The Jones' Korean Adventure

As many of you know, Sam and I celebrated our first anniversary on Sept. 3. We had a great day! Like most people our age, we figured the best way to celebrate one year of marriage was by going to an amusement park and defying death on the crazy rides! We were told that Lotte World is the Korean version of Disneyland...only much smaller. Having never been to Disneyland, I can't tell you if it's exactly the same, but Sam said that it had a similar "feel" to it.

Like always, our adventures began at the subway station...only this time we didn't get lost or miss a train. We arrived at the appropriate station, at the right time, and proceeded to the turn-stiles to exit the station. Here's how the subway system works in Korea: 1) buy a ticket, 2) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you get on the subway, 3) collect your ticket on the other side of the turn-stile, 4) ride the subway, 5) get off, 6) put your ticket through the turn-stile where it stamps where you got off, and calculates if you paid enough for the ride. It's genius, really. Much to our surprise, when we put our tickets into the turn-stile at the Lotte World station, the machine made a loud "unhhh" sound, and wouldn't let us through. We attempted the same thing a number of times, thinking maybe there was some mistake - but each time we were denied. So, we just stood there...not sure what to do. We looked around for anyone who looked semi-official, but the station just had other passengers hurrying on their way. Suddenly, from the other side of the turn-stiles we hear, "can I help you with something?". Again, right when we need an English speaker, God provided one! We told the man that we couldn't get through and showed him our tickets. He told us that we had only paid 1500 won when we should have paid 1600 won (all this trouble over ten cents??). The ticket purchasing machine was on his side of the turn-stile so he took some of our money and bought another ticket for us to try. Unfortunately, since the ticket hadn't been stamped on entrance, it wouldn't let us out the exit. Back to square one. Suddenly, the Korean man leaned over the turn-stile and whispered, "Don't tell anyone I told you, but lots of Koreans just go under the turn-stile". My immediate thought was, "Who would I tell? I don't speak Korean, I don't know your name, and I probably couldn't pick you out in a line-up"...but, we were grateful for the tip. Since we had already purchased another ticket that more then covered our 20 cent short-comings, we looked around, slid under the bars, and walked away! We noticed that a security camera had captured our every move, so we won't be surprised to find a "Wanted" poster of us if we ever return to that station!

The picture above is the entrance to Lotte World...just wanted to show you that we were indeed there on our actual anniversary date! This place was really cool - half of the amusement park is inside, and half of it is outside on an island in the middle of a small lake. They had tons of rides - the viking ship, a carousel, different theme rides (ie. Pharoah's fury - where you travel in a "jeep" and explore the pyramids - on one part of the ride you go through a room with tons of fake spiders on the wall...at that moment they blow air on your legs that feels like spiders crawling on you - I screamed bloody murder! Sam had long pants on, though, so he didn't feel anything and couldn't understand why I was freaking out!!), two roller coasters, rides that drop you, rides that spin you...you get the idea!
One of the big differences between Lotte World and DisneyLand was the snack foods that you could buy. As you can see in this picture, "Peanut Buttered Roast Sqid (ie. Squid)" was a big hit - this little snack stand could be found all over the park! (The way that English words are spelled here sometimes really cracks me up - one day we were walking and saw a sign that informed us that we were entering a "school zoon"...keeps us laughing, that's for sure!). Other different snacks...they had octopus cakes, where they cut a piece of octopus into each little dough ball, and roast corn - which seems far too healthy for an amusement park!

Here we are waiting for the "World Carnival Parade" to begin...you can see the excitement on our faces! The parade was amazing...beautiful costumes for different countries of the world - Korea, China, Spain, Jamaica, Egypt (to name a few). I have to say, when the parade started it was so beautiful, and I was so excited, that I got a little teary eyed...that's the magic of Lotte World!

After lunch, the subway police finally caught up with us, and threw Sam in the stocks! This is where the bad foreigners go!! Just kiddin'...a perfect photo-op at Lotte World!

And here I am in front of the Lotte World castle. This was on the walkway to "Magic Island"...the outdoor part of the park. Sam's favourite ride was out here. It's called the "Gyro Drop", and it takes you 70 metres up, and then drops you in a free fall back to earth. Freaky!! I was trying to be a cool wife, so I said, "Hey, we should try the Gyro Drop", inside I was thinking "No, no, no, no!!"...but Sam was all for it, so we got in line. During our 15 minute wait, I timed everything out perfectly so I would know what to expect. The ride spins as it take you up, and when you stop going up, it spins for two more seconds, stops, and then waits 3 seconds before dropping you for 3 seconds. The three seconds wait at the top was the worst! Here's what was going on in my mind: "Oh no, we just stopped spinning. Oh no...only 3 seconds. Oh gosh, only 2 seconds! No, only one more second!!! AHhhhhhhhh!". The drop definitely felt like more then 3 seconds. I think it played on Sam's mind too...his first words after the ride (a direct quote): "That fall felt like forever! I was like 'ahhhhh' and then 'ahhhhhh' again". Cracked me up...so profound!

Anyways, as you can tell, the rides were a blast! When we got home, we watched our wedding video and re-read our vows, which was really special! Then, we toasted each other with a precious bottle of Jones' Soda...left over from our reception one year ago!

One year down...many more to come :0)