Daejeon Festivals

As I exited the highly familiar Daejeon train station, I saw a mass protest between me and the entrance to the subway.

I think it was a labor strike of some sort. It definitely looked like organized labor. I was surprised to see imagery that I associate with communism, given their neighbors.

Unable to understand what was being chanted, I continued on to Expo Park, where I met up with Mad and Jeff. We wandered around the rather minimal Hot Air Balloon Festival. I had envisioned one like the Colorado Springs Balloon Classic, held every Labor Day in my home town, which featured hundreds of hot air balloons - sometimes shaped like dinosaurs or castles or other not at all typical forms - that would rise up and race after a full morning of being on display. The one in Daejeon... was not that. There were two hot air balloons. One was one its side so that people could enter it.

The other gave 'rides', which went up about thirty to fifty feet, still tethered to the ground, and then lowered back down. 

There were lots of kites, para-gliders, and various other fun toys. It was also the first time I saw the awesome jumping legs in real life. 

We meandered along the waterfront, taking in all the aerial displays. Next up was an international food festival, just across the street. This was a treat because the large tariff on foreign foods in Korea make foreign restaurants uncommon and expensive. We enjoyed some quality samosas, kebobs, and other not Korean food.

Also in the Expo Park was the main event, as far as we were concerned anyway, the Daejeon Rock Festival. After years of hearing little but K-Pop played anywhere in the country besides our own speakers, it was awesome to see some Korean bands play heavier music. I particularly enjoyed headbanging with a Korean man in his forties or fifties who looked like a typical business man except that he was rocking the fuck out. I couldn't keep up with him, but I tried every twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately, the festival ended early due to noise complaints from the super fancy apartments nearby. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the problem was (did the festival not have permits, or did the wealth of the complainers make the permits moot or what?) and eventually gave up and went back to Mad and Jeff's apartment. I was glad to have an extended visit with them before returning to Bundang.