Before I totally forget about my trip to Korea, I'd better finish off the last few posts about it. Day 5 of our Seoul adventure and just passing the mid point of our trip, and tossing up what to do next. I wanted to visit the electronic market of Seoul. I had no illusions that it would be anything like Akihabara but I also didn't expect to find what I did. Seoul's electronic market looked like a trash and treasure, or a computer swap meet. Shops bursting at the seems with boxes, electrical cords hanging everywhere. It looks as disorganised as any market in Asia. I did walk through the games area and unfortunately, the electronics were not that much cheaper than Japan. They did have a tonne of pirated DVD's though, which are very scarce in Japan.
Here's John wondering where they would put all these boxes, when they close??? This is a typical street down the electronics market in Seoul. I should also mention that the outdoor markets were similarly disorganised if not more so. There's bags and bags full of clothing and anything else in Dongdaemun and Namdaemun markets.
We did happen to stumble onto a special event while trying to find the electronics market. While wondering through a department store, we heard a huge roar emanating from above. We dismissed this as some weired Korean gimmick. We soldiered on through the shopping centre up to the movies section to see what was showing in Korea. As we approached, we found a small group of people huddled around the entrance to the cinema. Being half interested, we waited for awhile.
Who are these people waiting for??? We knew some sort of famous person was really close, we could sense it in our veins.
After waiting about 10mins and seeing no-one. It finally hit me ... it was staring at me all along. A Giant poster picturing Hong Kong movie superstar "Andy Lau". It must have been him that they were waiting for. This was confirmed by one of the fans that spoke a little English. For those not into the Hong Kong movie scene, Andy has been in films such as the asian mega hit "Infernal Affairs", and the more internationally known "House of Flying Daggers". Andy was in town promoting his latest movie called "Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon". The film also starred Hong Kong heaving weight "Sammo Hung", (most famous for being the comedic side-kick to Jackie Chan movies and appearing in pictures on the Mekong Pho restaurant on Swanston Street). It also starred "Maggie Q" (who I just found out is half American and half Vietnamese ... hot, hot), of Mission Impossible 3 and the latest Die Hard movie fame.
So we decided to wait a little longer to have our brush with fame, even if John and Clarence had never heard of Andy, Maggie or Sammo ... they were still giddy with excitement. So after about 30mins of waiting, the moment finally came. The following is a video clip of Andy, briefly showing himself. Don't blink, otherwise you'll miss him. All you Hong Kong movie buffs try not to scream too loud ... Phil, Ha !!!!
If you didn't catch him, watch again and I'll walk you through it. Ok, about 7-8 secs into the clip, you'll see a little head pop out from the left wall (all the movie attendent ladies move aside just before this happens). Andy then steps out, gives a quick wave, points to the cinema ... and that all folks.
Once that was all over and we caught a glimpse of Andy for all of 5secs, we ventured outside to a huge stage set-up. This was the source of the earlier screaming as was where Andy, Maggie and Sammo were giving their media conference.
After our heart rates returned to normal from seeing Andy, we decided to head to the one place that John really wanted to go ... Lotte World! Lotte World is one of two big amusement parks in Seoul and in the Top Ten amusement parks in the world. It is located inside the Lotte World Department store.
Look how happy John is!
For a ransom of 25,000 Won ($25) we gained entry into the park along with all it rides. This is by and far alot cheaper that Universal Studios Japan and any of the Disney Lands in Japan. However, Lotte World, seemed to borrow many things for those above mentioned parks. The picture above for example seems eerily like the Globe from Universal studios. You will see other borrows structures later on.
Once entered, the park looked very much like a kiddies kind of place but there were some rides that were worthwhile.
Some quick snaps with our newly bought Lotte ears!
Gotta have a snap with Lotty and Lorry (between you and me, I think Lorry has a thing for me, but don't tell Lotty).
Then we headed into the rides. Me and Clarence had already smashed each other up in the Dodgem cars, but our first real ride was one called "Desparado". The game was, you sat on mechanical moving horse, while shooting things at the screen in front of you. You had to compete with all the people in the ride. Here"s John and Clarence showing their stuff. Other ride inside the park included the old favourite "Pirate Ship", indoor roller coaster, a Sinbad ride where you went through different areas on a boat, a dinosaur ride (very much like a rip off of Jurassic Park) and a hot air balloon ride around the ceiling as we were to do later on.
At about 5pm, the park had their World Carnival, complete with probably all the foreign people they had in Seoul. Seriously, I didn't see one Korean person in the parade. It was a bit like a moving circus performance. Sort of cool but also a little bit Corny.
This is another one of those things that Lotte World had borrowed from other trademarks. Seems very similar to the Disney Castle, don't you think. Anyway, the park also had an outside bit which was where most of the adult rides seemed to be. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go on many as it was now dusk and many of the Korean youth had taken advantage of the cheaper night tickets, so lines were now very long. This plus a combination of John being scared of dying and Clarence being ... well just scared. So they had some big roller coasters outside, a ride free fall ride (which we did go on) and others I have forgotten, check their website.
Back inside, our final ride was to go on the hot air balloons around the inside of the park. The air balloons actually ran on tracks on the ceiling, so there was not hot air involved. Still pretty cool to see all the park.
And yes, there was also an ice-skating rink ... however, I wasn't sure if it was part of Lotte world or the shopping centre.
For the big finale to the night, Lotte World put on their famous light and fire show. The light show was a bit crap but the fire bit was good. Watch and enjoy!
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On another note, apparently Ashikaga was rocked by two big earthquakes last night. I think I felt one of them. Maybe I'm getting so attuned to them, that they no longer phase me anymore. Anyway, I always know an earthquake has hit because my model robots have all fallen over. Enough about my geekiness.
Next up, my final post about Korea ... which will cover the DMZ and War museum.
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