Friday was my birthday and exam day with no classes so I took the day off. Monday was also a public holiday so I had a four day weekend. Festival season has begun again so I planned on going overnight to the Baekje Festival which is taking place in two towns, Buyeo and Gongju.

The Baekje Dynasty ruled south western korea for about five centuries till it fell to the Shilla Dynasty from the east creating the Unified Kingdom period . The Baekje had two capitals, Buyeo and Gongju a half hour drive from each other, both west of Daejeon city. The festival is taking place in both towns over two weekends.

Last year I had attended the festival but only in Buyeo. The logistics of getting there from Daegu were messy, was a combination of daegu bus, KTX train, taxi in Daejeon from train station to bus station, bus from daejeon station, which took over four hours one way. With a holiday weekend I planned to stay overnight and spend a day in each town so I could see more of the festival this year. I had planned on renting a car but we didnt have enough people to split the cost.

When we got to Dongdaegu Train station in the morning all the trains were sold out till lunch time as it was a holiday weekend. Luckily we were able to get a 2 hour slow train to Daejeon leaving at 9.43 for only 9,900w ($9.50) instead of the high speed 50 min train.

At Daejeon you have to go from the train station to a bus terminal in another part of town. Last year I took a cab as I was short on time and couldnt figure out the bus. Luckily with a years experience later and a friend to help we were able to figure out the bus which was only a 10 min ride.

Everything was pushed back as we had the two hour slow train and I had planned on getting to Buyeo by noon . We took the 12.55 bus from Buyeo which would get us there by 2.30 for 6,400w ($6). The parade was due to start from 2pm-3pm so I was worried we would miss it.

The bus was driving thru Buyeo heading to the bus terminal by about 2.20. We drove past the tourist info office which I recognized from last year, a 20 min walk north of the bus terminal near the parade route. Traffic was stopped as the parade was coming thru so we told the driver to let us off the bus. So luckily we had made it to the right spot just in the middle of the parade as it was coming thru.

We caught the middle and end of the parade. There were lots of royal carriages. Each alternated between a King and then a Queen. Many middle and high school students were dressed up as the courtiers pulling or pushing the carriage on wheels or part of the procession. Many of the Queens had veiled carriages so you couldnt see clearly inside.

Video : Parade - Part I
http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=UsR-l59TswE

As the end of the parade passed us we decided to follow it and try to run ahead. The parade was moving slowly so it was easy to get back to the middle, as they kept pausing so the procession marchers could all align again or wait for slower moving carriages ahead.

Video : Parade - Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jezd3P7X2DE

We made it back to the middle of the royal carriages so was able to see them all again. At the end of the street the parade turned and came into the riverside park that was parallel to where we were. We cut across to the park to see the start of the parade as it came along the river into the park. So we did in fact manage to see the whole parade, if in pieces and backwards.

Later we spend an hour in the park. This was the main venue for the festival in Buyeo. There was a stage for other performances that would take off . We saw were all the students from the parade were gathered and taking off their costumes. The rest of the festival area was the typical stuff you see at a festival, food stores, childrens games and crafts.

There was a building housing an exhibit on the history of the festival. In here you could also take a blue screen pic to email to yourself. My experience in the past has not been good with blue screen pics but this time the email and pic came thru ok.

We had to leave and head back to the bus station as we needed to be in the other festival town Gongju for the evenings opening ceremonies. On the way to the bus station we were able to see the five storied pagoda from the distance. I didnt manage to goto the Buyeo National Museum as we arrived 2 hours later than planned and were supposed to go before the parade.

This was my second time in Buyeo as I was here for the parades last year . There are actually more parades taking place next weekend with mounted cavalry which I saw last year. There is also a famous small mountain by the tourist office which is famous as when the town was falling to occupying forces at the end of the Baekje Dynasty, all the women who had taken refuge there chose to jump from the mountain peak into the river and drown rather than be taken as slaves.

There is also the Baejke Cultural Lands north of the river which I went to last year during the festival. Here they had the royal court setup and did a royal palace show. It felt like being on the set of a historical movie epic with a cast of hundreds. The king made speeches, there were sword fighting displays, flower girls dance and singing.

Here is my blog from last year with photos and videos of the horse mounted parade and royal palace show : http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/londone7/1/1286812945/tpod.html

The festival is taking place over two weekends with many of the big parades taking place next weekend so there is still time to visit . The festival website is http://www.baekje.org/html/en/. Unfortunately, when I was checking before the festival there was no event schedule for the two towns over the nine days. There were brochures at the festival but they were all korean and english ones were hard to find.

Many people ask me what my favourite festival was in Korea and the Baejke Festival and Buyeo parades for the last two years is definately one of them. These are the biggest Royal Processions I have seen in Korea. I definately want to go again next year for a third time.