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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Chuseok, Seoul

I work for a company which requires us to choose our vacation weeks in September of the previous year. It's hard to know what I want to do for vacation that far in advance so I end up choosing a vacation destination to fit the week I have off.

I had the 3rd week in September off this year. Since it was only 1 week, I was limited in what I could do. I decided to visit a capital city and ended up with Seoul for several reasons:
1) I could get a non-stop flight at a reasonable price ($850 roundtrip).
2) The US dollar was relatively strong.
3) Hotels were inexpensive.
4) I liked the food.
And, for a bonus, they were having a celebration.

The harvest moon festival, also known as Chuseok, was celebrated on 9/19/2013. This is the largest and most important holiday in Korea, equivalent to Thanksgiving. Family members come together to share food and stories and to give thanks to their ancestors. It's celebrated for 3 days, beginning the day before Chuseok and ending the day after Chuseok. Since Chuseok fell on a Thursday this year, the holiday lasted 5 days, including the weekend.

During Chuseok, special events are held at many sites throughout Seoul and the ancient palaces offer free admission.

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