VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: what festival would you recommend going to this weekend? |
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nick1753593 wrote: |
I was thinking about going to the Lantern festival. |
You can't go wrong. It is a true festival (food, music, displays, crowds, parades, fireworks, the whole shebang in a beautiful easily-accessible setting).
There is the Toji Literature Festival here in Hadong this coming weekend. Hadong is the county between Namhae Island bridge and Jiri Mountain National Park. "Toji" is the name of the so-called greatest Korean novel. Translated the title means "Land" and it's a story set in this picturesque set of valleys, written by a woman from Tongyeong who came here and fell in love with the place, inspiring the backdrop for the novel. I highly recommend coming to Hadong to vist the town's two parks, especially the one on the hill close to the bus terminal, with a breathtaking view up and down the Somjin river valley and beyond. Also some great hikes from this county go into Jiri national park, to see a waterfall, changing colour of leaves, well worth it. This is also the longest standing green tea planting region predating Boseong by hundreds of years, with the supposedly biggest green tea bush in all of Asia. It was also a marketplace since it sits on the Gyeongsangnamdo side of the provincial/three kingdom border with Jeollanamdo. The historical marketplace at Hwagae is worth a gander, is where Wondergirls played an outdoor concert in the spring. BUT... there is no need to come this particular weekend because the "Toji Literature Festival" is no festival! except in the Korean sense. Yes, there are special displays at an old country village where a small museum exists as well and thousands of Koreans come to see it. But the festivities is minimal. It's like a roadside attraction during a sunday drive to hicksville back home. It's not really a festival. Koreans sometimes stretch the concept. So see you in Hadong! only, make it in a couple of weeks when the leaves are changing. |
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