I was looking through all my photo albums to find my most unusual photo and despite some tough competition, this bizarre character won!
I came across this man in Seoul, South Korea last year. The whole mixture of the wacky tiger suit, the face mask to protect himself against the city pollution and of course the hilarious ‘Free Hugs’ sign made for a pretty unconventional encounter. I gave him a quick hug, took his picture and went on my merry way.
As I only have 2 weeks left in “The Land of Morning Calm” I can’t help but look back and think of all the amazing things I have done here. The friends I have made, the beautiful places I’ve visited, the festivals, the weekend trips, the food, the drink, the nights out and everything in between.
Sure, I’ve moaned and bitched and cried. I’ve complained about things and people that I shouldn’t have and not given enough praise where praise was due, but I guess that’s all part of the travel, and I guess life, experience.
So without further delay…duh duh duh…here is my list of the TOP TEN THINGS to do in Korea.
( This list is aimed at people in Korea for a year or so as lots of the events are spread throughout the year.)
Driving through the most beautiful mountainous valley, golden hues form the colour of the leaves on the surrounding trees and cragged rock faces form the backround for the majestic sunrise. Some people were snoozing due to a 4.30am start, others were simply admiring the sheer beauty of rural Korea. Suddenly, the whole bus starts to swerve…. (click to read more)
Yes, I do have a racoon on my head.
It was 6am, the sun was shining and the views of the beach and Gwangan bridge were magical. After struggling to climb the 4 flights of stairs to our 4th floor apartment, we got a bit of a shock! There were 17 of us were sharing 1 bed, 1 couch and 1 toilet…. (click to keep reading)
Busan Lighthouse
*Beep Beep* coming through, coming through! Crash. Bang. Brrrrrr.Who knew maneuvering a bike on ice would be so difficult?! Well put two clueless girls on a tandem bike, give them a push start across a frozen lake and the task is no less difficult! Transfer said girls to two separate trikes where one must lean towards the cold ice in order to get the trike to turn and you have yourself a highly entertaining… (click to read more)
It’s 5pm, the sun is shining and over 150 people from all walks of life (from a mother with her newborn baby, punks, travellers, teachers, ballet dancers) are waiting with anticipation in Yeouido Park in Seoul. Ten minutes later these same people, equipped with just a set of wireless headphones and a balloon, are randomly jumping up and down… (Click here to read more)
Our mission; to give out FREE HUGS to as many passersby who wanted them. Many people were very timid at first, walking up to us very shyly and giving us timid hugs then running away with their girl friends giggling. Others seem to accept the idea immediately running towards us at full force and jumping into our arms… (Click HERE to read more)
Brightening up the train ride!
From rickety roller coasters to the heart wrenching gyro drop, ghost houses, underground canals following the adventures of sinbad, log flumes, vomit inducing pirate ships, orbiting space and many rides in between Lotte world kept us entertained… (Click HERE to read more)
Hold on for the ride of your life on the GYRO SWING
Koreans are heading home from work, or sitting under gas heaters on the sidewalk keeping their toes from freezing in the harsh Korean winter, sipping cups of coffee, devouring galbi or just chatting with friends. Now throw in 300 drunk foreigners dressed as Santa marching down the street, beer in hand , singing dirty versions of traditional Christmas songs and you have yourself an eclectic mix of craziness… (Click HERE to keep reading)
I could talk forever on how AMAZING my weekend in Gyeonju was. It is a city rich in culture and history. It’s beautiful, it is charming, it is delightful. I developed a crush on the quaint, cherry blossom lined streets by day and fell head over heels with its spectacular lake and temples by night… (click to read on)
A festivals for the senses
Naked Koreans were everywhere. A room full of naked flesh and most women weren’t even bothering to use their towels (albeit more like handkerchiefs) to cover up their private bits. Far from it in fact. Onewoman was sprawled out on the bench in the centre of the changing room, nonchalant to her nakedness…. (click to read more)
From 3 Tibetan monks sitting in a small triangle doing a traditional painting, to children attempting to jump over 2 gigantic skipping ropes and getting involved in other cultural activities. There were koreans in traditional hanbok, live music performances and traditional dancing all the way down the street… (Click HERE to read more)
-Hi Seoul Festival in September
-MysteryTrain Trip to Gunsan and Seonyudo Island
Shouts of “I”ve got a bottle of VODKA..whoop whoop!!”, despite having just signed a race waiver that forbade the possession or consumption of alcohol, was a pretty good indication of how the day ahead was about to pan out; full of rule breaking, alcohol consumption and endless high spirits!
