so last weekend was the King's festival here in Yeongwol. one of the kings was held captive and eventually murdered by his uncle and the festival is a reminder of that. the friday i had the day off of school so i could see the sights. in the morning i went with kate to the king's tomb to see all the kids having an art competition. then in the afternoon we headed to the riverside to look at the booths. there was an interesting variety of events there. there was a soju booth (korea vodka) complete with dancing soju bottles (why not), tons of food booth, booths selling various different things and craft booths for kids. we came across some guys dressed as tortured victim and before i knew it i was in a wooden cage with a yoke around my neck for all the see. i then got to flail a man and he did it back to me (this got filmed at put on the news later...got many comments on that). i also got to ride a donkey for free (sometimes it's great being a foreigner).

in the evening there was a concert and fireworks. seamus surprised me by coming that night (he told me he wouldn't be there till the next day). then there was more dancing with the soju bottles and more eating.

the next morning was the king's funeral procession (they recreate it every year). that was really cool. they had a coffin and his wives in morning and most of the town in costumes for his subjects. we took lots of pictures and the reporters even decided that we were more interesting than the parade for a while. so again we got put on the news for watching the parade.

then we headed back to the riverside where seamus joined me again in being a torture victim. there was a marching band and more looking around.

we all headed back then for some food and settlers of cattan (which i won).

the sunday was pretty uneventful. saw a tipe rope walker and said goodbye to everyone. still it was the best festival i've been to in korea and it was in yeongwol. nothing happens in yeongwol.