A Day at the Joo* (zoo).
*Koreans tend to pronounce all 'z's like 'j's so words come out like joo and jebra instead of zoo and zebra.
Seoul's zoo is nothing short of incredible. And I know what you're thinking - it's a zoo - if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. But Seoul's zoo has some interesting features that I haven't seen at other zoos...
First, the zoo is found at Seoul Grand Park about 30 minutes outside of Seoul, which is also home to Seoul Land (an amusement park), a camping ground, hiking trails, and apparently an art museum. The cool thing about the zoo is that its built on a mountain, so you can take a nice hefty uphill walk to the top, OR you can take this awesome sky lift up to the middle for the entrance, or all the way to the top and walk all the way down. The lift goes over some exhibits like the Lion Compound and that was pretty fascinating. The best part of the whole zoo for me was this lift on the way up - even though it costs a bit more. The zoo costs 3,000W to get into to, and the tram is 4,500W for each part (there 4 parts in all, but to go up is only 2).
Basically its your typical zoo - spacious exhibits, entertaining animals, but it had its Asian flair. I saw my first Kangaroo in the Australian pavilion (I think that was the first time anyway). I saw camels do nasty things to each other. I missed out on the Dolphin show because we didn't know you had to actually buy tickets. I even saw a beaver do things to himself I didn't know animals would do. And I saw all sorts of bugs I didn't need to see in the Insectarium Building - BUT I got to see a great mistake on a map in the same building:
And man, is there food everywhere. These people do not waste any space putting in vending machines, or restaurants, or snack bars so you'll never go hungry. All in all it was an excellent way to spend a day, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. There will definitely be a second part to this post once we've figured out how and when to go camping there... I have no doubt my friends will drunkenly try and stumble into the zoo after hours and ride an elephant.
Seoul's zoo is nothing short of incredible. And I know what you're thinking - it's a zoo - if you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. But Seoul's zoo has some interesting features that I haven't seen at other zoos...
First, the zoo is found at Seoul Grand Park about 30 minutes outside of Seoul, which is also home to Seoul Land (an amusement park), a camping ground, hiking trails, and apparently an art museum. The cool thing about the zoo is that its built on a mountain, so you can take a nice hefty uphill walk to the top, OR you can take this awesome sky lift up to the middle for the entrance, or all the way to the top and walk all the way down. The lift goes over some exhibits like the Lion Compound and that was pretty fascinating. The best part of the whole zoo for me was this lift on the way up - even though it costs a bit more. The zoo costs 3,000W to get into to, and the tram is 4,500W for each part (there 4 parts in all, but to go up is only 2).
Basically its your typical zoo - spacious exhibits, entertaining animals, but it had its Asian flair. I saw my first Kangaroo in the Australian pavilion (I think that was the first time anyway). I saw camels do nasty things to each other. I missed out on the Dolphin show because we didn't know you had to actually buy tickets. I even saw a beaver do things to himself I didn't know animals would do. And I saw all sorts of bugs I didn't need to see in the Insectarium Building - BUT I got to see a great mistake on a map in the same building:
And man, is there food everywhere. These people do not waste any space putting in vending machines, or restaurants, or snack bars so you'll never go hungry. All in all it was an excellent way to spend a day, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. There will definitely be a second part to this post once we've figured out how and when to go camping there... I have no doubt my friends will drunkenly try and stumble into the zoo after hours and ride an elephant.