Usually, spending my saturday dashing on and off trains, buses and cars and running all over Seoul as fast as my little legs can take me would be a SATURDAY FROM HELL.
However last Saturday was an exception. It was the date of the Seoul-Mazing Race, similar to “The Amazing Race” which I’m sure most of you are familiar with, but organized by NEH magazine in Seoul.
Our Geumchon crew
We started off in Yeoido park, bottle of vodka for one team, bottle of whiskey for the other…Rehydration is VERY important when running a 10 hour race around a jam-packed city on a scorching hot, summer’s day!
My team; Cindy, Jennifer and Myself lined up next to the other 34 teams, pumped and ready for a day packed full of challenges and surprises. CJ, the race organizer had given us our first clue (he told us, “your first clue is over there. You will find a bag of rice cakes which you MUST finish before we finding the next clue…)
BAM, suddenly he had lowered his arm and the teams were off. A stampede of Elephants racing across the park in search of a bag of dry, tasteless rice cakes. I too would have been with them if I hadn’t tripped over within the stampede and lost my shoes…! Great start, I know.
As one of the last teams to reach the rice cakes, it appeared there were no rice cakes to be found. What was first confusion and frustration quickly turned to delight when we were simply whispered the next clue and didn’t even have to eat any stinky rice cakes. Ka-Boom…we jumped in a taxi and were off to Noryangjin Fish Market for what which we knew would be a nasty eating challenge.
Me, Jennifer and Cindy "Geumchon Crew"
Eating fermented Skate fish..Bones and all GO JEN!
En route we landed ourselves with the coolest taxi driver ever, who proceded to sing a korean rendition of “Oh Danny Boy” once he heard I was from Ireland! Was such a hilarious journey I was sad to leave him as we leapt out of the taxi to be greeted with the smell of putrid seafood, raw fish and other awful smells one associates with an enormous fish market.
The challenge was to eat a full plate of Sambap; which is supposedly a “Korean Delicacy”, consisted of raw, fermented skate fish, fatty pork belly and spicy, fermented cabbage. As I don’t eat seafood and Cindy pulled her Vegetarian card, this challenge was left to Jen. As we saw her struggling and were anxious to get out of the rotten smelling market as soon as possible, we picked at the plate, flicking bits of foul smelling sambap over our shoulders whenever nobody was looking, until we eventually had an empty plate and were handed the next clue. SUCCESS!
Next we had to jump on the nearest bus (after quickly deciphering the Korean hanguel and deciding it was going in the right direction!) to challenge number 3! We ended being guided (in reality in was more like chasing after!) by a beautifully dressed Korean Lady, who we ran after for 10 minutes straight through a high class department store and down into a place called “I heart Dalki”, a sort of creche/bakery inside the shopping centre. Here we had to pick a random child and get them to play charades with us guessing the words we were acting out…random was the name of the game here..seriously random.
On the subway..again!
One of our clues
1 subway ride and one crazy bus ride later and we reached our next challenge spot…the Kimbap challenge! (think of a large sushi roll or rice and veggies wrapped in seaweed)..where each team had to make two kimbap rolls and sell them to randomers on the street. This was pretty hilarious watching waygookins running around trying to push badly made Kimbap on innocent passers-by. Bit of a disaster for most teams who ended up just giving money from their own pocket to pay the Kimbap restaurant owner as nobody would pay for their crappy rolls!!
Fast forward through the “impossible to find” pit stop, a REAL pit stop in Burger King which could have cost us the race (no other teams stopped for lunch..! whoops!), a photo challenge in Gangnam, a tour of the Kimchi Museum and getting pelted by water balloons by my lovely team mate as part of a challenge in Jamsil Park, another quick rest stop and we were on the home straight!
Cindy rolling Kimbap for us to sell!
Back on the Bus!
Next up was a mad dash in yet another mental taxi to a TapHouse near Itaewon where we got some nice cold, home brewed beers to make the last stretch more bearable! There were 6 challenges left and 6 challenges that would very nearly make us crack. Very nearly make us quit, drop out, go home, scream, vomit, who knows what it nearly did to us!!
First off was “The writing is on the wall” challenge in Insadong were we spent close to an hour waking around a spiral, 4 storey, outdoor market, in which the walls were plastered in grafitti and we had no ide what exactly we were looking for. Definitely the hardest challenge of all.
