By Honorary Reporter Jeanne.O from Indonesia

Photos and Videos= Jeanne.O

My visit to Busan in late November to cover the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-Republic of Korea (ROK) Commemorative Festival gave me the chance to experience the Haeundae Lighting Festival. This year, the Busan city government decided to hold the event two weeks earlier than in previous years on the occasion of the ASEAN-ROK summit and the first Mekong-ROK Summit.

Marking its sixth anniversary this year and held under the theme "Haeundae, the Sea of Light," the festival began on Nov. 16 and will run through Jan. 27 in the city's Haeundae-gu District. Highlights of this year's event include works of LED lighting art, a daily Christmas music concert, a wish tree and a Christmas carol competition.

I visited the festival on my second day in Busan with fellow Honorary Reporters Dana from Kazakhstan and Fitri from Indonesia. It took less than 10 minutes for us to walk from our hotel to Haeundae Gunam Road. Once we got there, we were welcomed by a giant Christmas tree and LED lighting sculptures behind it, and decided to follow the sculptures. We started our journey from a giant sculpture that was shaped like the year 2019.

Seven gates were lighted purple and each had a quote written on top reminding us to be grateful for what we did this year. At the end of this section, another set of sculptures were lighted yellow and also had a quote for the new year. A sculpture in the shape of the year 2020 was at the end of these sculptures.

The next day, we went back to Haeundae Beach to explore the festival's main venue. This time, we were welcomed by lighting sculptures in the form of the Milky Way on the top of the sand beach. We kept taking photos of every corner of the venue and also found sculptures in the shape of words in Hangeul about the new year: friendship, love, wish and hope.

My visit to this festival was an occasion for self-reflection. Through the quotes that I read there, I reflected on what I've done so far this year and what to do for before the new year. This event was both a healing moment and encouragement to do better over the remainder of the year and devise a plan for next year.

chaey0726@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.