A 2-Hour Visit to Sejongno Branch Immigration Office

Got off at Jonggak station line 1, exit 6...there I was. I was walking down the street towards the Immigration office @ Sejongno. Yes, it's the new location of immigration office that most of foreigners in northern part of Seoul has to go to at least once during their stay in Seoul. 

As for me, after having my passport renewed last week, I got to have it reported to the immigration office. Since one week had already passed since I had my passport renewed, I got to go HERE. 

It's located at the 2nd floor of Seoul Global Center @ downtown Seoul.

I think I kind like it better here than the previous one. It's close to Yongpoong Bookstore. Yes...! 

I got to wait for 82 persons ahead of me...to be served. 

It's Monday and there were lots of people queuing..and since I got to wait for another 2 hours..I might as well spend my waiting time...inside the bookstore. 

So..off I went inside the bookstore while waiting for my line. 

Came at 10.30 and served at around 12.20...yes.. ^^

Not bad. One thing for sure..I got my renewed passport officially reported.^^

Free lanterns for us

The night was still young--so some said.
What could be more fun than just staying out late ..a bit late ..
enjoying the night splattered with glittering lights coming out of the lanterns that kept on passing us by...
 

So we did. We were glued to the extravaganza of the lantern parade in downtown Seoul 

right until it is over.

My daughters were so happy to receive a lantern from some participant who turned out to be doing what he wanted to do. I noticed that some participants were giving away the lanterns they were holding to the bystanders or spectators on the streets. 

This was it, then. We took some pictures with our lanterns on our hands as if we were, too, participating in the street parade.

Lantern Parade @ downtown Seoul

Yes, downtown(!)Seoul. Horray, finally we got the first row seat. After one hour, we finally managed to get our own seats in the front row. That made us be able to watch the parade in full circle. Wulan, Melizza, my fellow students and my daughter--Eyra were all so happy to be there.

Seeing the bright look on Freya and her Mom's eyes, one could clearly see that attending such a parade was a like going to a dreamland.

The weather's nice. The show was splendid. What's more: we got the first row.

A lantern that was walking or running too fast...that we could not get a clear shot of it. Blurry, unfocused.

As for this one, the tiger lantern seemed to be alive.

I could not imagine how tiring it must be for them to have walked and at the same time carrying lots of stuffs. But, I guessed they did not even feel the tiredness they might have since it was The Night.

Ahh.....No....another shaky and not that clear..alias blurry picture that I took.

This one was hilarious. Even some taxis did participate in the procession. 

Of course, this time around they were not speeding up. 

At the end of the parade, with the lantern on our hands we took pictures as the token or proof of our being there. 

There were only 3 lanterns just yet.

 As we were walking more downward...we would end up having more lanterns that we could have imagined. 

The lanterns seemed to be alike, but it turned out that they were intricately + differently stylized and painted. 

The Parade was over...so

Empty chairs.....no more crowds and cheers..... amazing.

I was petrified to know that a minute ago, lots --thousands-- of people were poured into this now deserted street of Jongno. Yes, after the lantern parade, these chairs were then...empty. So, why not use the chance to take the picture to capture the moment.

It is not everyday...that we could just slip away into the middle of the street at Jongno--infamous for its never-ending extravaganza of shops and eatery in downtown Seoul. So, look at this now.^^

Then..since the party's over...we needed to go somewhere else to see what other parties that Seoul had to offer during this lantern parade.

we were walking, treading along, strolling along the  ways until we bumped into the famous Cheonggyecheon. Nope, we were not going there. The pic. above shows the lit lanterns hanging over the Cheonggyecheon. Not that clear. (^^

As we were walking, we were apprehended by the loud noise and cheers coming from Jonggak intersection.  So, we could not help but wondering what that was...

It turned out to be very place where all of the lantern festival participants stopped and celebrated the day. The confetti and the lightning, and of course..the sound system did enhance the uproar and excitements that most people had---judged from the looks on their faces. (not visualized here^^)

Eyra and Freya were so captivated by sights and sounds of the extravaganza that they started to dance along the rhythm as they were drawn closer and closer...

And...yes...the party seemed to get started. Two big monitor screen TV projected on both sides of the stage, the moving crane that helped move the camera, the shouting and hand clapping..were all too much to handle, no matter how exciting it was.

So, I looked up at the sky so as to find some consolation...only to find that we were so dwarfed by the immensity of the surrounding party goers and excitement seekers. 

So, we might as well...once again...get ourselves hooked and soaked in the hilarious party and excitement ignited there.

The funny part was that...when Eyra and Freya could not stop collecting the confetti. They were struck- amazed at how wonderful and cheerful the night was....simply 'coz they were like the only children who could earn the falling confetti...

'Look! I've got lots and loads of them. Could we just take them home?'

Oh, no..that would've brought home the whole Jongno, then...^^