Eventually, after calling some buddies for help, we found the blue scrawlings and were on root to challenge number 11...the story of King Sejong! Here we had to enter the underground Museum and write out names in Korean using a traditional method then we had to pay our respects to the long deceased King.
Next up was one of the worst challenges of the day. As a team we had to consume a full tin of SILK WORM LARVAE. Usually even the smell of these creepy crawlies makes me want to vomit, but this time it was even soaked in their juices which was no help to my gag reflexes. Jen to the rescue again, helped by me and Cindy periodically filling our pockets with the grotesque smelling and foul tasting bugs, in a lame attempt to empty the can without really having to eat any!! Another SUCCESS!
Yuck Yuck Yuck
And onwards to the last challenge of the day…the beer tasting challenge! “I’ll take this one girls!”, I told my team mates! 5 beers later and I easily identified the mystery beer I was given. We even opted to sit in the restaurant drinking more free beer instead of rushing off to the finish line…at this stage we weren’t bothered in what position we finished aslong as we made it to the finish line! The finish line, ended up being in AN IRISH BAR(!!!) way south of the river which meant another half hour trip on the subway and another mad taxi ride, only to arrive in 18th place out of 35 teams! Not bad, not bad for a team of dossers, eh?
We may not have won, we may not have completed all the challenges perfectely but one thing we did do is have a FANTASTIC day! It was one of the most fun, crazy, random things I have ever done and I will jump at the chance to do similar AMAZING RACES in the future!
What NOT TO WEAR for PADDY'S DAY...
So this year for St. Patricks Day, or St. Paddy’s day, or Pat’s Day but most certainly NOT to be called PATTIES DAY (!!!!) I shall be in Korea. In fact as I work on thursday the 17th, for te first time in my 25 years of existence I will have to wait until the saturday to celebrate…such blasphemy, I know…times are a changing!
Nonetheless I sense it is going to be a special one. It will be my first time celebrating in Asia, and along with all the other crazy Irish Paddies tinkering about Korea, I plan to celebrate in style! Granted I hate Guinness, I can hardly string a sentence of Irish together but MAN am I patriotic on St. Patricks Day.
I received my “Paddys Day survival Kit” from my mom on Friday; a green t-shirt, over sized Irish flag, a hairband with boing shamrocks attached and a green, white and orange flower leis. Oh and a huge packet of Balloon to distribute amoung friends. A bit of face-paint and nail varnish and I’m all set!
The Irish Association of Korea is hosting (for the 11th year in a row) a festival and parade of sorts in Insadong, in Seoul.Starting at 11.30am and ending at 5pm, there will be traditional Irish dancing, Guinness tasting, crown participation, a U2 cover band and much much more. For the hard core party heads, there is an “all you can eat, all you can drink (including 3 pints of Guinness!!)” party in the aptly named “Dublin Terrace” in Gangnam, and all for a measly 50,000 won. Yes that is ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK. Madness.
Other options include partying in any one of the numerous Irish bars in Itaewon from the Wolfhound to Baby Guinness or JR’s, or maybe veer from the traditional hooley and opt to see an American electro hop quartet band called “Far East Movement” in the Sheraton Grand Hotel.
The Zoo at Children’s grand park reminds me of a scene from the movie “The Lion King”. Not one of the scenes where all the beautiful, wild animals roam the lush, green African plains but the one where the Scar has taken over the pride lands, over used and abused the water and food sources and the whole area is dry, barren and somewhat sinister.
I was so excited this morning at the prospect of going to the Zoo. I was even watching THIS video on repeat, excited about seeing the lions and tigers and zebras and elephants and all the other awesome animals.
An Unhappy tiger at Seoul Zoo
On the subway my friend Brooke was singing silly animal songs and when we approached the entrance to what Wikipedia claims to be “The 10th biggest Zoo in the world” she ran towards the gates! We got on a little tram-car that brought us past Seoul-Land mini theme park then to the Zoo entrance.
The first things we saw were the Giraffes. And it was pretty much from the minute I say them standing there in these small enclosure nibbling on the ROCK FACE, that right eating ROCKS, I remembered how much I hated Zoo’s. I guess once you have lived in Africa and done a Safari in the Masaii Mara and Kruger National Park it’s hard to appreciate animals in a Zoo or hard to like the Zoo at all.
