Makkoli (Korean Rice Wine) Festival

Spenser had been talking about a Makkoli Festival for quite some time. I never been to a beer tasting festival but imagine it would be quite similar. There were a lot of vendors with tents set up, each selling their own unique brand of makkoli, or Korean rice wine. There was pumpkin makkoli, apple makkoli, black rice makkoli, curry makkoli, red pepper makkoli, sweet potato makkoli, traditional makkoli, makkoli from the big chains, pomegranate makkoli, and just about every makkoli between.

For 2,000 won you get a small white makkoli cup and travel from vendor to vendor in search of a new favorite beverage. At the end of the nite, if you return your cup, you get your 2,000 won back. Now, there are hundreds of tents and with only a sip at each tent, you do the math. Of course, that wasn't the case - for some reason Koreans love to see foreigners drinking their rice wine; so, we got a little more than a sip at each tent. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun and I had a great time. Katrina even got to achieve one of her life long dreams, which is always a plus. We made some friends and had a lot of fun.

(The park where the makkoli festival was held was really beautiful. There was some water and the giant hill in the background used to be a trash dump.)


(If you look closely you can see a few of the tents)


(Katrina and I with our 'makkoli' cups)


(Spenser showing his off)


(One of Katrina's new friends. This guy was yelling about a zombie march some place in Seoul and I had to leave I was laughing so hard.)


(Great action photo)


(Not quite sure how we met these two girls but Katrina made another friend)


(I think this girl told me about 3 or 4 times she didn't have a boyfriend. Poor Spenser, I made my friend and Katrina made hers and he was kind of caught in the middle...)


(One of the vendors - I always felt a little bad trying their makkoli and then not buying any. I think between myself and Spenser we had around 15 bottles and cans after the night was over.)



(This guy was pretty cool. We stayed and talked to him for about 5 minutes. He worked at one of the bigger chains so he was just giving us 'service' makkoli. In other words, it was free.)


(I believe seeing this makkoli man sparked something in Katrina - look at how happy she is)


(Me helping Katrina fulfill one of her life long dreams - to be in a mascot suit)


(Hmm, I wonder who that could be...)


(Yep, it's Katrina having a great time)


(Harry, myself, and Justin having some fun at the end of the night)


(Harry, another new friend we made who had a sweet bike, Spenser, myself, and Katrina as the night was coming to a close)