Buddha’s Birthday fell on a Thursday and we took a vacation day on Friday to give ourselves a long weekend to head over to Gwangju 광주 in the southwest part of Korea. This city is most well known as being the birthplace of Korean democracy. From independence (1945) until 1980, Korea was run by several military strongmen. After yet another strongman seized power in 1980 the city of Gwangju became the epicenter of the protest movements that would eventually restore democracy to the country. These protests were met by the government with a very harsh and deadly crackdown that left hundreds dead. These martyrs have their own cemetery and monument in Gwangju.

The protests and subsequent crackdown began on May 18, 1980 and we were there on May 18, 2013 – the 33rd anniversary. There was a lot of activity and people observing the anniversary. There has been a popular movie made about the event as well. This cemetery is a little bit outside of the city – you have to take bus 518 (May 18th – get it).

Here are some pics of the main city center

We also made our way to a city called Boseong (보성) which has a famous green tea (녹차) festival.

Shannon at the entrance to the festival

Delicious green tea ice cream

Those rows are all green tea plants – you can go through and pick your own

Shannon picking green tea leaves

After picking the leaves, they have processing areas to turn the leaves into ready-to-brew tea

The fairgrounds had all kinds of exhibits

Octopus tentacles – every kids favorite food!