Busan Trip - Day 5: The rest of New Year's Day

Due to our joining in of New Year's celebrations the night before and in the early morning, we had a late start to the day on Sunday, January 1. There were a few more places we wanted to make sure to get to that day. One, downtown near Busan Tower, was the 40-Steps Cultural Theme Street. We didn't really know what to expect, but the description in one of the brochures we'd picked up from an Information Center said that bronze sculptures depicting life in the 1950s in Korea were set up along the several streets. We also read that it's one of the "100 Beautiful Trails in Korea." That sounded good enough for us. We took the subway downtown and headed out the exit our tourist map indicated. Then we wandered around a few streets before finding a a smattering of statues. We kept walking and soon found what we guessed was the main street of statues and 1950s-esque items. The street had a distinctly older feel and it was fun to amble around taking pictures and reading the accompanying plaques. We also looked around some other nearby streets and took some pictures of anything we deemed interesting. We hope you'll agree that they are.

Once we'd had our fill of the pleasant and remarkably quiet area of town, we decided to try to catch the soon-coming sunset on Gadeokdo Island (do means island). The Geoga bridge, which is 8.2 km long, to the island consists of a 3.7-km immersed tunnel and the remaining 4.5 km of cable-stayed bridges. The tunnel, we read in our tourist map, holds 5 world records, including its 48-meter immersed depth. Because of this bridge the time it takes to get from Geoje (an area west of the island) to Busan has been reduced from 2 hours and 20 minutes to 50 minutes. Those are pretty impressive records and we decide it would be a great last stop in Busan and hopefully would provide us with a beautiful sunset. We hopped back on the subway and then grabbed a bus headed out to the island. But I made a fatal mistake. I tried to make sure we were on the right bus (even though it displayed the bus number we wanted right on the front) by asking the driver as we got in if this bus went to Gadeokdo Island. He didn't understand me the first time so I asked again. He then quickly nodded and we drove off. At the first bus stop we arrived at, he pulled to the side of the road and called back that we should get off there. We were really surprised because we imagined it might be a little bit of a drive to get out there. I'm sure we looked completely confused as we tried to tell them we didn't think it was our stop, but the driver insisted it was the place and the people around us urged us, in all their friendly, accommodating, helpful ways, to get off at "our" stop. Finally we relented, assuming that they knew more about their city than we did. And once we got off we looked at the bus map on the sign at the stop and realized the bus driver had indeed misunderstood me. We were at the entrance to the Eulsukdo Eco Center, a preserve and conservation area for birds. We waited at the stop for at least half an hour or 40 minutes for another bus 58 to come along. We watched the sun creep closer to the haze of clouds and even ventured a quick run up to the over-highway bridge to grab some pictures while we waited for the bus. But finally we decided it was too late to get there anyway and crossed the bridge to the other side. I kept looking toward downtown Busan as we walked across the bridge and low and behold, a bus 58 shot into vision, passed the bus stop and zoomed on ahead just as we were about halfway across. I was pretty frustrated. But it was really too late for seeing anything by then so we just waited in the spitting rain on the other side of the road for a bus going back to the subway station. It wasn't the way we wanted our time in Busan to end, but we made up for it by finding a wonderful Indian restaurant in Haeundae Beach to quench our hunger. If you're ever in the neighbourhood, definitely try to look it up. All the locals should be able to direct you to it. The next morning we got up early and headed back to Busan Station for our KTX ride to Seoul and our new beginning at the institute there.

Subway entering the station

Sunset from the walking bridge

After supper at a great Indian restaurant in Haeundae Beach

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Busan, click the links below.

Day 1: Haeundae Beach

Day 2: Yongdusan Park

Day 3: Busan City Bus Tour
Day 4: Fortress & Temple
Day 4/5: New Year's in Busan
Day 5: Sunrise Festival