Poor Polar Bear
All the animals looked so…sad.The flamingos were all huddled up in this corner under electronic heaters, the zebras looked cold and cramped, and the hippos were stuck in this tiny pool, all squashed in together. The polar bear walked back and forth in its area which was full of mould, dead fish and not enough water. It looked equally bored, sad and lonely. It was so depressing.
All the big cats were simply sleeping in tiny cages, as we viewed in through the gaps in the bars to observe them. I guess the only thing I did actually like about the Zoo were the monkeys. They had a nice amount of space and plenty of trees and toys to swing off of and stay entertained, as well as entertaining us with their bare baboon bums and sky blue balls!!!
(Un)Happy Hippo
All the big cats were simply sleeping in tiny cages, as we viewed in through the gaps in the bars to observe them. I guess the only thing I did actually like about the Zoo were the monkeys. They had a nice amount of space and plenty of trees and toys to swing off of and stay entertained, as well as entertaining us with their bare baboon bums and sky blue balls!!!
The only thing I can compare Seoul Zoo with is another one I have been to; Fota Wildlife Park, back home in Cork, Ireland where I live. Fota wildlife is 100 times better than Seoul Zoo. Seoul Grand park may be the 10th biggest in the world but it is far from the 10th “best”.
Mmm delicious rock...
Everything from the grasslands to the wide open spaces, and what seem to be, in general, happy animals make Fota Wildlife Park a great place to visit. Everything from the lack of grass, tiny, cramped enclosures, bad maintenance and what seems to be unhappy animals make Seoul Grand Park Zoo an awful place to visit.
Of course this is just my opinion. I had a great day today, but that was only because I was with a group of my best buddies here in Korea. Their company, and not the animals, made this day a success.
Bars and Stripes
I‘m getting more than a little excited about the prospect of all the upcoming festivals here in Korea. Winter was pretty brutal with temperatures dropping to -24 at times and more snow than you could shake a stick at. Leaving your house without gloves was a death wish and the amount of times I fell flat on my ass thanks to the ice is not even funny. Although it was hardly “4 months of Hibernation”, it was tough. So as the snow thaws and the temperature slowly rises, the look of relief, above all else, is prominent among my students, colleagues and friends.
Spring, probably the best season of the year, is on it’s way at last! And with Spring come festivals. Lots and lots of fantastic, joy-filled, dance-filled, sunshine-filled festivals! Here is a low-down on the top 5 festivals (in my opinion) to watch out for this spring, and be warned they are not all your typical music festivals! I have included festivals for all the senses…touch, taste, smell, see and hear!
So what if St Patricks day is actually on Thursday the 17th! Most Irish people, other “wannabe Irish” foreigners and even Koreans who wish to celebrate all things green and Irish will most likely be slaving away at work on the thursday, dreaming of creamy pints of Guinness and luminous shamrock shakes so having the festival on the nearest Saturday is a fantastic idea!
Held annually by the Irish Association of Korea the festival and parade takes place at the aptly named “Dublin Terrace” in Gangnam. There will be an Irish food section, a Guinness sampling corner, face painting and even am “Introduction to Ireland” section for those who have not a clue what St Patricks day is all about (hug a leprechaun if you must!). There will be an after party event in The Sheraton Grand for all those hardcore party-goers!Being Irish and all, Paddys day isalways a highlight of my year. I celebrated it in Melbourne last year and am excited to celebrate in Seoul this year!
St Patricks Day, Korea
Here is another festival somewhat related to religion (if St Patricks Day can still be associated with religion, considering it’s more about Saint Guinness these days..!). The Jindo Sea-Parting Festival, “Mystic Sea Road Festival” in English, happens once a year in Jeollanam-do Province when the seas mysteriously part and visitors can walk through the sea from the mainland to a nearby island.
This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width and creating a scene similar to that of Moses parting the Red sea in the Bible. The festival is apparently well known with people coming from all over Korea to witness this annual “miracle”.
The parting of the sea
Jinhae Gunhangje Festival, which takes place the beginning of April is Koreas biggest cherry blossom festival. Over 2 million tourists come from all over the world to walk along the tree-lined streets and picturesque mountain paths. According to Visit Korea, “There are so many cherry blossom trees in Jinhae that when the wind blows it seems as if it is raining cherry blossom petals.”
I cannot wait to walk down those tree lined paths and see all the beautiful petals with my own eyes. We have a small blossom tree in our garden at home with a swing hanging off it and it has always been my favorite chill out spot, especially come spring time.
