Life in a Small World: NYE-Seoul

New Year's Eve has always been a special thing for me. I blame my passion for the yearly event on the parties that my aunt used to throw when I was really young. It was one of the only times during the year that I could stay up so late. I could spend time playing with, not only my brothers, but my cousins as well. Finally, my aunt would serve pepperoni bread that I remember to this day despite the fact that I haven't had it anywhere else. Those times fizzled out as family moved away but soon after followed the New Year's Eve parties of high school, then college. Times continued to change and traditions transitioned into a travel occasion, ringing in the new year in a new place. Beginning with last year and continuing into 2014, another change to NYE has taken hold.

This year's NYE celebration was a couple affair. No big groups of friends, no meeting strangers in hostels, no binge drinking. It was just Mihai and I wandering the streets of Seoul during the day, eagerly awaiting the evening's countdown. We saw some touristic areas that we hadn't yet explored, we found a Mexican restaurant to dine at, and we chatted about our new year's resolutions over a pale ale in Insadong.

Though Seoul is not a new place for either of us, it was a new place to celebrate the new year. A coworker of mine suggested that if we go to Seoul, we should go to Jongak station for the celebration. The central feature at that particular intersection is a large bell housed in a two-story belfry. It was customary to ring the bell daily during the Joseon Dynasty period. I'm aware that they still ring the bell at certain times on the weekends for tourists, but other than that I'm not sure. My coworker informed me that there is an event at that intersection on new year's eve, where people gather, pop stars sing and dance on the stage, and after a countdown, Koreans literally ring in the new year by ringing the bell several times.

The bell located at one of the corners of Jongak intersection.

View from across the street looking at the countdown and the belfry.

It was around 9 o'clock when we first passed by the square after dinner. The police presence was very large but the streets had yet to be closed off. Regardless, people were starting to gather on the corners despite the police efforts to keep foot traffic moving. We continued on our way to Insadong with plans to return by 11:30. Upon our return, we noticed the streets were closed off at a one block radius around Jongak intersection. Many people were arriving just then, as we were, but the crowd was already very large.

On our way toward the intersection we passed two drum circles. In one of the circles, participants banging on various Korean percussion instruments twirled around the circle's edge in the traditional popular costume of white, red, yellow, and blue. In the middle of the circle were two characters, a women dressed in a man's hanbok (traditional costume) and a man dressed in a woman's hanbok.

We pushed as far as we cared to. Though we could have made it closer to the stage, I looked over the large crowd and figured that all the selfish shoving to get just a bit closer wasn't worth it. We settled in a place where we could see the a screen displaying the performance taking place on the stage, with a digital clock in the top left corner counting down the final minutes to 2014. Though I didn't see any clinking of champagne glasses in the first few minutes of 2014, I saw many kisses, confetti spraying out over the crowd situated directly in front of the stage, important Koreans up on the screen ringing the bell, and roman candles shooting into the air in all directions.

Santa at the bookshop and a unique building at Jongak intersection.

The crowd gathering just before 2014.

After a few minutes of taking in the atmosphere we headed for our exit, the subway station that would be the start of an unexpected two and a half hour trip home. Happy New Year 2014!

To read about some of my past NYE experiences and adventures, click here.