Another weekend, another festival. At least that's how it seems here in Korea. Maybe they throw the word festival around a little too much, but it does mean there is always something to do at weekends. This weekend saw the 10th annual Busan Firework Festival, an event that attracts over one million spectators from all over the country every year.
I had heard from many people that if your going to Busan for this weekend you need to plan ahead. Book your KTX tickets because they will all be sold out. Find a place to stay in advanced because everywhere is going to be full to capacity. Get there early because all the good spots will be taken. This all sounded like a little bit too much work for me, not to mention the cost. Getting down there, Spending most of the afternoon and all evening out eating and drinking. And then, a place to stay on top of that. No, thank you very much. So, I declined. I would remain in Daegu and save some money. But of course that wasn't to be.
Jason had returned to Korea to visit for two weeks. His last night however, fell on the night of the fireworks festival. All our friends would be in another city enjoying the night skies light up on the beach, which of course meant we had to go. I will be honest, I would rather have stayed in Daegu for financial reasons, but also because I just hate being surrounded by large groups of people. It seems it doesn't matter where you go in the world, the general public are still annoying.
Being under the impression there would be no seats left on the KTX, we made our way to Don Daegu Express Bus Terminal. As nice as the KTX is, I much prefer the buses in Korea. You get a bigger seat, that reclines so you can sleep, you can control the air conditioning and it's cheaper. Sure there isn't a toilet, but I like the rest stop, twenty minuets to visit the bathroom, buy food and snacks. It reminds me of the long car journeys I used to take on family holidays as a kid, and it fills me with a warm nostalgia.
Arriving in Busan around three PM everything seemed fine, no more people then normal at the station or on the subway. I was quietly pleased, maybe this won't be as bad as I thought. That was until we got on the the line to Gwangalli Beach. Upon descending on to the platform we where greeted with giant hoards of people, and I'm not exaggerating. We had to wait for three trains to go through before we could even get on and when we did, it was even more unpleasant. There were ten stops until we could get off. Ten stops of being cramped into a train carriage surrounding by Koreans, pressed right up against you. So close that if one of them fell, you all fell. I wanted to take a picture but was unable to move arm from my side. I felt sweat beads slowly dripping down my forehead and the elbow of the girl behind me press into my back every time the subway pulled away from a station. I began to feel extremely claustrophobic as the Journey seemed to never end.
After what seemed like forever, we arrived at our destination. Well actually we decided to get off the stop before a walk, an idea we shared with many of the other passengers, to escape the nightmare of the carriage.
Walking down the crescent moon shaped beach of Gwangalli, which I had done previously with Jason in July, was a completely different experience this time round. The beach was flooded with people, a sea of heads was all that could be seen from the road to the sea. Police were everywhere, waving around glowing batons in some desperate hope to help guide the meandering crowd. We walked the whole length of the beach until we finally settled on a spot that felt was enough out of the way and with a sufficiently decent view.
We found a place on the opposite side of the road from the beach, laid out a towel and sat down. To save money we had brought our own food and drinks. As we walked along the beech earlier I assessed the toilet situation for the evening, and it was just as I expected. There was a number of portaloos placed along the beech, but only a small number of them. As I told you early there were over a million people there that night and the queues where horrendous. People lined up for what looked like hours. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, but still I decided I wouldn't be drinking anything, not yet anyway. As we sat, we took out the food we had brought, a traditional Korean meal of kimchi, rice and Bulgogi. Even cold it still tasted delicious.
After a nearly two hour wait, the fireworks started. The show itself is pretty impressive, as thousands of rockets were launched from the bridge that faces the beach. Illuminating the night sky with an array of colours. They had everything in the forty five minute extravaganza, from the standard glittering explosions, to giants ones that where almost blinding. At one point I felt like they would never end and we would all be engulfed. They even had hearts shaped ones, that looked more like an awkward penis.
By far the best thing about the show was the Korean people reactions, they were amazed by the whole thing, ooohing and aaahing at almost every bang and crackle. And of course clapping every time they stopped for a brief moment. They are so easily entertained, bless them.
Love, hugs and Oooooh...
Samuel James.
P.S) My camera is crap at taking pictures at night, and even worse at taking pictures of fireworks. As you can see for yourself...
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