Everland

May was a very eventful month for us.  We had lots of adventures and it all started with a great trip to Everland with our friends Lizzy and Mitchell.

Our friends, Lizzy and Mitchell

Carrie and I have wanted to go to Everland since we came to Korea, but we didn't have the time until now.  When we went, we found a cute little motel called the Q Motel.  It wasn't the best place we have stayed in, but it wasn't the worst.  The best part was our shuttle to Everland from the motel.  It was the owner of the motel driving the four of us in his sedan up to the front gate.  He didn't shuttle us back, but it was still something we did not expect. 

So our day started off with a delicious meal inside the gates of Everland.  We were the only people eating at this time because Koreans love to picnic.  Since we didn't have a kitchen or any groceries to make a picnic we had to eat at the restaurants in the park.  The food was as expected, theme park food. 

Our first ride of the day was a safari type bus ride.  We rode in a school bus with extremely large windows through open areas where the animals roamed freely (they were enclosed so the couldn't escape but they didn't have same cages around them, rather the cage was around us).  As the bus drove around the animals would come directly up to the bus (generally toward the driver’s window) and the bus would stop so the passengers could see the animals.  But then the bus driver pulls out some kind of food for the animal and throws it toward their mouths.  The bears were very good at catching the food bits in their mouths and then were ready for more in seconds.  It was an amazing sight.  I know I would never want to be in the path of a grizzly bear without a bus. 

The Liger stretching

The bear catching some tasty snacks

Yum!

Our Safari Bus

Our next attraction at Everland was the petting zoo (which was more of a look at from behind a fence zoo).   There were sheep, chickensand some other animals but the most surprising animal that we saw in the petting zoo was guinea pigs.  Interesting what other cultures think of as exotic

The ugly chicken

A lamb with a hat on it's neck

The guinea pigs

 We also saw some other animals while we walked around Everland. Such as penguins, polar bears, some small foxes with large ears, Ligers, some chillaxing ring tailed lemurs, and last but not least there were dogs. That is right just some dogs.  They were being groomed at the time we saw them, it was pretty funny and they were very cute dogs.  (Photos below)

He was enormous

My favorite bird

The Ligers resting

To jump or not to jump that is the question

More Ligers resting

Chillaxing lemurs 

The Doggies

being groomed

After our safari and animal tour we got on another ride.  We went on the Amazon Express.  It was a ride just like Grizzly River Rapids, except there was a cover for you put over your body so you don’t get so wet.  Mitchell decided that using the cover took all the fun away from the ride and didn't wear his for most of the ride.  Thankfully the man sitting next to me got it the worst and the four of us came out mostly dry (Sorry, no photos here didn't want to break the camera).

It says Amazon Express

After that we went on another safari type ride but this time our bus was like a duck boat in Boston and it went into a river so we could get a close up look at the elephants. Both Carrie and I said to ourselves that this is not even close since there was a river and some big rocks between us and the elephants.  Then after our river dip we were back on dry land (still in the bus/boat) and we stopped in the giraffe area, where the tour guide on the bus brought out some delicious leaves for the animals to eat.  They were so close that we could touch them but were told not to, but we did get some awesome photos of the giraffes. 

That was an adult and we've been closer to elephants

They had a baby giraffe

Still not close

This was close!!!

In the afternoon we went on a few more rides but the most important thing that Carrie did was went on the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world with Lizzy (Mitchell and I passed).

Carrie and Lizzy made it out alive

A distant view of the roller coaster

They had fun

As the day continued we walked around and enjoyed the theme park.  During our time there we had a chance to see two parades.

There were a lot of Westerners in the parades . . . maybe our next job?

Korea's version of the Electric Light Parade

Turtle, turtle, turtle

Here are some pictures of the scenery around Everland.

 

There was a big garden full of blooming flower near the back of Everland where people could picnic and take a rest

They even had Disney type sweepers

Overall it was a great experience and we checked it off our Korean Bucket List.