A festivals for the senses
With big name music acts/ DJs from all over the world (Freemasons,Jesse Jamz, Will Bailey, Lazy Rich etc) this festival is set to be banging! Taking place over a long weekend in May in YangPyong resort and with weekend camping included this may well be one of the festival highlights of the year!
If you buy your tickets this week there are ridiculously cheap options to promote advance purchase. Or even better, if you want to get more involved in the music scene here in Korea you can volunteer with the preparations for the festival. Not a bad thing to have on you CV, eh?
Bangin'...World DJ Festival SeoulNo
Do I REALLY have to give reasons why I want to go to this festival?? Okay fine here goes…
Nonsan’s strawberries are supposedly the most delicious in Korea, and at the festival I can pick as many as my basket, or stomach, can hold. BRING IT ON!! There are also plenty of original strawberry creations for visitors to sample, such as strawberry rice cakes and even strawberry hot sauce, as well as established treats like strawberry pancakes and strawberry jam. Yum, Yum in my tum.
Mmmm strawberries
One other festival that deserve a mention… CheongDo Bull-fighting Festival, supposedly this “korean tradition” is over 1000 years old. Who needs to fly to Pamplona, Spain when we have this on our doorstep. Don’t know if I could actually sit and watch this due to my fear and hatred of violence but I guess it would be a good experience.
Young Korean woman walking around with towels the size of handkerchiefs and not too bothered about being exposed. Tired little, socialites sitting on the ground in front of their designated lockers attempting to remove their layers of make-up, remnants from the night before.
Unlike my first visit to a Jimjilbang (to get naked or not to get naked) where I arrived fresh-faced and ready for a day of pampering and relaxing in the magical hot pools and saunas I was instead arriving with my friend Becky at 4am delirious from 2 long nights of partying in Hongdae and was desperate for a place to rest my head for a few hours.
We paid our 10,000 won entrance fee, suited up in out matching Pjs, bypassed the hot pools full of naked flesh and headed downstairs to rest our tired heads.The image I had in my head of laying down on a thin, but comfy, mattress with a pillow in a dimly lit room with a few other tired souls quickly evaporated upon entering “Wedding Jimjilbang” next to Hapjeong station.
Too close for comfort
There were over 200 men and woman, all in matching pink Pajama suits occupying every free inch of floorspace to be seen. It was like some sort of aftermath of a huge, crazy college-party-gone-wrong with passed out bodies sprawled across the floor. We passed one old Ajosshi with both hand down his pants and many more snoring so loud in was surprising anyone within a 10 meter proximity could get any sleep.
We eventually curled up outside the door to the cold room, using our tiny towels as pillows and napped for about 2 hours, occasionally waking up as people walked by us or more people lay down next to us making our personal space smaller and smaller by the minute. The lights were so strong that I had to fore-go my pillow and use my towel to cover my eyes instead. To say I was uncomfortable would be equal to saying the Sahara desert is a little warm…understatement of the century.
Jimjilbangs are a great place to go in the day time. A great place to detox, relax, chill out or get clean. But if you are looking for a good nights sleep, and one where you are not forced to huddle up in a corner on the hard ground I recommend you push out all the stops and get that taxi home or even splash out on a hostel! Your poor body will thank you for it.
Smelly feet...lots of smelly feet
I don’t often blog “Photo posts” as I am no photographer and have quite possibly the crappiest camera ever (thanks a lot homeplus.. Grrrrr) but I just got an idea for a post from my friend brooke (whose blog you can check out over at Jayoke). Seasons in Korea are very distinct and equally beautiful. Having now experienced 3 out of 4 seasons, here are my favorite pictures illustrating each season, as seen through my eyes.
I have now lived in a country for over 4 months and have not participated in a FREE HUGS day. This is a new record for me. What in the world is FREE HUGS I hear you non believers ask? Well you can read the full story here but let me give you a little summary.
The FREE HUGS campaign was started by Aussie native Juan Mann (a pretty fitting name, I’m sure you will agree) a few years ago. He wanted to share the love and spread happiness to strangers simply by giving out hugs to people on the street. It sounds a little strange, sure, and a lot of people say “but of COURSE hugs are free , who in their right mind would PAY for a hug” but this strange concept has made its was around the world to every city large and small and has brightened up millions of people’s lives.
