Advertisement
Published: February 10th 2011
Hotel Room
Pretty sweet for only $40 a night! Complete with a bathtub, my first one in 6 months!Our trip began with a very comfortable and quick (2 1/2 hour) train trip to Seoul. The price to pay for this speed (aside from the literal extra 30 bucks per person) is the majority of time is spent in a tunnel void of the country side views. After checking into a hotel we decided to attempt a walk to the famous Seoul tower. Tragically the tourist map is anything but to scale and after a few hours of wandering we decided to head back.
Day 2 we headed to Seoul Grand Park. This consists of a small amusement park, children’s petting zoo, forests, paths and the main attraction of interest: the zoo. So here’s the greatest part admission to this 384 specie park: 3,000 won (less than 3 dollars!) and for 2,000 more we went to the dolphin show. So for the next few hours we wandered a mostly deserted zoo and saw more animals than we could almost take. The animals seemed much more active and even interested in us than other zoos. Highlights include the nursery where we saw 2 month old lion cubs and some adorable and curious baby monkeys, and young otters. The dolphin show included
sea lions and dolphins and was full of physical comedy that bridged the language barrier. With tired feet we headed to a movie theater and were even able to find Churros!
Day 3 began with an early morning appointment for the written GRE and my first encounter with an English speaking Korean Beggar. Where he learned “I am hungry give me money” is a mystery to me. He found us again at the war memorial. I guess it’s true that English is much more common in Seoul. I had tragically come down with a cold and after 2 days of walking around outside I voted for a restful day in the hotel. I had my first bath in 6 months, We did journey to Iteawon, home of a massive US military base and thus surrounded by restaurants that cater to them. Our myriads of options included Spanish, Mexican, French, Italian, Indian and our chosen poison of American Chinese’s called Fat Panda. It proved true to it’s namesake (Panda Express) and served orange chicken.
We visited the free outside portions of the war memorial and eat a delicious breakfast of Taco Bell. We then ventured to Lotte World, a mixture
of Disneyland and a basic amusement park. Thanks to a promotion for foreigners we saved oodles of money and went on various rides for 6 hours. Of course our actual ride time totaled at around 30 minutes with the rest waiting in line but somehow it was still so worth it. What truly set Lotte world apart was that the majority of activities were all inside, housed in a massive arching building. Since the largest rides I’ve ever been on have been the county fair and I have a strong aversion to heights I only expected myself to go on the calmer rides. When we first get into the park however I was dragged by my loving husband to the Gyro drop. The waiting time for this one was only a few minutes so before I even realized what we were in line for, I was trapped. There were literally metal bars stopping my escape. This ride climbs slowly up 70 meters with your feet dangling and a great 360 view before dropping suddenly in a free fall. The air rushes past you so fast catching a breath to continue your scream seems impossible. The legs of your pants flutter
like the wings of hummingbird. I remember screaming, running out of air, then realizing I was still falling. It was awesome although I felt a little shaky afterward. From here I eventually conquered the scariest ride where at one point you are falling face first towards the ground with your feet dangling. When we changed and were falling backward I remember hearing Eddie say “whew that’s better.” His reassuring hand on my knee got me though that experience. My favorite by far was the super rapid roller coaster that speed your through unknown darkness then made it seem like a fall into the frozen lake was inevitable.
An early morning of 6 and a 6 hour train ride later we were home!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.068s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0375s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
