That said, I have a small vacation in September, October, and November. For September, I had planned to go to China. I was going to take almost a week off. However, there is a holiday here in Korea called Chusok. It's a very popular holiday, and English Village has decided it will be closed for that holiday--because it is not similar to holidays in America, where people get together and go to theme parks. This is a very family oriented holiday, and thusly, people spend it with their families. So, basically, we are FORCED to take vacation days. So that means I'll have 4 days off work (2 vacation days and 2 regular days off). I'm planning a trip to Jeju Island, off the south coast of Seoul.
As I wrote at the start of this paragraph, I was originally planning to go to China. But I have heard that it may be very difficult to get a Visa for China at this point. I haven't checked into it in detail, but it's almost not worth it anyway--because I'd have to go alone. Jeju Island is much closer, and thus cheaper, and so more people are able to go there. There should be a good group of us that will head to the island for this holiday.
I'd still like to go to China...but I just don't want to go alone. I think it'll be easier to convince people to go to Thailand or the Philippines. And truthfully, there is much more to explore within Korea itself--I shouldn't forget that.
Anyway, this past weekend, I lounged around, did a bunch of nothing. One day, however, I did head south of the Han River in Seoul to the COEX Mall. I've been there before, even my parents have been there. But there is an aquarium at the Mall, and I went with a Korean friend.
On the subway on the way to the Aquarium--
Outside the aquarium's entrance, "Oh, boy, if it's this exciting outside, what's in store inside?!"--
I don't know what it is, but it's cool looking--
This hilarious section of the aquarium had fish in various household places--
Washing machine--
I thought it would be just like any other aquarium; but I was wrong. It wasn't as huge or fantastic as the aquarium in Sydney; but it did have some animals I'd never seen before, and some I didn't even know existed. They even had fruit bats and a squirrel monkey...which left me a bit confused...because it's an aquarium...oh well.A two headed turtle? Really? Really--
A piranha--
This tank only had 3 fish in it. Another attempt to recreate something Disney-like, here is a clown fish looking for his son, along with a blue and yellow fish (below)--just like "Finding Nemo"--
Ellen DeGeneres' character--
I've never seen a fish like this before--so beautiful--reminded me of a ribbon dancer--
Another tank, this clown fish kept hiding from my camera--
This is when things quickly turned ugly--
A back-lit jellyfish--scary and frightening and cool and creepy and all that--
Another kind of jellyfish--
And another kind--
There was only ONE penguin swimming in the penguin place--which seemed really odd. All the others were literally standing on the edge of the pool, looking as though they really wanted to go in, but were afraid to. Once a penguin went in, the ONE penguin that was in there chased him all over the place; making me think I was watching some twisted version of the childhood game, "King of the Hill".
On another of my days off this past week, I headed across the street to the Heyri Art Village. It's literally across the street from English Village, but I've never walked through it. It was such a nice day that I thought I'd wander around in there. Basically, it's a village of art galleries, museums, eateries, and interesting architecture. I have been told that the only people who live in the Art Village are artists who build a home that can serve as their studio and gallery as well. It's a very strange place--but very interesting to walk through.
For example, they have a Teddy Bear Museum. I do not know what is inside, and after seeing what was outside, I had no intention of paying to see what was contained therein.
Why on earth would you decimate the Venus de Milo statue by putting a teddy bear head on top????--
They also have a Politics and Stamp Museum. It cost 2,000Won to enter, and I thought I better see what this place could possibly have.
As I said, a Politics and Stamp museum...hmm--
A sticker on the entrance to the museum--
I knew Grandma would want to see this--
Various buttons from different political races--
These are strange and a little creepy, and I don't particularly like them--
I'm not sure if this is an ACTUAL ballot from Hitler's election--but it's interesting nonetheless--
The President of Korea, Lee Myung-Bak--
Upstairs were the stamps--
How exciting and random--a Jim Carrey "Ace Ventura" stamp from the Congo--
See, it IS possible to have adventures without leaving Korea. I'll keep you updated with further adventures.
Until later!
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