Boseong Light Festival: A First-Hand Guide to the Beautiful Chaos

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The Boseong Light Festival was a bit tough to enjoy because it was hard to get there smoothly. I want to be clear—I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. Definitely go, but be ready for some unexpected challenges. It was a hassle dealing with all the logistics to reach the festival, and it made the experience less fun than I thought. Still, I think others should go too, just be sure to get ready for possible issues on the way there.

The Boseong Light Festival

The “festival” is not on the tea plantations. I guess I understand why, but I think the parking situation would greatly improve if it were. It is about a mile from the tea plantation off a narrow two-lane road that actually serves as parking for the event. If you know anything about Korea, this is a recipe for disaster.

After a day of strolling through the tea fields and the museum, what could be better than a peaceful relaxing display of holiday lights, right? The lights are beautiful, but I wouldn’t call it relaxing.

First of all, good luck in finding someone who can tell you exactly where it is. It might help if you don’t pronounce it Bo-se-ong and pronounce it correctly as Bo-song. We finally pulled up pictures, a very successful maneuver, I might add, and were pointed in the right direction. One person told us we could walk another told us we could drive. But a little reconnaissance online from a previous visitor said there were no sidewalks and walking on the road for a mile in the dark made the decision for us.

Getting There

We found the terraced hill for the light display only after we passed it. Parked cars lined the road, but no signs marked the spot. A sign after we passed read, “4 kilometers to the next turn around.” We parked along a railing overlooking the valley below.

Steven pulled in behind the last car, leaving enough space to maneuver out later. He checked behind us and said only one more car could fit. We settled in and waited an hour for the sun to set.

As we waited, car after car pulled in, trying to create parking spaces. Every driver paused, eyeing the small space we left. Fifteen minutes later, five cars blocked us in. Three sat halfway in the road. When the sun went down, chaos followed.

Two lanes turned into one wide mess. We walked between cars down the hill to the festival. Drivers honked, failed at backing into tight spots, u-turned, and sped up to block others. You can picture it.

We Made it!

Once we did arrive, we were not in the best mood to enjoy anything and it initially became, a “let’s get some pictures and get out of here” kinda thing.

The festival was held on what appeared to be a private farm overlooking a valley and a lake. There were vendors selling all the typical Korean street foods on sticks, cotton candy, and neon toys. We stopped at the terrace above the field and took in the alternating lights in red, green, blue, yellow and white and finally took a breath.

Finally the Lights

The lights shine brightly. You enter under a glowing arch and walk into a massive lighted galaxy tunnel. Buy an angel or star card for good luck. Workers string the cards along the tunnel walls. Find one or two spots to step out and photograph the entire scene. Capture the large hands and pink tree with twinkling teardrops. Stay patient.

There are a lot of people and it’s near impossible to take a picture without being photobombed. When we drove by a few hours ago, there were fewer people, but all the lights weren’t turned on. It might be possible to go just before the sun retreats or maybe just before closing– to avoid the crowds. I’m not sure.

Symbolism

The festival will send a message of hope for the New Year to tourists and residents who visit Boseong during the winter period. There seemed to be a lot of symbolism that was lost on us being foreigners. There were some words in the lights, that we couldn’t make out and the image in the center must mean something, but we have no idea what that is. Maybe one of you guys can help us out, do you know what this symbolizes? Does it have something to do with the Lunar New Year? Where we stayed: Hotel B and my review on booking.com.

The location was convenient, large flatscreen, the bathroom was large and the lighting was really good and the comforter was comfy if not extremely loud.

There was hair on the floor of the bathroom, the drainage pipe under the sink became dislodged and water wet everywhere. We told the front desk and no one came to fix it before we left. The breakfast was decent, we found a dent after we returned home on our Jeep. Not sure it happened there, but we didn’t notice it until after we returned home. They had valet parking so I have no idea what the parking situation was like. The bed was just as hard as the floor, no one spoke decent English which I wouldn’t mention except its advertised as a business hotel.

 

Hours and Address

12.11.2015 ~ 01.24.2016 Mondays to Thursdays: 18:00-22:00 (until 24:00 on the Christmas Eve) Fridays to Saturdays: 18:00-24:00 On December 31 the light will be up until the next day 07:00. For more info: +82-61-850-5211~5214

Address: 617, Nokcha-ro, Hoecheon-myeon, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do Botjae Dawon (봇재다원), Dahyanggak Pavilion Observatory (다향각 전망대).

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