Everland

Part two of my plan to keep myself out of the house and away from that envelope included a trip to Everland. Everland, for all of you non-ROK'ers, is South Korea's largest amusement park. Think almost Disneyland. . . but not quite. In Disneyland fashion, it's HUGE and broken into several different zones, such as 'Global Fair,' 'European Adventure,' 'Zoo-topia,' and 'Magic Land.' It also has that same general carnival-like atmosphere with shops and restaurants everywhere, along with castles and costumed characters. But, from the pictures you'll see, everything else is distinctly Korean. Everything is just a little bit off, and I spent most of the day scratching my head just wondering, "Why?" However, I'll give them credit--the place is filled with TONS of things to do and even I, the preggo who couldn't ride any rides, had a blast. Kudos, to you, South Korea. Well done.

Welcome to Everland.

First things first: a safari. You're loaded onto a bus and driven out into areas where the animals roam free. We even saw a lion on top of one of the cars (don't tell PETA). There were, of course, lions. . .

And tigers. . .

And bears (OH MY!)

And a liger. You know, a lion and tiger mixed? It's bred for its skills in magic. (Yeah, I don't know, but that's what they said it was.)

The park did give me a few opportunities to snap a few aspects of Korean culture that I find amusing. One of them is Koreans' obsession with American children, ESPECIALLY blonde-haired children. They will constant touch them and try to take their picture. Here, a couple of my friends' children were trying to watch a show. . . and became a show themselves.

The show the children were trying to watch when they were mobbed. Totally bizarre. However, maybe you have to be a kid to understand it; they stood transfixed for a good 2o minutes (pretty impressive for 3-4 year olds).

It just kept getting more and more bizarre. I couldn't watch anymore.

Bees playing the tuba? Sure, why not?

The Everland Tulip Festival. It was no Keukenhof, but I'll take it. The colors were stunning.

Beautiful flowers, ruined by the placement of odd Korean characters.

Another view of the park (and a perfect example from my last post when I explained how long it takes spring to reach South Korea. All of the beautiful flowers above contrasted sharply against the dead, life-less tress and brown grass.)

Another oddity of Korean culture I was able to capture: old Korean women LOVE huge sun-visors. I'm not sure why, but it seems the bigger and gaudier the better. Luckily, about 50 old ladies were in front of us in line for the Everland version of "It's a Small World," and I was able to get a couple of pictures.

A boat full of visors. . .

Last but not least, I have to share a short video I took during our ride on Everland's not-quite 'It's a Small World' ride. But, really, it was. It was the EXACT same ride, only the puppets all sang in Korean. Anyways, this clip shows how America is represented in the Korean 'It's a Small World' ride. Apparently, America = cheerleaders, football players, cowboys, and Broadway. Yep, "not-quite-right." Flattering, but not quite right. ;)