Anseong Farmland

The most grass I've seen in one place since we moved to Korea! Anseong Farmland is basically a big petting zoo in wide open spaces. The place is divided into four main sections: Deutsch Ville, Horse Ville, MooMoo Ville, and Food Ville. We spent several hours strolling through the countryside, enjoying the fresh air and greenery!

Our first stop was in Deutsch Ville, where we ate a delicious lunch at a German restaurant. Deutsch Ville also contains the souvenir shop and "Storyhouse", which was just a play zone/photo center for kids with cartoon characters. It also cost extra and I couldn't see anything special in there worth paying for, so we skipped it. 

Broad view of Deutsch Ville

The biggest part of Farmland is MooMoo Ville, which is the petting zoo area. You pay admission based on which 'course' or combination there-of you choose, but as there was no English description, we just went with the full deal, which was only 20,000 won (roughly $19) for all of us. Inside the MooMoo Ville area there is also an old style Korean farm house with traditional games available to play and a small museum displaying old Korean farming implements. We fed the sheep and goats, crowed with the roosters, petted a cow, fed a horse, and I even managed to coax a shy foal into letting me briefly pet its muzzle. It was a beautiful, wide open space to relax and enjoy nature.

 The Horse Ville area is obviously all about horses. I think there was a display of horsemanship that we missed, and they also give horse rides for a fee. The stables are open to visit the horses, and I found out (too late, sadly) that you can also purchase carrots to feed them.

We had a wonderful time. It wasn't a long distance from Seoul, only about 45 miles (72 km), but with the traffic it took almost two hours, so unfortunately I don't think it will be something we repeat anytime soon!

Subway Bugs

Who knew subway stations could provide amusement as well as transportation? I have been seeing commercials for this bug place on the subway televisions every time I was in the subway, and finally one day I was able to make out the Korean words "Sindang Station". I turned to 'google' and discovered this place is, in fact, inside the Sindang subway station. They are only open to the public on weekends and holidays, and today being a Korean holiday (buddha's birthday) as well as an American one (Memorial Day), it was ideal!

The bug place is divided into insects, amphibians, reptiles, and also a mammal section. You are able to touch/hold many of the creatures inside. My husband was the only one of us brave enough to pick up the insects, although I did work up the nerve to touch their exoskeletons. The girls simply shrieked and backed away quickly.

Scooping up frogs. You couldn't hold them because they
were 'poison'. Not sure why you were allowed
to scoop them?

The snake section was by far the most popular. There was a worker holding two snakes that anyone could also hold. Most people actually were brave enough to hold the snakes long enough for a picture. I have handled snakes before but just couldn't work up the nerve to do it this time. Our daughters were terrified at first and wouldn't even go near them, but eventually my oldest touched one, then held its tail, then was brave enough to hold the whole thing by herself. She enjoyed it so much she cried when she had to give it back! When we left, they had four large snakes out to cuddle with. Family picture, anyone?

The mammal section was quite sad. There is no staff supervising the animal / human interaction, and since children are pretty much allowed free roam to do whatever they wish, these animals have obviously been tormented. They cower when you come near. The hedgehogs I've handled in the past have been very friendly, but these jumped every time I tried to brush them with my hand.

This poor dog was hiding in a back corner. There were no other people in the area so we were able to coax him out and he was obviously eager for some kind affection.

Gwacheon Science Museum

There are at least three science museums in Seoul, and I have not been to a single one. This is a sad statement considering I get really excited about science topics. (I even read science texts for fun; currently Physics DeMystified. Yes, I am a nerd.) Today, I took my girls to Gwacheon Science Museum and did I get excited! We have been in a part of the building previously to visit a special exhibition about Tut's tomb, and I didn't realize at that time what exactly we were next to. The building is shaped like an aircraft - if seen in person it is easier to recognize. It is a massive museum with a planetarium, an insectarium (currently closed for work), seven indoor halls and several outdoor sections also. We were only able to cover three indoor halls and a small part of the outside today. Even the playground has science themed equipment!

Of course our first stop was in the children's section. They have a ton of hands-on things for kids to do. Unfortunately, there is very little English signage and no English explanations at all in the kids section. But being a science nerd I was able to explain to my kids what was going on. I got really excited in the anatomy section (that is my area of expertise) and overwhelmed them I think. There was an area with simple machines (levers), a caterpillar life cycle movie, an underwhelming space area, and a music/sound area.

Anatomy section; much better than the picture shows.

Next we walked over to the basic sciences hall. It has major highlights from chemistry, biology, physics, physical science - the basics. This hall had a little more English than the children's section, but not much. My nerdiness paid of again and I was able to help the girls out, though this is really for upper elementary/middle school aged kids.

Testing the conductivity of objects.

