No Call Number: Suseong Pogyeom Festival

This weekend is the Suseong Heat festival. Susesong lake is not far from our house, so despite temps in the mid 90's we decided to go.

We thought parking would be a problem, but thanks to an unwritten rule that you can park just about anywhere in Korea, it wasn't. We parked on a side road. The main road is a six lane thoroughfare, and four lanes were closed off for the festival.

The first thing we encountered was a soju tent with a long line full of parents eager to take the edge off before taking their kids into the water area. After the soju tent were a giant slide, a shallow pool, a super soaker fighting zone, and a maze of ice. People walked on the ice maze with their bare feet! We saw a trio of westerners participate in a water wrestling match against some Koreans—we rooted for them and they won. I also got a bowl of “ice punch,” which was mixed inside of an enormous ice cube. We walked past the marketplace—in a style typical of Korea, there were a couple of dozen products being sold at maybe 100 tents. We would pass a toy tent with battery operated dogs and lightsabers, then four tents later was another toy tent with the same products. We did enjoy some kind of treat that consisted of a bowl of shaved ice with sweet beans, juice, fruit, cereal, and candy on top. Bobby is never one to resist meat on a stick, so he got some of that as well. We stopped at the fourth paddle boat booth we passed to rent a paddleboat—the first three times we were given the opportunity to paddleboat, we said no, but by the fourth we were convinced. We were actually out on the lake while the sun was setting.

By dinnertime, we had finished our circuit and were right next to Deurangil, the restaurant road. There are over 100 restaurants on this little stretch. This time we went into a sushi place and were heartily pleased to discover it was a conveyer belt restaurant! We'll definitely be back. Also on my list is a honeycomb shaped honey store with a picture of a smiling man covered in bees on the front. I think luxury honey would be right up my alley, but it was closed by the time we got to it.

The soju tent at the festival entrance.

Water wrestling. Go team America (I think they were American)!

The super soaker battleground. The commando on the platform was one of several who wandered the festival and randomly squirted people. I got squirted, Bobby didn't.