Fall festivals in the area.

[Brian]

Hey, c'mon, vote for your favorite beach!  Only two people?!?

Anyway, some of the bigger festivals in the area:

Gwangju Biennale (September 5 - November 9)
* Massive art festival held every two years in Gwangju, in and around the Biennale Hall on the north side of town.
* Official site.

Jeonju Sori Festival (September 26 to October 4)
* Festival about traditional Korean music, in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do.
* Official site

Jinju Lantern Festival (October 1 - 12)
* At Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do.  Absolutely beautiful festival in a beautiful city, a short walk from the bus terminal.  A must-visit.
* Official site

Namdo Food Festival (October 9 to 13)
* At Nagan Folk Village in Suncheon.  Take city buses 63 or 68.
* Official site

Gwangju Kimchi Festival (October 15 to 19)
* Dedicated to Korea's representative side dish.  As a foreigner prepared to be a spectacle yourself.
* Official site

Jangseong Baekyang Maple Festival (November 1 and 2)
* At and around Baekyangsa temple in Jangseong county, the temple a lot of Jeollanam-do public school teachers visited during Orientation.  Popular spot for viewing the fall foliage.

Here's a more complete list featuring other festivals in the neighborhood and more detailed information.  Please add your own if you know of any.

[rianshearer]

The Jinju Lantern Festival is indeed beautiful and a great weekender for those looking to get away to a better looking place (Jinju is probably the best-looking city in South Korea).  If you want details of bars, restaurants, accomodation, transport etc.  please post up here and I'd be glad to help out.

Rian (Jinju)

[Virginia]

Smee - LOVED the list of festivals -- read it on your blog earlier this week and am pretty excited about the Lantern Festival.

Riann - yes yes yes... Ty and I will probably go to Jinju on the weekend of the 11th to celebrate our birthdays which are the next week. I've done enough of the "arrive in a town and wonder how to find the festival from the bus terminal" since I've been here, so any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!!!

Dance Festival in Mokpo -  Sept 3-12th: http://www.17thkdf.com

[capebretonbarbarian]

The Geumsan Insam (Ginseng) Festival http://www.geumsan.go.kr/festival/autumn/2008/index.jsp  (only Korean) is another festival worth checking out.  It's about 40 minutes outside of Daejeon, so it involves a little bit of travel.  Unfortunately it finished Sunday but for those who will be around next year, ya might want to check it out. 
Here is the city homepage. http://www.geumsan.go.kr/english/index.htm

[rianshearer]

Last time I checked there were two trains a day from Mokpo to Jinju via Seo (West) Gwangju, Boseong, Suncheon and Hadong.  It takes about four and a half hours, but the journey is nice.  http://www.korail.com/

The express bus from Gwangju takes about two hours, but is less charming.  The only real problem is that there are two bus stations, both of which have buses to Gwangju (strangely) and some other big cities.  The shiwae (intercity) terminal is right by the festival site and the gosok (express) terminal is a little further out, by the train station. 

Anyway, Jinju is quite small and there are signs for Jinju castle all over.  If you can find the castle then you're there.  I recommend walking, as the traffic can be a nightmare on festival weekends.

Let me know later and I can recommend bars and restaurants (the festival food is ridiculously expensive and includes whale meat).

Cheers

Rian

[Brian]

Yeah, I'm curious about where to go and eat and play outside the festival grounds.  I accidentally found a downtown area last year sort of near my motel, but I don't think I could get back there without some effort.  We'll check out the lanterns and the fortress both in the day and after dark, but I don't want to spend two days just at the riverside.

Just a reminder---I was reminded of this yesterday, too---public school teachers will have October 3rd off, giving us a three-day weekend.  You may even have more, since at one of my schools Wednesday and Thursday is the midterm (sadly I'm at a different school on Thursday.    ) 

[rianshearer]

Oh yes and by the way Virginia, I apologise for my unpleasant comments about the horse fighting earlier - I agree entirely with your views on animal cruelty - I was just feeling a bit argumentative back then.  The whale meat at Jinju Festival is shameful, as are the foreigners who try it 'just for a laugh'.

[rianshearer]

Smee

There is a decent scene in Jinju if you hit the right places at the right time.  Downtown (by the castle) has some okay places, which I'll post up later.  A lot of the foreigner nightlife centres around two or three bars and a an Italian restaurant down there, but they're not all busy all the time.

There's also the bullfighting which you may or may not want to take in...

Rian

[Virginia]

Thanks for the transportation info etc... and for the reminder of Oct 3 off... and the apology and and and and...

Ya, probably won't be eating any whale meat. National Geographic has run a few stories lately about Japan and Korea doing "scientific whaling" or being allowed to sell "accidental" whale catches....

If there's one thing that Korea does well, it's festivals. Am really looking forward to Jinju.

[rianshearer]

Yes, Autumn festivals are lovely here.  Jinju festival is particularly interesting - second only to the Dano festival in Gangneung in my opinion.  There is also the Bukcheon Cosmos Flower Festival in a small village on the line to Jinju around that time, which I'll post details of later when I find them.  The little country festivals can be great - especially if you like drinking makkeolli with old men!

[Brian]

Hadong Cosmos Festival (하동코스모스축제)
* September 19th to 28th
* In Hadong, Gyeongsangnam-do, on the border with Jeollanam-do.  Held in a field in Bukcheon-myeon, there's a train station there (북천역) with trains to and from Suncheon and Busan, among others.  Only one bus a day goes from Gwangju to Hadong (at 1:45), but I'm almost positive the bus to Jinju from Suncheon stops there.  An estimated attendance of 470,000.
* Information, in Korean.

[rianshearer]

The Cosmos Festival is quite small really. I take it the 470,000 is over the entire festival period, though having been a couple of times, I can't imagine that being true.  It's just a pretty little village with lots of flowers and drunk farmers - which is fine by me! 

For travel, Bukcheon is as close to Jinju as it is to Hadong, but unfortunately the Suncheon - Jinju bus doesnt stop there.  I reckon the train is the best bet, though local buses from Hadong and Jinju will go there too I expect.  It's also really close to Cheonghakdong (confucian village) in Jirisan.  The buses from Cheonghakdong to Jinju go through Bukcheon I think and that could be quite a nice combination.

[Brian]

Yes, the 470,000 is for the entire period.  Not unrealistic, given the figures I've seen for other rural festivals.  The Jinju one, by contrast, had 3 million last year. 

Hmm, well, I thought the bus to Jinju stopped at Hadong.  I know it stops somewhere along the way.   Thanks for the transportation info, though. 

[rianshearer]

The bus from Sucheon to Jinju stops at Gwangyang and Jingyo, which is near Hadong.  I'm sure there's a direct bus to Hadong from Suncheon though.  Once again though, Bukcheon is nowhere near Hadong town, so the train is best I think.

[zachmokpo]

Jinju sounds amazing!

[rianshearer]

Jinju is indeed lovely.  I'd recommend the three day Gaecheon Jeol holiday starting on October 3rd as the best time to go to the festival.  There are also excellent excursions out to Jirisan and Namhae which are well worth it.