Korea (Part 2)

So we come to part 2 of the Korea thing. Day three involved us going to an enormous, sprawling theme park called Everland, which essentially is Disneyland wrapped under several meters of Korean cultural red tape.

Kitschy facsimile of St. Mark’s Campanile in Venice, repackaged for exotic European goodness.

Presumably the truncated entrance to St. Mark’s Basilica.

Karan and Clement grinning on the ski elevator to the lower part of Everland.

Lovecraftian horror covered with pink icing (Part of a Christmas parade).

Don’t get me wrong, we had great fun with the roller coaster and the flume. But the immersion rides were something else entirely. We had lunch at a American-esque burger joint, binging on the Korean interpretation of American cuisine. The irony was not lost on us. We even saw a American family tucking into good ol’ home food.

After Everland it was on to Seoul. At this point the tone of the tour changed; it was no longer a romp through nature but a trudge through urbanity. Even the tour coach was forced to slow down to keep up with the traffic.

Seoul’s skyscrapers in the evening. Très beau!

See above.

After a night’s stay at a dreadfully overdecorated Victorian horror of a hotel room, it was off to the nearby Gyeongbokgung Palace. Good weather facilitated photo-taking.

Nice, expressionist shot of Huygen’s law of reflection.

Another shot of one of the Palace buildings.

Afterwards, we were swiftly taken to several tourist traps such as the Ginseng Center, the Amethyst Gems factory, and the Cordyceps warehouse. Naturally, the state of the finances did not place us in the appropriate position to procure any of these treasures. Nevertheless, the experience was fairly interesting.

Following which, we got a little leg-stretch time at Myeongdong Fashion Street, specializing in ladies’ apparel, and got a load of a Korean style demonstration:

Next we went on to Lotte World, another theme park (better than Everland, actually). Regretfully, no pictures were taken of the place, as I’d left my camera behind on the bus. Once again, deprived me found the rides the most entertaining. When it came to the gyro-drop, however, I couldn’t summon up sufficient courage to go up. The new hotel was luxurious, but of course we didn’t make use of the facilities.

The final day was bittersweet in a way. We spent the morning shopping at a duty-free hypermart, where I procured some Korean foodstuffs. Then, we flew home. And that, I guess, is that.