Is every day Children's Day?

Well, maybe in the western world from where that saying originated, but not here.

May 5th is Children's Day in the Land of the Morning Calm, turning it into the Land of Whole Day Chaos quite adequately. It's a national holiday. Kids and their 'don't spend enough quality time with my children' guilt-ridden parents will be spilling into all space deemed public in lemming proportions; if you can't abide large crowds, noisy demanding kids, cramped public transportation, epic traffic jams, and/or all of the above, I suggest either lounging and rolling at home or hitting drinking spots (i.e. non kid-friendly places) at the earliest time possible.

For those who crave mayhem and chaos and thrive from sucking the energy out of those around you (I'm talking about you crowdchasers), and those who are actually parents and have to go through this ordeal, there are many events and goings on taking place throughout the city.
All the national parks, palaces and museums have special programs which cater to both kids and adults and other festivities are being held by various districts. The zoos and amusement parks have goings on as well, of course.

Too much info to put into this post, but you can access the websites of the national museums and other parks through the Wikipage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_museums_in_Seoul

Additional info : the official Children's Week logo is a symbol of 5 and 5 (May 5th) as young buds walking hand in hand. Designed by Prof. Yoon Ho Sup of Kookmin University.

P.S. My can't-edit-personal-photos-yet compy problems are causing my blog to turn into a PSA! Need to get out of this mode. I feel like a virtual tour guide.

P.P.S. Caffeinated Traveller has written about the same holiday on her blog, with a more informative and much less cynical view.

Lotus Lantern Festival - Buddha's Birthday

Korea celebrates both Christmas and Buddha's birthday, the latter falling on May 2nd of this year. (Changes every year due to the lunar calendar.)

Events at various temples and venues had already started from the end of April, but the biggest events are taking place on the date itself. The lighting of the Lotus Lanterns are the highlight of the ceremonies, so take some time out to enjoy the beautiful colorful displays.

2009 Lotus Lantern Festival homepage
(available in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German)
http://www.llf.or.kr/index.asp

P.S. It doesn't matter what your religion is, take it as a cultural event.

My Bad

Well, I have an excuse. Sorta. No, really.

I did plan to update this more frequently, that's the whole reason for the resurrection brouhaha talk before, but my computer has been acting mighty wonky. It has been acting wonky for a couple of months now, but it has been acting really wonky for the past few weeks.
The basic talk and gawk on the interwebs, no problem; it's when photos are involved that certain traits of extreme wonkiness surface. I got a new point-and-shoot that requires a new uploading program and my computer doesn't like it. Lotsa moaning and groaning going on. Throwing tantrums, refusing to budge, that sort of thing.
I don't have the patience to deal with a sullen computer. With a lighter workload, it's cooperative. Albeit a bit reluctant, but anyhow. Gets minimum jobs done. So for a while that meant no photo uploading, editing, or anything related in the least.
No photos = no joy in posting = no posts.

Lame excuse? Probably.
But cherry blossom festivals, art gallery hopping, wine tastings, window shopping, pigging out all just come alive when accompanied by visual stimulation. Which all made for a pretty interesting April, but it's May already.

I'm getting a new computer this month. So I'll be posting stuff that's already gone and done. Don't want the photos going to a waste.
In the meantime, will try to post anyway with stock/news photos of stuff going on. Because there's always something going on.