For day 4, we had planned to start off by going to the War Memorial of Korea before heading off to Lotte World, but we came across some unexpected bumps early on. Day 4 of our trip was actually a Monday and due to some accidental slip-up, we didn't realize that the War Memorial is actually closed on Mondays! -o- Therefore, it was an unpleasant surprise as we walked up the stairs towards the entrance to realize that the doors were locked. It was quite disappointing as the War Memorial is supposed to be one of the top places to check out in Korea and admission is free! Luckily, there are quite a number of attractions outside of the museum itself such as actual planes that were used during the war that you can take pictures of/with so we had a good time looking around the outer perimeter of the museum.
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| Main entrance of the War Memorial of Korea |
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| One of the many planes surrounding the War Memorial that you could take pictures with! |
Because the War Memorial was closed, we finished looking around it before we ran out of our "allotted time" in our itinerary so we decided to stop by the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market (aka Noryangjin Fish Market) and eat lunch there. The place was huge and not too far from the subway exit - though we did have to go into a GS-25 to ask someone for directions - and the fishy smell tells you you're going the right way. The bad thing about the fish market is that if you're a tourist or don't speak Korean fluently, you're bound to get ripped off. We went in knowing that, but we didn't realize how badly we would be jipped until it had already happened! Q.Q We walked around looking at all the seafood items they had displayed out in the water or on ice until one lady who spoke in Mandarin managed to convince my mom to buy her items. Most of the sellers have the same thing so it's hard to really decide where to buy anything, but it's best to walk around and see who's willing to give you the best deal. Most of the sellers also speak Mandarin quite fluently (like the lady we bought our food from) so it wasn't hard for my mom to communicate with them. We ended up getting sucked in and buying a enormous King Crab for 50,000 won (something me and my sister strongly advised my mom NOT to do but she wanted to try it out -_-;), three live octopus for about $3000 each (if I remember correctly), and 3 abalone. The lady was nice enough to give us some free clams too! After we purchased our live seafood, the lady directed us to a restaurant right outside the fish market where they cooked our food for us. She had told us it was only going to be like 5000 won per person (a "dining" fee) but our total bill turned out to be like 35,000 won!!! Total rip off and we were super confused why and when we asked them to explain, they couldn't really because (1) their Mandarin/English was definitely not up to par or (2) THEY DIDN'T HAVE A GOOD REASON >:( It wasn't like they even really did much when they cooked it.. they just grilled the abalone, chopped up the octopus (you eat it just raw o_o), and steamed the octopus.. sigh so yea we were definitely not happys. But what could we do? So we payed them and went on our way back to the fish market to go back to the subway station to our next stop. Luckily for us though, the lady who had sold us our seafood asked us what we thought and my mom, feeling ripped off, mentioned how it was way too expensive! Haha it was kind of funny because once my mom explained how much it cost, the lady got super upset too and actually ended up calling the restaurant owner and convincing him to give us 5000 won back LOL. Not that much but it was better than nothing. Walking back into the restaurant to get our money back was SUPER awkward though. The owner was soo mad and since the fish lady wasn't with us and he couldn't speak Mandarin, he was just glaring at us and blabbering away. Some of the workers there did speak some Mandarin and attempted to translate to us/him but we got our money and walked out of there. Ain't going back there anytime soon. So yes, lesson learned, go somewhere else and cook your own seafood unless you want to pay for a $100 mediocre meal.
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| The view from the second floor right when we walked in. Endless seafood shops~! |
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| My sister and the giant King Crab we ended up buying for 50,000 won. You think it's worth it? |
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| Fresh cooked clams! |
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| The tiny octopuses we bought all chopped up .. yea not that pretty of
a sight. They still moved too! Not because they were alive, it's
something to do with the neurons firing still which makes it move but
it's dead so yea. Still.. THE SUCTION CUPS STICK TO YOUR TONGUE BLECCCK.
It's a weird feeling =3= |
After our less than pleasant lunch experience, we headed off to Lotte World. By the time we arrived it was just past 4 PM so we were able to get the discounted price 21,00 won for people over 18 and 18,000 won for "children" (18 and under, if only America was like that). I didn't realize that Lotte World was an indoor amusement park but it was really quite amazing just stepping in and ..well basically a giant playground. I would HIGHLY recommend Lotte World to anyone visiting Korea. My mom is definitely not a rollercoaster person but Lotte World is filled with lots of younger kid/older adult friendly rides that are more gentle and has lots of shows and things to look at it. You think that might be boring but don't worry, there are definitely a good amount of those thriller roller coasters, water rides, and there's a sort of "Drop-Zone" ride if any of you know Great America. The lines for some rides weren't that long but the more adventurous/exciting rides like the roller coasters, we had to wait about an hour or so. There is even an outdoor portion of the park (so it's not entirely indoor) which is really quite nice but we didn't go out until late at night (we stayed until 9 or 10 PM I think) so we didn't get to see all the rides since some of them had already closed (including one of the roller coasters sigh)
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| THERE'S EVEN AN ICE SKATING RINK! But it's like a separate part of the park so I think you have to pay extra for it. |
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| THIS WAS THE RIDE THEY WENT ON IN RUNNING MAN WHERE THEY HAD TO DO KARAOKE. It's really not that bad LOL but it was fun knowing that I was riding the same ride Yoo Jaesuk or Song Jihyo went on haha <3 |
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| The water ride! This line took quite a while but it was definitely fun. There's like two crazy drops! |
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| View of the whole indoor park from the air balloons that circle the entire indoor park. |
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| There's even an area that's like a mini Trick-Eye Museum (if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read my Day 3 post~!) |
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| The outdoor portion of the amusement park! They have a castle that's lit up like Disneyland! Super pretty :) |
After we got kicked out of Lotte World (they literally were like "Thank you for visiting us but it's time for you to go now!" hahaha) because it was closing time, we headed back home. I think it was the earliest we had gotten back to our residential home since all the previous days we had gotten home superr late. It definitely took a bit of time though since Lotte World is so far from Mapo, but it was well worth the trip. If you couldn't tell from the pictures, Lotte World is definitely a must go to stop on any tourist's itinerary and I would lovee to go back next time I visit Korea :)
Anyways, that's it for Day 4. Past the half way point :'( But keep out for Day 5 where we explore a palace and Namdaemun~! <3
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