Busan Trip - Day 5: Sunrise Festival

After getting back to our hotel room late the night before (or rather, early that morning) at 2 a.m., we had a short snooze and then went back out in the cold just after 6:30 a.m. for the second half of Busan's New Year Festival. The Busan Haemaji (Sunrise) Festival portion of the celebration was conveniently held at Haeundae Beach, only a few minutes walk from our hotel. In Korea the first sunrise of the New Year is lucky and an auspicious way to begin another year. It was definitely something we wanted to experience while living here. Festivities actually began at 4 a.m. and ran until 7:45, just after sunrise. But we felt that just witnessing the famous first sunrise of the year would be enough for us after a late night on New Year's Eve. Just after we arrived at the beach we heard drumming coming from one area a little ways away and we wandered over to see what it was. A group of young people wearing what we imagined was traditional clothing were sitting on the beach playing drums and cymbals and sometimes singing along. It was neat to listen to and we managed to capture a video of their songs. I (Ali) had no idea how in the world they weren't absolutely frozen after even a few minutes of sitting in the cold, hard sand with no jackets or coats and bare hands. We were all bundled up in base layers, warm pants and sweatshirts, and jackets and still got quite chilly waiting for the darkness to lighten and the sun to appear. Finally the sky gradually turned light blue, everyone pushed as close to the water as they could, and all eyes focused on the horizon to the east. 7:30 and no sun to be seen climbing above the ocean. But suddenly golden balloons were released from a huge arch on the beach and individuals who had purchased their own balloons or lanterns let them go into the sky. The scene was impressive. But still no sun graced our large gathering. Finally, at around 7:45 we saw a shadowy pinkness from behind the clouds floating on the horizon. The shadow became more pink and within minutes the sun rose out of the haze. It seems that clouds (or smog) had blocked the true sunrise. But no matter. At least we witnessed the sun's first rising of 2012 from one of the southernmost parts of South Korea. It was a fun experience and a memory we'll have forever. Soon after the sun was fully above the clouds, the crowd of thousands started to drift off the beach and headed toward the nearest cafes, bus stops, and subway station. Jonathan and I made a quick stop at a cafe for some toasty hot chocolate which started to warm us up. Then we headed back to our hotel room for another snooze before heading out for our last full day of exploring Busan.

Balloon-filled arch

Traditional drummers/cymbalists playing on the beach

Just before official sunrise

Balloon release  symbolizing hope at official sunrise

Helicopter fly-by

The sun finally deciding to come up out of the haze

Couldn't get us and the sun in it, but it's back there somewhere

Jonathan capturing the sun

Musicians playing as they leave the beach

2012 New Year's statue for the Year of the Black Dragon

Ali was so cold after getting back to the hotel room she crashed on the ondol (heated floor) for a nice early-morning nap

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Busan, click the links below.

Day 1: Haeundae Beach

Day 2: Yongdusan Park

Day 3: Busan City Bus Tour
Day 4: Fortress & Temple
Day 4/5: New Year's in Busan
Day 5: The rest of New Year's Day

Busan Trip - Day 4/5: New Year's in Busan

After spending the day on Sabbath out in nature, we headed back to Haeundae Beach for a Pizza Hut supper and a little downtime at our hotel before going back out for the New Year's celebrations. We went downtown and back to Yongdusan Park where the New Year's Eve event was taking place. As soon as we got out of the Nampo-dong subway station, we were met with huge crowds of people. The line for the escalators up to the top of the mountain stretched nearly all the way back to the station and we stood in the line for about 20 minutes before we finally reached the escalators. They were all turned off so we had to climb all 297 stairs to the top and then walk all the way around the park to the one entrance that was open. We managed to squirm our way to close to the front of the crowd to watch the midnight tolling of the Citizen's Bell and the subsequent fireworks. We really loved experiencing New Year's Eve in another culture. So many new and exciting things to listen to and watch!

In a Haeundae Beach mall while waiting for our pizza supper

Heart-shaped waffles being sold near the line to the escalators

Crowd nearing the first set of escalators

Citizen's Bell minutes before midnight

Busan Tower at night

Us in the crowd at the top of Yongdusan Park

Citizen's Bell ringing in the New Year

Midnight confetti

Lots of cameras out to capture the action

New Year's Eve revelers found a place to watch the festivities

We were in quite a crowd at the top of Yongdusan, so as soon as the bell tolling and fireworks finished everyone pushed to get down the mountain quickly and catch the subways to their homes. The subways stayed working for an extra hour that night to ensure everyone could get back to their dwellings, but even so our subway was soo squished that when we got to the second station after we got on, there was no room for the other passengers waiting on the platform. They didn't look too happy and we felt so bad for them, but were glad we had made it on the subway, otherwise it would have been a long and expensive taxi ride back to Haeundae Beach.

Funny-looking face on a building as we left the mountain after the celebration

Cheery Christmas lights along the street

For pictures and commentary about our other days in Busan, click the links below.

Day 1: Haeundae Beach

Day 2: Yongdusan Park

Day 3: Busan City Bus Tour
Day 4: Fortress & Temple
Day 5: Sunrise Festival
Day 5: The rest of New Year's Day