This blur is a cat

A rubbish photo from a whole bunch of rubbish photos, which is a shame as today was exceptional.

We found one of the famed Cat Cafes in Seoul hidden in an alley in the student Hongdae area. The premise is: buy a coffee, get a cat to stroke, which no doubt sounds odd, but almost everyone here in Korea lives in small apartments in highrises and works extraordinary hours so owning pets just isn't that practical. That, and that the kitsch factor, which is irresistible here. It turned out to be a novel but not exactly pleasant experience. I counted 28 cats, which equals one extremely stinky cafe. Some cats were unsurprisingly stupified by having a cafe full of customers waving squeaky mice toys at them, and the others, bored witless of all the commotion were happy to sleep through it.

After sunset, we went (via a delicious curry and some beers) to the spectacular Lotus Lantern Parade to celebrate Buddha's Birthday. Each temple prepares a float with an enormous, intricate paper statue which is lit from inside, and the members of that temple parade it through central Seoul wearing beautiful hanbok clothing and carrying their own lanterns. It's simply stunning, but from our vantage point squatting precariously on top of police box I didn't get a single decent photo! It's a shame as some of the lantern concepts were brilliant - Buddha flying a helicopter, an elephant with Buddha popping up out it's back, fire blowing dragons etc.