture ahead.
The lantern festival was beautiful and left us in good spirits, and strolling around the neighbourhood lifted our spirits even higher – this is exactly what we had been expecting of Seoul! Bustling with life, filled with small stores, cafes, and restaurants, and historical buildings and statues sprinkled among skyscrapers made of glass. This we need to get more of!
