Soaking-wet day

After the temple visit, I could not wait to go home to have a bath as I was so hot. By lunchtime, my sis wanted to go Downtown East because they had some free tickets to the Escape Theme Park. So we all went. I was famished and craving for Bibimbap, which was what I bought from the korean stall at the foodcourt. Very nice, and I stole bits of saba fish and BBQ pork from the rest.

I am not a person who is overly excited in going to theme parks. I had rather go to the PARK for flora and fauna. While I was in South Korea in 2005, I was flabbergasted that the tour package included compulsory visits to TWO theme parks - Everland and Lotte World. I had wanted the tour guide to change the itinerary but to no avail.

Everland is about an hour’s drive out of Seoul and is set in wonderful surroundings. There are five theme areas including Caribbean Bay, Festival World and Everland Speedway. Lotte World is a giant shopping, sports and activities complex, and amusement center all under one roof. It is located in Jamsil and the size of two Olympic stadiums. There is an indoor amusement park, and ice-skating rink as well as monorail, swimming pool, bowling alleys and movie theaters.

Compared to Korea's Everland and Lotte World, or Hong Kong's Disneyland or even Genting Highlands' Theme Park, our very own Escape Theme Park was a shock to me. It was my first visit, and probably my last. It looked dilapilated and in need of serious renovation. Some of the rides were under repair, like the seesaw vertical Rainbow. There was a small ferris wheel, the Vikings, a ChooChoo train, go-kart, roller coaster, haunted house (which nephew refused to go in) and that was almost about it. The central pavilion holds all the game stations which you had to pay $2.50 per game to win a miserly small soft toy (that is, if you win).

When we were barely there an hour, the heavy downpour came. The crowds took shelter at the central pavilion. So everyone ended had to fork out more money to play games. The floor inside the central pavilion was all wet. And eventhough the rain eventually stopped, the rides could not start functioning immediately. The kids waited in the Go-Kart queue for more than an hour for it to restart! Even then, just before their turn, the rain came pouring again! The oldies and myself went home first. It was a miserably wet afternoon, the adults were too tired while the kids still had boundless energy and enthusiasm. For the entrance fee of $17.70 per adult, it was really not worth the time and money.

It was a long soaking-wet day (morning wet from sweat, afternoon wet from rain). I sought solace in my dinner, Chicken Cutlet with Rice, which was quite quite nice.