Adventure Time in Korea: Trick Eye Museum and Love Museum

One weekend the crew and I decided we wanted to go to Everland. Everland is an amusement park in Korea and during Halloween time they have a zombie exhibit and we really wanted to go. But because we are all bad at time management and didn't plan things through properly... we never made it to Everland.

We were in Hongdae for Halloween weekend (post about that later), so we decided to check out the Trick Eye Museum that we had passed by a few times (also at any and all hostels, there are tons of flyers). So, after a little bit of wandering (and getting lost a little bit). We found it, the infamous Trick Eye Museum.

Actually, the Trick Eye Museum, Love Museum, and Ice Museum are all connected. On the ground floor, you walk straight into the Love Museum. You pay 5 or 7 dollars for something you would never ever expect from Korea. Korea is a decently conservative country, but when they decide to make something sexual... they go all out. We were all shocked and surprised when we first entered the museum.

Cassie giving birth to me

Anyways, first stop... the Love Museum. This museum is filled with great photo ops. By great, I mean disturbingly hilarious photo ops. The whole museum is dedicated to sticking your face on top of sex scenes and dirty scenes. You just move from one picture to the next. We actually saw a lot of couples taking pictures there and giggling. Everyone was giggling as they take the pictures. To be honest.... it did feel a little uncomfortable being surrounded by people and taking a picture on a giant squirting penis. But if you are into that, this museum is for you. We had fun, but I didn't show anyone the pictures from this museum... because well.... sorry Grandma.

Fee-fi-fo-fum

The Death of Janelle

When you walk out of the Love Museum, you have the option to leave or go down the stairs. If you go down stairs you go to the Trick Eye Museum. You buy a ticket outside, it's some price that I don't remember and you get a free ticket into the ice museum. The Trick Eye Museum is solely dedicated to taking pictures that are meant to trick the eye. There are instructions for every picture zone. There are written instructions but I don't remember if they were in English as well. But there are photo examples, so we just tried to copy the example photos. There are painted marks on the floor that tell you where to stand to take the picture. If there are lots of people there, then you may have to wait to take pictures at the places that you want. But it was decently empty when we went on a Saturday afternoon. There are tons of fun photo opportunities. I definitely recommend going as at least a group of three or more. Because you will need to switch out taking the pictures and a lot of the photo ops are for two or more people. My friends counted and I posted 22 photos from the Trick Eye Museum on to my instragram.

That Igloo Life

When you leave the Trick Eye Museum, there is a Carnival thing on the side. There are games to play and prizes to win. We went in for two seconds, but after the Trick Eye Museum, it wasn't that fun. But around the corner, there is a giant freezer door. You show the lady your ticket and walk into the coldest room known to man. There are lots of ice sculptures and a big ice slide. (This ice slide is decently slim, so if you have big hips... you may not fit. None of wanted to test it out because we were too frightened of being "that" person that got their butt stuck on the slide.) There are more photo ops in here. However, I will say it's superrrr cold and we were not dressed appropriately for this, so we were in and out pretty quickly. But it was pretty fun for a free side museum.

All in all, this was a really fun place to visit. I highly recommend going. We had a lot of giggles and fun. If you like taking pictures, this is a great place. It's not too expensive and there is a lot to look and do between the 3 museums.

Adventure Time Korea: Fishing in Boryeong

In October, the hagwon I work for gave us the opportunity to go fishing as a group in Boryeong. We signed up to wake up at 4 in the morning and take a two hour bus ride to Boryeong. The information about what we were doing was skimp at best. We were told a day, a time, the word fishing, and we would be eating the fish raw. Most of us signed up to go because... well... you move to Korea to experience life right?

We boarded the bus at 5 (maybe) in the morning, Unfortunately, our bus driver got lost on the way to our harbor and the 2 hour bus ride was extended to 4 hours (not an exaggeration). But we did make it to the boat. We loaded onto this small boat with a friendly captain and the sun had finally come out for the day, things were looking up.

A little back story, I used to go fishing every New Year's Day with my grandfather when I was young. We would take the boat out and everything we caught we would fry up later. This fishing was nothing like that.... absolutely nothing like that. There were no fishing poles, we had something I don't know the word for. It looks like the thing you let string out for a kite with.... if anyone knows the word feel free to inform my ignorance. There were weights attached to the end as well as hooks. We put on gloves and were told not to let the string cut or take off our fingers (not sure if this was a joke but it didn't feel funny). We had to put live bait on our hooks, too. (I am not sure the impression of me that this blog portrays. Maybe because I am always climbing places and seem up to most things, you may think I am the outdoors type..... wrong, very wrong. I do things because it is more fun that not doing them. But I detest bugs and the like and having to put live fish on this bait.... it was a no a big no from me). I made everyone else bait my hook for me. Then we had to.... well catch fish because that's what you do when you are fishing. I was the first to catch a fish (what what) but had little success after that. Also, I was scared every time I caught a fish, screaming and screaming to get it away from me. Between all of us we caught a decent amount of fish. We caught a few other things too, a baby shark and tiny octopus.

