When It Buddha's It Pours

Today was Buddha's birthday - a holiday of significance in this part of the world. So significant in fact that it rained all day. Needless to say, Jasmine and I spent most of our time tucked in on the couch watching Northern Exposure...so it wasn't an entire waste (NE = importance). There's not too much to report as far as the past 24 hours are concerned, however, a few of us made it to the Lotus Lantern Festival on Sunday, which is held to commemorate the birth of Buddha. 'Twas a spectacular sight to behold. I was smitten by the sheer size of it all - I'm guessing millions of people attended. I love crowds, and even more so when everyone is carrying a lantern! It's poetry really... We strolled Insadong (an eclectic neighborhood of shops and tea houses), visited a temple where thousands of paper lanterns were hung and strung ever-so precariously (a wonderful yet seemingly cliché photo-op), and watched the lantern parade from a decidedly uncomfortable vantage on a blocked off four-lane road. Overall, Sunday was an excellently chill evening, as was today...I thought I'd share:

...is another man's treasure

Where's Melvil Dewey when you need him?

Entrance to the temple...

I regret having not returned later in the evening while they were all lit...

We were given this by another random group astounded by the presence of waguks (foriegners).

A troop of Sri Lankan musicians on their way to the fountainhead of the parade...

Buddhaaa!

I was imagining what it would have actually been like to be in combat with one of those things...

There's no doubt - dragons are bad-ass...

"It is better to travel well than to arrive." -The Birthday Boy-