The man who started it all
Spread the love
How do I know this? Well it has brightened up my day on a number of occasions and has even spurred me on to give out other things for free such as 500 hand-made cards on Valentines day. Giving out the free hugs is ten times as rewarding as actually getting one. Seeing strangers run up to you with a big grin, then embracing them in a big bear hug is something very special. It will make you smile, laugh and maybe even cry. I can remember hugging one old woman in Dublin who said she had not been hugged in years. This is a very sad thought as everyone should be hugged, in my opinion, every day.
My first free hugs experience was at a couchsurfing event in Edinburgh, Scotland. The weekend, dubbed “Edinburgh Rocks” included a world music night, bbq, scavenger hunt and game sin the park. Then on the final day I was told we were doing “Free Hugs”. I was totally new to the idea, laughed at the idea of it but was excited to see how it would pan out. To this day it is one of the best, most rewarding, most memorable few hours of my life. It helped that the 40 or so other couchsurfers were full of positive energy and love for life and that Scots loved receiving our hugs.
Free Hugs in Edinburgh
Valentines Day, Dublin Free Hugs
After such an awesome experience I organized a FREE HUGS day in Dublin, the first of many followed by “Free Hugs for Christmas”, “Free Hugs for Valentines Day” and “Free Hugs in the park”…all a great success. The next summer, while in Toronto I jumped at the chance to give out free hugs at “Pedestrian Sunday” in Kensington Market and a few weeks later found myself standing outside DEMF, Detroit Electronic Music festival giving out hugs to party goers and homeless people alike. Lastly, I had the opportunity to give out free hugs in Hyde Park in Sydney earlier this year, another awesome day out.
So now Korea, my love, its your turn. I’m interested to see people’s reactions and I really hope they wont be too stand offish as I realize hugging culture is not as big in Asia as it is in say Europe or America. So, if you fancy spreading some joy come along to FREE HUGS HONGDAE this saturday! 
Free Hugs Toronto
Free Hugs...coming to a place near you!
“LOTTE WORLD…WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE.”
(Insert cheesy American voiceover accent)
Lotte pretty much own Korea. A bit of an exaggeration? We’ll just see about that.
Most things I bought in the supermarket today were made by Lotte…from the sliced ham to the chewing gum. The nearest cinema to me and the biggest shopping centers to be found in korea are owned by Lotte. The hi-tech heated toilet I sat on last Sunday in TGI Fridays was made by…you guessed it LOTTE. So it’s no wonder they also own the “biggest indoor theme park in the world, inclusive of an olympic sized ice-rink, shopping mall, hotel, theater and roller coasters all under one gigantic glass roof.
Welcome to Magic Island
The Princess and her castle
Hold on for the ride of your life on the GYRO SWING
As most people know is a bit like Korea’s version of Disney Land. To be fair its is an absolute rip off of disney land just with different characters and rides. Despite this, Lotte world, is well worth the money. And as the money was only 25,000 won (less than 15 euro!!) for an all-inclusive pass who’s complaining?! From rickety roller coasters to the heart wrenching gyro drop, ghost houses, underground canals following the adventures of sinbad, log flumes, vomit inducing pirate ships, orbiting space and many rides in between Lotte world kept us entertained for a good 10 hours.
The views from the top of the Gyro drop, (a ride that rises over 400 feet into the air ..!!), looking out over seoul metropolis and all the surrounding rides was breathtaking. Well, it would have been if my heart had not been racing at the anticipation that my seat was about to plummet at over 84mph and that I was probably either going to have heart failure or go flying into the frozen lake below!
400 feet of horror..Gyro Drop
Indoor magic at Lotte World
Beautiful sunset over Lotte world frozen lake
Another thrilling ride, and probably everyone’s favorite, was the gyro swing. A ride which fits what looks like plexi glass covering over your head to protect you and straps you in as if you are headed to space is a ride that is sure to get your heart beating, right? RIGHT! Swinging around while being dangled upside down over a load of the nasty looking fair rides made of sharp, threatening metal and a numbingly cold frozen lake is a ride NOT to be missed. Absolutely EPIC.
Over all, the Food wasn’t OVERLY scandalous, the queues were all reasonably short and the rides themselves were satisfyingly scary! If you are looking for something fun to occupy your weekend, a trip to Lotte world is highly recommended. Just don’t forget your bunny ears!
Say..CHEEEEEESE.
Sad, snow-filled swans awaiting summer in the frozen lake
Bunny ears? CHECK. Cheesy Korean pose? CHECK!