Then we were asked if we were hungry. We said yes, assuming it meant we would dock somewhere and a meal would be prepared for us. Once again wrong, the thought was wrong. The boat captain took out a rusty knife, cleaned it and started slicing up the fish we caught on the middle of the boat.  He served it to us on the little cutting board he was using, bones and all. Now this is a western thing, where we don't really eat fish with bones in it. I have had to get over that here. While I wasn't a fan(read traumatized) of watching him slice the fish alive, it tasted pretty good fresh. We dipped it in a little spicy sauce, which gave it some flavor. Next he sliced up the shark. I never, ever thought I would try shark, this is not something I ever set out to eat or was like a goal to try one day. But fresh shark is really delicious. I felt terrible because usually I don't catch my animals and watch them die.... so I was in a moral dilemma. However, I got past it and ate because if I didn't then it died for nothing.

Next we decided to stop for a full lunch. The captain took us to his house on this tiny island. The island seemed a little scary. Like a bad horror movie where they take people to kill them. And there was this creepy looking house that I swear was haunted. We were told it would be an hour before the food was ready. We decided to take a walk.... this is where things started going downhill for me. While walking we saw dead wasps all along the road. But they were like giant mutant wasps. They were no joke the size of my fist. All of them were dead but with so many dead ones there was bound to be a live one. As we walked I was really scared of the wasps. That's when it happened... I felt the back of my head because I thought I felt something hit it. There was something in my hair. I started screaming and having a tantrum in the middle of this deserted road thinking there was a wasp in my hair. My friends had stopped and said there was something in my hair. Fear... massive amounts of fear. (Quick back story, earlier on the boat, the captain had tried to throw a small dead fish bait over the side but it hit me in the head before bouncing off and into the water... or so I had thought. ) When I finally stopped screaming and pulling out my hair, with tears running down my eyes, my friend (thanks Cassie) pulls something from my hair... it was the dead fish from the boat. I had a dead fish in my hair for maybe an hour or two. It was funny after the fact... but I thought a giant mutant wasp was going to sting my head and kill me... and that's not funny. An old Korean lady had watched the whole thing and probably thought I was possessed by the devil or something.

We had a spectacular meal prepared by the captains wife and had some coffee afterward. When we were going back on the boat to get back to our bus the temperature dropped drastically. Then it started to pour on us. We got back on the bus for a 3 hour bus ride soaking wet and freezing. That bus ride was hell. But we made it home and no one got sick. But the dead fish in the hair incident has never been forgotten and I am scarred for life.

Korea Life: Seoul Fireworks Festival

Once upon a time, a Korean coworker told 3 foreigners about this amazing fireworks festival in Seoul. She told them that they should go but she didn't tell them when it was or where they should go to watch it. So, the three foreigners got on a train on the weekend that they learned it was happening. The train was a little too full, so the foreigners sat in the luggage area of the train. Bending and contorting their bodies to fit in the tiny cubbies.

When they arrived in Seoul they looked up where to go and headed toward the fireworks on the subway. They didn't quite know what they were getting into. They finally arrived at their stop and saw the massive crowds of people shoving and pushing. They got really excited because there were sooooo many food stands. They decided to try all the delicious street food and ate along the way to the river.

Once they got to the Han River, they found everyone had already taken all the spots in the grass. They also realized that everyone had blankets to sit on. So, they bought a blanket and sat where they thought they could see the fireworks. Lots of people walked by them, a few stepped on them and a few dropped food on them. Finally the moment arrived, the fireworks were going to start. A flood of people ran forward and tumbled over them as everyone pushed and shoved holding their phones up high to take a picture. They were so scared, they didn't know what to do, and they had lost their blanket under all the feet. They realized they were also in a place that they couldn't actually see the fireworks.

After walking around for awhile, the foreigners became frustrated with all the pushing and all the people. So, they jumped back on the subway. That's when the magic happened. Their subway stopped at the best view of the fireworks, so that they could watch from the train. The fireworks were beautiful and the foreigners ooed and ahhed at the beauty.

They went home happy but once again sitting in the luggage racks.

Moral of this story: There is a fireworks festival in the summer in Seoul on the Han River. Get there early if you want a good spot along the river. Be prepared for giant crowds and pushing. Ride the subway back and forth for the best view of the fireworks.