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