Nami Island: The Rainbow Festival

I. Love. Bonnaroo.  Every year in June for the past eleven years Bonnaroo has been taking place in middle-of-nowhere Manchester, Tennessee.  I have gone, lived in a tent covered in mud and bug bites for four days, listened to great music from Weezer to Ani Difranco to Jay-Z, and gotten enough free Garnier products to last three years.  It's hard not to say this pretensiously but: the past two years it's gotten way too mainstream, so I was feeling more nostalgic for old school Bonnaroo than I was legitmately sad to miss it this year.  Turns out, on the same exact weekend, there was a music festival right here in Korea.  The Rainbow Festival on Nami Island this year featured Jason Mraz, Christina Perri and a bunch of Korean bands like Ego-Wrappin', The Weekend, and The Koxx. 

Brian and I explored the terrain before settling down to wait for Jason Mraz (his favorite artist). Beautiful birches and other trees surrounded the island in the middle of the Han River.  Even this little island is full of history, being the burial sight of a prince and military general falsley accused of treason.  Bonnaroo is only some patches of grass and dust, but Bonnaroo has it's own special reasons for being amazing. In that spirit, I ordered a whiskey sour.  They put it in a plastic bag with a string attached for logistical reasons:

The bands, like everything in Korea, ranged from awesome to interesting.  Overall it was a festival with a few scheduling holes, a few late performances, but full of life.  The only blog giving directions to the island somewhat clearly was still a mess, and when people asked him to clarify, he was equally unhelpful and smug so here is a simplified version with everything you need to know:

From Seoul:

By ITX: Probably the most efficient, but it sold out before we could take it.  Easily enough, you get on at it's two central locations in Seoul, get off at Gapyeong.  This method still requires you walk or take a cab and take the ferry afterwards.                    

                    

By subway: Take the 7 to Sangbong then ITX (no extra ticket/reservation needed) then exit at Gapyeong.  From Cheolson on the 7 it took about 2 hours to get to the station, and another hour to get to the island.                    

                                                                

From there:

Cab: "Nami Sam" to the cab driver will take you there in about 5-7 minutes and will cost you about4,000-6,000 won depending on how much your cabbie takes advantage of a foreigner.                   

Walking: It takes maybe about 20 minutes walking, just follow the road from the station (towards the pond), make a right at the light, and when the road splits at the next light go to the left.  Following that will lead you right to the ferry.                                 

                      

Bring I.D., since The Naminara Republic is technically it's own nation (?) with it's own currency and policies because some rich people privately own it.

 

Jason Mraz wearing, of course, a shirt that says "peace" in Korean.

The map is also a fan.  Sorry Bonnaroo....