The Lunar New Year holiday, also known elsewhere as Chinese New year, is second in importance only to Chuseok
(the Harvest Moon Festival). Every year, family members make a grand pilgrimage to their hometowns. During the
3-day period, Seoul is almost deserted a most people leave the city to return to their ancestral roots.
Although many of the younger generation take advantage of the time off to go skiing or travel abroad,
Korea's roads, railways, and skies are full of homeward bound travelers. People line up for hours
when the bus and train tickets go on sale, about 3 months prior to the holidays. For those masochistic
enough to try driving, taking over 24 hours to drive from Seoul to Busan is not unheard of! (Normally,
it takes 5-6 hours. However, the family bond runs deep in Korea culture, and it seems that people
gladly make the journey.
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