Seoul, South Korea, April 2017: An interesting facet to Korean culture is the widespread promotion of love, marriage and all that comes afterwards – and I don’t mean the divorce! The heralding of spring with arrays of blossoms all over the place is undoubtedly the time when couples work up the courage to proceed forward with their lives. All I can say is the hospitals are going to be busy in 9 months time! And with a degree of cynicism its actually little more than a huge sales event! But what better excuse do the young folk need to embark upon the creation of another life.
Termed the official ‘Blossom Festival weekend’ its a 2 mile long line of trees between a busy road and another of Seoul’s city parks – a park filled with tents against a backdrop of skyscrapers looming in the mist across the Han river. And tens just big enough for two and quite cozy on this cool spring day. Perhaps some baby making activity is planned for later! So, amongst the spring time festivities one can find a plethora of street food, vendors selling blossom rosaries and thousands of couples taking selfies under the cherry blossom trees.
Street food, mostly frozen and then deep-fried consisting in the main of processed and compressed meats. Also on offer, octopus and squid pieces sizzling slowly on charcoals. Oh, and those lovely crab sticks with all the tasty preservatives and colourings one could wish for!
So, here’s a look at how Koreans are spending a cool Saturday morning under the spring blossoms…
And its all happening here at Hangang Park beside the river Han. Even the Korean TV are keeping a watchful eye from above… The wedding show part of it, for those interested, is at the far end. about 2 miles away.
Getting There: Yeouinaru station on Seoul Subway Purple Line 5, Exit 2 or 3
Cost: Free
Eat and drink: Greasy processed foods, 1 coffee stand. Average pricing, about £1 – 1.50 per Item. Coffee expensive.
Random Jottings Asia 2019 
I don’t understand why society can accept this repressed form of life cycle. Study hard, get a job, buy a house, get married and have a baby while the government is busy thinking of ways to increase tax so that some twerp could embezzle the money when opportunity arises. When we were teenagers, sex was discouraged as we weren’t well-informed enough about the dangers of STDs and etc. Now that they’ve passed the legal consenting age of marriage, others just expect that a baby should pop out soon or something must be wrong with the couple. Why can’t couples just enjoy hot steamy sex for the sake of enjoyment and bonding?
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The population here is ageing. The number of pensioners that roam around in gangs is quite extraordinary. So I guess a cultural shift is necessary.
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