I will be talking about my experience at the Hi Seoul Festival. This event was held from the 1st until the 10th of October. I went to the festival on two days. One day to see the fireworks and one day to see the parade. The fireworks show was on Friday and the parade on Saturday. The festival ended with the parade. I went to the parade with Greta, Anette, Carla and Britta from Germany. Some guys didn't want to go, because they were too tired because of hiking and partying.
Hi Seoul Festival is a seasonal culture festival that is held four times a year since 2003. It is based on the "Seoul Citizens' Day" held on every October since 1994 to commemorate the 600 years history of Seoul as the capital of the country. It was a very nice festival with expression of culture through music, dance and art. There were acrobats, percussionists, dancers and a lot of people in customes. There were some people in a bee costume and even dressed up as dinasaurs. It's strange to imagine this, but just look at the pictures. They will explain it better. There were also groups of Namsadangpae (남사당패), Korean troupes consisting of male performers. It was a very nice day. The sun was shining and it's going to be fall and winter soon, so I'm enjoying it while I still can. It was a free event with lots of foreigners coming to the event. That was also something nice to see since Seoul does not really have a high concentration of foreigners. But of course there are places where you can see some foreigners. Areas near universities such as Sinchon, Hongdae. And of course in Itaewon. This area has a bad name and image in Korea. Koreans blame the foreigners for the detoriation of the neighborhood. But that's exaggerated. It's just an enclave of foreigners. And Koreans are hesitant to talk to foreigners. Mainly because of the language barrier. Or the image they have that foreigners don't speak Korean at all. The foreigners in Itaewon are mainly Americans, Europeans and some people from India, Africa and the Middle East. I enjoyed myself the most that day because of a French group of percussionists. They were quite extravagent and strange, but funny at the same time. They stayed in their character. In the end they were put up high in the air with the help of a huge crane and kept on drumming. They interacted with a group of Namsadangpae. It was an entertaining show. Just check out the pictures and the video I've made. I think you'll get an image of my experiences those days. Enjoy.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWIQ_-PP22E
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