Sunday 23 October 2011

Icheon Rice Festival 2011





 Icheon is famous for producing the best rice in Korea. In fact Icheon rice is so good that it used to be served to the king of Korea, and is still highly thought of today. 


 The Icheon Rice Culture Festival celebrates its famous rice and also the local agricultural practices. 
Major events of the festival include a reenactment of the parade that transported rice to Hanseong (the old name for Seoul) for presentation to the king, and the huge rice cauldron that is capable of feeding thousands of people.





Not only the color of the leave changing but also the green fields of rice is goanna colored yellow and the fields of rice become more attractive. Yes, the harvesting season is coming up. Korean people are long waiting for this season. They are crazy to get their rice crop. It is the real time of celebrations.



 In fact they perform many traditional ceremonies at this moment.
I heard that since very long, these traditions are maintained and promoted. A big festival is celebrated in Icheon every year last week of October. The rice festival is held at the same park as the ceramics events; Seolbong Park




.
This Time I have an opportunity to go with my friends and explore the traditions of Korean culture. Actually My School Hanyang University have arranged a trip for the Internationals to have a taste of rice festival.
 As we headed into the festival area we saw a massive line of people waiting for something. At first we thought maybe you have to pay for entry or something this year, but actually everyone was waiting to get a free plant .



We have much fun encoded with games, performing arts, musical show, traditional paintings, and much more. There were a number of foreigners participating this festival. They were a good participation from Korean as well. Especially there were lots of children with their parents and School organizers.


Stamps collecting on a Card leads me to win 5 Kg of rice.. I was really crazy for that…J Many of my friends participated in many games and fortunately we won many games.
It was a nice day having much opportunity to bring smile in our faces.
Period
10.25.2012 ~ 10.28.2012
Address
Gyeonggi-do Icheon-si Gwango-dong
Location
Seolbong Park

Transportation
Take a bus to Icheon Bus Terminal.
From Seoul Express Bus Terminal (06:30-21:20/ departs every 30~50min/ takes 1hr)
Or, From Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (06:20-22:40, departs every 15~20min/ takes 1hr)
From Icheon Terminal, take a free shuttle bus to the venue and get off at Seolbong Park
(Bus operates from 08:30 to 18:30 / runs every 20mins and take 15-20mins to get to the event venue).
Homepage
www.ricefestival.or.kr (Korean, English, Japanese)

Saturday 15 October 2011

Danyang Fun



Friends are the most precious gift of Allah. They can help you making your life the happiest and easiest. If you are home or in your country, you might have  a number of friends,, But if you are abroad and you have a company of your choice, you are the luckiest person of the world.. and I think so I am..:)


 Eid al-Adha ( "festival of sacrifice"), also called Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, the Greater Eid and Bakrid, is an important 4-day religious holiday celebrated by Muslimsworldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet ʾIbrāhīm  to sacrifice his young first-born son Ismā'īl  as an act of submission to God's command and his son's acceptance to being sacrificed, before God intervened to provide Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead. 

Eid prayers are offered in big gatherings followed by the sacrifice of camel, cow, goat and sheeps in the name of Alalh. the meet is distributed among the friends, relatives and a part of it is given to the needy people in the name of Allah. Also before offering the EID prayers , a specified amount is given to the needy people under the law of Islam. This kind of practice not only reduce the poverty level in the society but also promote the sharing of resources, feel the pain of poor and to bring close relationship among the members of the society.


 My friends, IKram khan, Hammad Khan, Arbab Khan, Iqbal Qasim, Bilal Khan, Irfan ud din, ,Tom Uzair ans Waseem lanned to have some fun these two days of celebrations outside Seoul. we together select the place "Danyang" becasue of many reasons, as it was convenient to take some goat from ikram Bhie Ftaher in laws home, also we have opportunity to stay overnight in Dayang Ressort arranged by our friend in quiet lowest prices.






 Yp... We did it with lots of fun.. It was a nice experience cutting th goat like this and then finally enjoying the meet. the Korean family was looking very surprisingly at all our acts, as it was something new for them. the weather was really very pleasant, as it was dizzling all the way.. I know Korean people may not like this weather but for a Pakistani people like us, it was the best weather for hang out... So every body was enjoying it a lot.




Every one of us did their job, it was  a collecetive effort to campture and Halal the goat and the role of " BAGWAN" was also pretty nice. as he was the one who just capture the gaot and let it down like a hen,,..hahahhahha it was amazing,, Iqbal Qasim and Irfan were just afrai , however they were showing to be strong..hahahah.




Soon after the cutting od meet into small pieces, every body got  anew job to make what so ever he can.. Like Thikka boti, Karhaie, Pulao... and each of us was so hungry that one can just imagine.. specially the look of mmmet and food made us more crazy.. 



 Arbab the specialist of Pulao made some tasty Pakistani rice,, Bilal, made his Karhaie and that was a bit salty but good enough to cope with of hunger.. Hammad and his team made the thikka..that was some thing very special .. oooh I have still slive in my mouth..:)




 We were so tired after the lunch,,, and specially after the lost of hunger.. It was the time when we feel ..ooh we did a great job..:) so every body was just like this ... hahaha.. although still a hard job was remaining to go to our residence.. but finally we did it.


 we had fun , talking  alot, as we always do..:)  gossiping, sharing our experiences.. and much more.


 Irfan ud Din , our friend is very famous for his Rice making skills,,, We had a number of discussions on this topic , however i didnt know about the story behind the scene.. But When i came o know about it,, I have a fun with all other friends.. Irfan made some delicious Rice for dinner,, and he put all his energy and skills to made it tasty and he had  a success..

 We had a fun over night.. Went for looking cookies around..  But everybody had eaten too much..so were not able to eat..or might be afraid of one other,, that they can say,,ooh he is eating too much..how mean he is..:)
 next morning we had a tea from Iqbal Qasim,,although he did well,, but no body like that tea...hahahha and he was angry for that. We had a visit to Danyang river, the forzn river at that time..and it was really nice to walk on it.. Its my first time i had a walk on frozen river,,and i enjoyed it in real terms. :)


 we also have  visit to the caves of Danyang which are very famous for its historical existence.. We had a fun all the way making movie and enjoying the commentry by all..:)
 Finally It wa stime to go back home as tomorrow we have labs, and work..so we took our back to Hanyang... It was awesome trip and I am gonna remember it for ever..:)