Learning about the water cycle.

Plasma lights - always the most amazing part.

After our cliche cheeseburger lunch in the food court, we went to the natural science hall where the main attraction for little ones is kept: dinosaurs.

Animatronics!

Ecology system.

These three halls took about three hours to go through, so we skipped the rest of the indoor things and went outside. They have some rockets and trains on display, but once again the dinosaurs ruled the day.

There was what appeared to be a rather good geology section but it was all in Korean, so I don't know. The insectarium was under going some construction, and the planetarium was crazy busy with school kids so we didn't see either of those either. Also, I'm certain that the planetarium show is all in Korean, which would only lead to the girls asking every two seconds "What are they saying?" and since astronomy is the part of science of which I am absolutely ignorant, it wouldn't go well. So the next and final stop was the playground, of which, for some reason, I took no pictures. There were science themed objects such as giant xylophones, hand operated backhoes, and this really cool thing I can't describe! 

It was a lot of fun and a lot of learning and we will definitely be going back!

Lotus Lantern Festival

The Lotus Lantern Festival, not to be confused with the lantern festival at Cheonggyecheon, is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. Being Christian, not Buddhist, we were passive observers of this spectacle. (My children were highly vocal of the fact that we do not worship 'the buddha', as they say, when were at the temple. It was quite hilarious actually.) The festival is a three day affair involving lantern displays at different temples, lantern making, and of course the parade followed by its' after-party.

On Friday night I took the girls to see the lantern display at Jogyesa temple, which is the center of the festival. There was a massive ceiling around and above the courtyard created by the lanterns. They were everywhere, and they were beautiful.

Pass through tent with lanterns. I found from watching the
parade that these are examples of what the different groups would be carrying.

All colors!

The old giant tree got a make-over too!

Tunnel of lanterns that changed colors.

We bought tickets for reserved seating at the parade through the tour desk, and our seats were next to the parade emcees announcing in at least three different languages. They had a pre-show of two dancing groups and the Seoul police band to entertain us while we waited.  

Then the 2 hour parade started. I have to admit, it was not what I expected. I thought it would be many floats of the large lanterns similar to what we saw on Cheonggyecheon. There were some of those, but it was mostly groups of people from different temples, schools, and other organizations carrying lanterns on poles. I took the girls down to the barricade and sat on the ground with them so we could have a better view than our second row seats allowed. This became an opportunity for a serious photo-op by one of the monks. He came over and handed my oldest his lantern, petted her, and was just standing there. That's when I realized we were surrounded by numerous massive camera lenses pointed at her. Then he gave my other daughter a whistle, more photos, and then I was wreathed with a necklace (prayer beads I know) and more photos. It was an interesting experience, and netted some great souvenirs. 

Giving a whistle.

The parade was a fun experience, though I doubt we will go again. As the end of the parade passes by, you can join in and continue down to Jogyesa temple, where they have some dancing shows and shower down flower petals on the crowd and release floating lanterns. I would have loved to see the petals and especially the floating lanterns, but my desire to escape the crowd and get the kiddos to bed won the day. I'm not sure we would have been able to get close enough to the center of the action to see any of it anyway. Lots of photos for you!

The running dragon; awesome!

Dancing around.

Fire breather!

Suraon: Kings Cuisine

Buckwheat pancakes stuffed with kimchi, and radish wraps.
Photo from www.hummingbirdappetite.com

In the recent past my husband dined at this Korean restaurant for one of his work dinners. He came home talking about how good the food was and suggested that we should go back together. This was shocking since Korean food is generally my husband's last choice. However, this is not a regular Korean restaurant; this is a royal cuisine dining experience, completed by traditional performances. The name of the restaurant is Suraon, sura being the name of meals served to the king. Here is a small sample of what our 14 course meal looked like:  

Taken from www.seouleats.com/2011/03/eat-like-a-king-at-suraon/

Above: raw halibut. This picture: beef.

Of course, the presentation of all the dishes was beautiful; it is royal cuisine after all. We had water kimchi (like a soup), lotus porridge, cabbage kimchi with oranges, green salad, radish wrap stuffed with Korean miso and buckwheat rolls stuffed with kimchi (header photo - quite delicious), jabchae - noodles with vegetables (a family favorite), sashimi halibut (above), pajeon (vegetable pancake), duck, beef (above), grilled pollack, seaweed soup with shrimp and oysters, rice wrapped in lotus leaf, and finally, frozen mango for dessert. 

Lotus leaf....

with rice (and peanuts and date) inside.

We were seated just beside the stage, which was very exciting for the girls, and me too! There was some beautiful gayageum and ajaeng music played, and of course various types of dancing. 

 We even got to dress up like royalty and were given a complimentary photo to take home! This is one from my own camera: