This happened a month ago. It was a beautiful fall day in Korea. Sun is out, temperature is mild, and the trees are gorgeous. So, we decided to head to one of our favorite parks to show my mom. We walk along the river for a bit until we came to the central square of Bundang Central Park. We found this park back in August kind of by mistake. It is surrounding by the river on one side and contains an amphitheater, hiking trails, a large pond, gazebos, cultural center, weight lifting park nestled in the woods at the top of the hill, burial grounds, you name it!
Gorgeous, isn't it? This is a very popular park. When we were here in August the grassy areas below the trees were full of families setting up tents and mats for a day at the park. Fathers were playing badminton with kids and bikes were everywhere. Even though the October temperatures are much cooler, the grassy areas were attracting lots a families prepared for picnics and play.
We just randomly happened to pick this park today and were thrilled
to discover they were having a free cultural festival. It was the Color
Festival celebrating fall and Korean traditional crafts.
Our
family was welcomed with open arms and one young lady working for the
park spoke English and took us under her wing while we tried everything!
Yaya, Haven, and Josh each learned how to use a traditional Korean technique to bind a book with needle and thread.
Next we were taught a folding and dying technique to make handkerchiefs. The dyes were all made of natural herbs and barks.
After dying the kids tried pounding rice flour into rice cakes. The
wooden mallet was heavy and huge. The rice mixture was extremely sticky.
In the end we all tried a sample dipped in bean powder. It was not my
favorite! I prefer the kind with the sweet sesame paste inside.
These rice cakes (tteok) are made for celebrations and are also found in every grocery store and specialty shop. They can be sweet or spicy. The sweet ones can be filled with sesame or sweet red bean paste.
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