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