Jinju Lantern Festival

Jinju Lantern Festival

This weekend we decided to go on a little adventure. We heard about the Jinju Lantern Festival from the Mokpo Facebook page. After some research, we found out that this festival was named one of the best festivals to attend in South Korea. How could we past this up! Jinju is about a three hour bus ride from Mokpo, connecting in Gwangju. We left after lunch, and had to wait in Gwangju for the next available bus at 5:00pm! So we arrived in Jinju at around 7:00pm. Perfect timing since the festival is better at night! We had a big group of seven, Alan of course being the only guy lol!

The lanterns were incredible! Made out of cloth, every lantern had intricate details. Some of them even moved! We decided to get these light up hand ands to keep track of everyone. Alan nicknamed us the Minnies, after Minne mouse, he of course was the King with his blue crown.

Year of the Rabbit!

Year of the Dragon!

There were many activities at the festival. We made our own floating lanterns and floated them along the river. There was also a hanging lantern tutorial but we needed reservations which we did not know about. Bummer! We did however reserve our spots on the boat tour along the river to see the lanterns up close!

Boat Tour! 

After the boat ride, we went to the Super Heroes and Cartoons area where they had an array of character lanterns. Keep in mind that these lanterns are constructed of a wire frame and then covered with the cloth material. So intricate! 

After our long night, we had our first Korean bathhouse experience. Very interesting to say the least! There were seperate floors for males and females. Think communal showers and lockers where everyone is not shy about their bodies... At all... Lol! After a night of not much sleep, we were on our way back to Mokpo. Pistop in Gwangju for some much needed brunch! All in all it was a great adventure!