Busan International Fireworks Show - Oct 23rd

Busan had their 6th Annual International Fireworks Show this year and we decided to go and check it out. It started on Thursday, 21 October and finished on Saturday, 23 October. We went on the Saturday. The festivities started at 10 a.m. when we were on our way to he busstop. The last time we went to Busan we took a normal bus and then a few trains to get to where we wanted to be, but we had one of Jean's Korean friends with us. And since we already have a reputation for getting lost, we took the inter city bus this time.

On the way to the bus terminal we saw this lady carrying her bags on her head.
I thought it was only a South African thing, but apparently I was wrong...

When we got the tickets at exactly 11:00 a.m., the lady behind the counter told us to "Pali! Pali!", which is hurry up in Korean, because the bus leaves at 11:00 a.m. I wonder what she would've done if we didn't know what it meant. Just as we went outside the bus left. Luckily there was a friendly Korean guy who ran and stopped another bus that was on its way to Busan. We had the whole bus for ourselves until the next stop.

Chris and Jean. Chris is the new teacher at the school where I helped out
while they looked for a new teacher. He arrived on the 18th.



We were the only people on the bus at first, but at the next stop the other
people got on.



Like the other time we went to Busan we made a pit stop at Burger King.

After we stuffed ourselves we took a taxi to the bridge where the show is held. We had to walk for a while before we got to the beach where we wanted to find a hotel for the night.


We walked on a path next to the ocean. The wall on one side of path a the
strangest pictures painted on it. This was one that actually made sence.



That is the bridge from where the fireworks were shot. On our way over it in
the taxi we saw all the fireworks lined up.

When we got to the beach we began to hunt for a hotel. Since the show attracted a few million people, we new it was going to be difficult to find one. Chris thought it wise to ask the first foreigner for some hotel-hunting tips, and to our surprise the guy he asked was probably the only foreigner in Korea who didn't speak English. He was French. He then asked some Korean girls and they all said we were crazy to look for a hotel. Thanks for bursting our bubbles! We saw a hotel just across from the beach and decided to give it a try. The lady told us that they are full. On our way out another Korean lady walked past us told us to come back inside. She made a phone call and after 5 minutes we had a room. We couldn't believe we were so lucky. There was only one bed, but that wasn't going to stop us from sleeping that night.

I think they gave us the honeymoon suite.

We then decided to go and do some exploring. We eventually ended up going to a chicken restaurant to eat, again. It was around 17:00 then. The fireworks only started at 20:00. 

After another stuffing session we headed to the beach to find a spot to sit. There were so many people already that we could only find a spot on the sidewalk. It was a good spot though with a nice view.

There were a few of these boats in the see.

They had a few performances on the beach, also displayed on the boats, before the fireworks started.

I've never seen so many people in my life!



I thought 'millions' was exagerating, but it wasn't.

After a long time of waiting the fireworks finally started. It was without a doubt worth the wait.

When the show finished we went back to hotel to take some of our stuff back and then we headed to a noraebang, and then another noraebang. Chris decided to call it a night a went back to the hotel. Jean, Lindie and I were still full of energy and went for a walk, and got kind of lost again. On our way back to the hotel we found a fast food restaurant and did our good deed for the day by supporting them, after which we went back to the hotel to get some sleep. I still had to go to a wedding the Sunday afternoon at 14:00.

The next morning we took a taxi to the bus terminal and came back to Ulsan. I had an hour to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was held at a wedding hall in Samsan. It was almost like a glorified Las Vegas wedding. The building has wedding rooms, photo rooms and a buffet room for the reception. I was thinking of trying to explain the what the whole wedding was like, but I decided to give it a name instead. MMP - Matrimonial Mass Production. The ceremony was beautiful, but it was nothing like a western wedding. The ceremony and the reception was 2 hours in total. Like I said, MMP. You have to experience it for youself to understand it.