Happy New Year
Happy New Year from victoriaw.photography!
Exactly one year on, it’s the perfect time to share one of my favourite moments from my entire time in Korea: walking across Gwangan Bridge. It had been on my wishlist for the whole three and a half years I spent in Korea and I squeezed it in just before I left, on New Year’s Day.
From the moment I saw the beautiful 7.4km structure from Gwangali Beach, its two huge half diamonds which give it its name lit up, on what was a classic muggy summer night in Busan, I fell in love. I’ve always had a not-so-secret nerdy love affair with bridges, probably due to unfulfilled ambitions of being a Civil Engineer, and just for sheer scale, Gwangan Bridge is stunning. Understandably, it is an emblem of Busan and the backdrop to many of the city’s triumphs including the annual Busan fireworks festival.
Every so often, we would take a taxi across the city and the driver would offer – in what I believed were the Korean equivalent of ‘hushed tones’ – “Bridge-ee?”. Of course there is only one answer, “Yes”. I would press my face up to the window and dream of making the walk and taking some photos of the city from this unique vantage point. And there are opportunities: a 10km run, a half and full marathon, and a bridge walk throughout the summer and autumn. Alas, the Korean-only sign up website and my own motivation were too much of an obstacle and I bailed.
There was one more chance left; the early hours of New Year’s Day. Whereas the twelve chimes of Big Ben, or similar clocks, are the markers of the new year back home, in Korea it is the first sun rise which is the point to celebrate. There are several prime spots for horizon gazing around Busan; Haeundae beach or the mountains of Geumjeong are popular choices. But perhaps the most unique spot is from Gwangan Bridge, which is open from the early hours until 9am. This year I was prepared for a Busan New Year double whammy. At 11:59pm I was poised with the masses at Yongdusan Park, counting down the seconds to the large ceremonial bell being struck. At 12:02am it was home to bed for a powernap (fully-dressed) before rising again at 5:30am and hot-footing it to Suyeong to join the crowds heading up the ramp and taking Neil Armstrong-like steps onto an icon.
I couldn’t believe my luck when the dawn of the 1st of January, 2014 was a beautiful still day. In previous years the biting winter wind has whipped across those watching, making me glad I’d failed yet again to stay up long enough to make a tick on my Busan “bucket list”. It was almost destiny that I waited until this exact moment. Standing on the bridge watching the sun rise was unbelievable. Unlike the masses, I made the most of the opportunity to stay on the bridge for the entire three hours available, walking the full length to Haeundae-gu. It was also, equally momentously, my first time out with my brand new camera. Although I was getting to grips with the settings, I was quite happy with some of the shots I got. But with a subject as beautiful as Gwangan Bridge, how can one go wrong?
