The Seoul government spends a lot on cultural and tourist events, to the great joy of locals and foreigners alike -- and to the businesses that sell to them. The Lantern Festival has grown into an art display: no longer small lanterns floating on a stream, but rather large hollow paper sculptures lit from within by electric lights, fixed to the streambed. Thousands of people flock to the ChangyeCheon stream (a waterway analogous to the San Antonio Riverwalk in that it was renovated into a public walkway) to see the dozens of sculptures on a cold November night.
Log of our travels and thoughts.