checking out the cherry blossoms.....again

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The cherry blossoms are in bloom again, so a trip to Jinhae for the Cherry Blossom Festival was definitely in order. I signed up for the same trip as last year with a couple of friends of mine. We caught the bus in Okpo and headed to the ferry station where we would take the one hour ride to Jinhae. Well, there turned out to be a glitch in the plans - the ferry was sold out. The trip organizers said that they had been doing this trip for years and this was the first time this had ever happened. Reservations weren't allowed either. We were given several options but elected to ride the bus for 2 hours to Jinhae. It actually turned into 2 1/2 hours due to heavy traffic. However, the plus side to this is that we did get a wonderful view from the bus of all the cherry blossoms along the way. The bus dropped us off at McDonald's and we had a quick bite to eat before heading to the festival site.
It was a beautiful day, so several different performances were going on
including this one with youngsters performing a drum and gong (I guess that is what you call it) routine. The costumes were colorful, including some hats that reminded me of clown hair.

There were the usual booths that sold anything from traditional Korean items
to the usual festival wares

and carnival booths. Remember the booth last year with the singing dolls? They were back again with not only the Truman Capote and Miss Kitty doll, but a new Rambo and Britney Spears doll. We had just eaten or I might have indulged in some bubbling silkworm pupa.
Or maybe a bottle of centipedes.
It was so crowded this year. On the day we went last year, it was drizzling most of the day, so I guess alot of people stayed away. Brenda, Wendy and I agreed that next year, a weekday trip was in order. And possibly going on our own earlier in the day. Because we soon had to catch the ferry back and really didn't have enough time to explore everything we wanted. But luckily there will be next year.