Time in Korea seemed to speed by and before we knew it, New Year was approaching. In England this would be planned months before. Overpriced tickets to a pub or bar would have been purchased and much perusing ASOS or H&M would have happened to ensure I had the correct outfit to bring in 2017. As it was, settling into life in South Korea took up all our attention and we forgot to arrange anything until a week or so before.
A couple we met at orientation who were based in Daejeon were up for doing something together for the occasion and we floated the idea of a weekend in Busan, back to where orientation was and where it had all begun. We’d found online that they had a Sunrise festival on the famous Haeundae beach as well as midnight fireworks in town. Perfect! The boys being boys felt that it would be a total waste of money to book accommodation for the night as we’d have to be up early for sunrise and stay out late for the fireworks and clubbing. Therefore, it would be more sensible to stay out all night with no sleep. Oh would it now?
Objections aside it made sense on some level and I braced myself for a long night of revelling until sunrise. Telling myself I wasn’t dead yet and that 29 year olds don’t need that much sleep anyway, we refused to book accommodation. This came as a surprise to some of my other friends who helped me come up with a plan of attack to last the whole night without getting too drunk or falling asleep. 1 drink per hour and sleep on the bus there!
The day came but unfortunately as we waited for our bus to Busan, our friends cancelled due to illness. We knew others who were also heading to Busan for the same reason so we did not let this stop us and we messaged to meet up with them on arrival. I tried to sleep on the 3-4 hour bus ride to Busan planned, but sadly sleep wouldn’t appear.
On arrival, we managed to sneak in a quick pre-drink and some shoddy bar chicken before we headed up the hill to where the fireworks were being held, Yongdusan Park. The top of the hill was suitably crowded with a well-behaved Korean audience (ignoring pushing, shoving and lack of respect for personal space). There was a temple structure at the top with a huge bell located in the middle that had large spotlights focused upon it. More lights swiveled around the edges of the temples, pointed out into the crowd and up into the sky. I expected more from them around 12 midnight.
There was a show that was an odd mixture of brass-band music, pop and ballads, some in English, some in Korean. I can’t quite decide how I felt about the pre-New Year entertainment but I don’t think it’s anything more than a vague bemusement.
Nonetheless, it served a purpose and led us up to midnight. The standard countdown was shown on a screen that I could just see if I strained my neck over the crowd. On the stroke of midnight though, things vastly improved. Confetti burst out of previously hidden places and twinkled and sparkled around us as the spotlights started their dance highlighting the audience and then the lighting up the stars in the sky. The music was on point and we even snuck a kiss at midnight, a little win as public shows of affection aren’t really approved of in Korea.
Once the exhilaration died down, we made our way towards the exit to walk down the hill. It was rammed and we found ourselves stuck behind a TV van because of the impatient crowd. This is when the fireworks started. I’d totally forgotten there was supposed to be any! We could see most of them from behind the TV van and they were a pretty sight that was appreciated. Having said that, they weren’t anything particularly special and we began the walk down.
We met our friends in a small craft beer bar and the frivolities started off slowly. As we tried to find the next drinking hole, we realised that the area that had been so busy was now deserted. This was no longer the part of Busan to try and pull an all-nighter in! We decided to head to the Haeundae area so we didn’t have to worry about getting there when we were well and truly on our merry road to drunkenness. Unlike London, Busan does not extend public transport running times on New Year’s Eve so we had to get a particularly long taxi ride across Busan to the beach. Some of our friends who had booked accommodation decided to call it a night at this point and we departed, some of them promising to meet us at the beach for sunrise. We then began our desperate hunt for a bar that was still open. Who would have thought that would be so difficult on New Year’s Eve!?
Finally, we found a foreigner bar called ‘Thursday Party’ that was alive and kicking. Once we realised they did Long Island’s for 5,000 won, we decided to place ourselves there for the foreseeable. The night involved a rather long game of Beerpong, which it seems I am terrible at, and random conversations with some rather forward Koreans as well as a Pilipino Airline Pilot. Sadly this bar did finally wrap up around 4 or 5am. We still had hours to kill before the sunrise at 7.26am. We wandered on, the hunt for a bar revived. We found what looked to be a club from the outside; we entered past the unoccupied ticket booth and pushed the plain black door to see what was behind. We found ourselves in the middle of what seemed to be a rather lavish private party. There were girls on tables, girls in corners with guys and a lot of champagne and full bottles of liquor being swigged from. We were welcomed in and offered sips from the bottles. As we danced unsure of what we’d walked into, an uneasy feeling found us. We decided to leave. We weren’t sure who the people were and why they were so rich but we sought solace in our faithful McDonalds.
A few Egg McMuffins later, we headed to the beach for the finale. There was a stage and some music playing and we planted ourselves along the shoreline. Just a sprinkling of a crowd had started to gather. We stood and waited and as the sky began to lighten. The crowd around us started to grow. People were sending lanterns off into the air and had red balloons firmly in hand ready to release.
As the clock edged towards 7.26am, the sun began to rise and light up the sky and sea. Seagulls landed on the calm ocean and some swimmers braved the water for a closer look. Then the ships in the sea started to squirt huge beams of coloured water out into the sea and three helicopters from the military flew over with coloured smoke billowing from their tails. The birds squawked and erupted into the horizon, the balloons on the beach were let go and as they flew off into the ether. My group and I could only stand and stare open mouthed. Only in Korea could a natural beauty be so overshadowed by special effects and entertainment. Having said that, it really was a spectacle and as our tiredness began to creep up on us, I realised this was probably the most unique New Year I’d ever had.
We began to turn away from the sea to find a taxi. We were approached by a reporter for a major Korean news channel who wanted to interview us about our New Year’s Resolutions. In need of sleep yet still wanting to do it, I volunteered. Sadly my tired and alcohol-warmed brain wasn’t as quick as my enthusiasm and I came out with some rubbish about making the most of opportunities this year. My friend struggled similarly as she claimed this year she wanted to ‘focus more on what was going on’ – always a good one!
Heavy-eyed and ready to drop, we got a taxi to the bus stop and slept all the way back to Gwangju on the 9am bus. I’d done it, I’d pulled an all-nighter and I went home happy and thinking of only of sleep.