The Tulip Garden

Tulips are beautiful and they come in so many colors and varieties now. Although Holland is the home of tulips where they are grown on a massive scale on a commercial basis, we can find tulips during spring in many temperate countries.

It was quite a long walk to locate the Tulip garden and along the way we saw this lovely swan known as the Whooper swan which has been designated as one of South Korea’s monuments.

Here are some of the tulips grown in beds for visitors to admire and to take photographs. Which lady can resist flowers, especially when they come in such lovely colors and variety?

Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to visit the rose garden which was located further on, beyond the tulip garden. A visit to Everland would require at least three whole days if you want to enjoy what they have, the rides, the gardens, the shows, the shops and the food.

After a hot day we relaxed with some Korean ice cream. They look more like little colored ice balls, sweet but not creamy like the ice cream we are accustomed to.

Safari World, Everland Theme Park

Having decided to see Safari World, we were prepared to queue and wait since it was highly recommended.

We had to wait for 70 minutes before we could get near the entrance to Safari World. There we were dismayed to see another sign indicating that we still had to wait for another 50 minutes before we could go on safari.

Once we entered the building, we had to queue along a walkway on the walls of which were pictures of the white tigers that are living inside the safari park.Here are some of them.

Finally we boarded a special bus that would take us through Safari World where we would see the wild animals at large, not caged as in zoos. Most of them were relaxed or having their afternoon siesta.

Here are the gorgeous white tigers. Usually what we see are the tawny colored or yellow colored tigers with black stripes. So it was a real treat to see these white tigers with their black stripes.

We spotted more lions.

Bears were what we saw next.

Don't they look soft and cuddly? However I'm sure you wouldn't want to be hugged by one, would you?

This bear has been trained to click his jaws to the rhythm of the bus driver's song. It was most entertaining. At the end of his performance, he was rewarded with food thrown by the driver and which he caught expertly in his mouth.

It was worth the long wait to see these wild animals in their separate enclosures and I would also recommend this to anyone who visits Everland.

Everland, Korea

This is a theme park similar to Disney Land. It’s known as Everland and one of its taglines is “the place where dreams come true”.

Huge crowds teem the theme park with families bringing their children to enjoy the rides, the food and the gardens. The only downside is that with enormous crowds, the waiting time in the queue to see the attractions can be very long and it is no fun standing in the hot sun, patiently waiting for the line to move forward.

Our guide recommended the Safari World and the Gardens. Noting the queues, we realized that at most we could only visit two attractions. The huge roller coaster towering high above was a sight to behold.

It’s meant for young people who can stomach the thrills of heart-dropping dives. Thank you very much, it was certainly not our cup of tea.

We decided to join the queue to see Safari World even though it was very long, doubling back on itself like a snake.

Highlights of My Trip to Korea

These are some of the interesting places that we visited in Korea.

Bear Tree Park houses many Korean black bears some of which are almost 6 feet tall on their hind legs. They are kept in pit enclosures and visitors are allowed to feed them with fruit that are sold for that purpose. The bears will stand on their hind legs, looking up at the visitors, hoping to catch the fruit that are lobbed into their pit.

The park itself also has glass houses that contain different types of flowers and plants.

This beautiful peacock with its gorgeous tail plumes flew out of its enclosure to climb up the steps to another peacock waiting at the top. He could not be persuaded to spread his tail to show off his beautiful feathers.

Scattered among the trees in the park are also statues of bears.

Seoul Tower is another interesting tourist spot. There is a time capsule which was buried in 1935 and after 500 years, that is, in 2085, it will be retrieved so that the people of that time can view what was put inside.

From the observatory deck of the Tower, the whole of Seoul can be seen and the distances of various cities in different parts of the world are indicated above the huge picture windows.

Namsan Hanok Village showcases traditional Korean houses which give an idea of how people used to live. There is also a very interesting outhouse that is placed in a corner of a pig sty. You can guess why.