Here is the first picture from the parade for Buddha's birthday. We were so lucky, because we did not plan on being there for this, and we just found ourselves in the middle of this giant festival. This picture is of a bunch of women in traditional hangbok. The one in front, with her dress billowing out I really like. It was good to capture. Here's a dragon float, carried on the shoulders of a bunch of men. Here's Jackie, Jessie and me watching the parade. While we were watching the parade, this woman just came up and handed Jackie this beautiful lantern. What a super souvenir, this lantern that was just handed to you at a huge parade. And it was huge, we watched for about an hour, and it was still going. Just kept going. We wound up leaving, because it actually got to be a bit of a drag, and we were just waiting for the end. Here's a rather solemn float, with Buddha driving a taxi that is chasing an animal of some kind, being chased by another animal on a motorcycle and a flame thrower. It actually shot flames too. Here's another dragon float. This one actually shot flames, and I was lucky enough to catch the actual flame. Here's the Coxes with a couple hundred lanterns in the background.
We went to see this play/performance. It was Korean, but had been on Broadway under the name "Cookin'". Basically, it's about a restaurant, and it's mostly percussion with almost no dialogue. The owner brings in his nephew to be the new cook, but he's a bit of a goof-off, so in a stressful day of cooking, he must prove himself. It was really really good. Here's Jackie and Jessie in a park at Jongmyo shrine. Here's Jessie stopping to smell the flowers in Jongmyo Shrine.