Lotte World!

Whoever generalized that Asians are lactose intolerant was not aware of this enormous and wildly popular cache of cheese just south of the river on Seokchon Lake. Lotte World is Korea's attempt to copy Disneyland, and you can see pretty quickly that I don't use the word "copy" lightly. Sarcasm aside, it's a very nice place and no less fascinating to a little kid than Disneyland Anaheim. Michael was pretty overwhelmed. Belinda was too, but not so much by the "magic and fantasy" as the "clamor and chaos".

Okay, so this was not taken inside Lotte World, but rather in the Anguk Metro Station on the way. I just found it fascinating that "Xylitol" is actually a brand name for sugar-free gum here. It made me wonder why there is not a brand of ramen called MSG.

A short transfer at Eulijiro 3. We're BART veterans, so transfers should be no problem, but twice now we've wound up on the wrong platform & had to sweet talk our way through the turnstiles.

One of the first things we encountered when we got into the indoor part of Lotte World was this AWESOME jazz band, particularly the guy on the far right who is SERIOUSLY feelin' that Baby Elephant Walk. This guy communes with Henry Mancini's spirit I think.

Oh, and the "OW!" you hear at the end was me voicing my approval.

Crossing the 2nd floor footbridge to the Magic Kingdom, I mean Magic Island.

"Auto tours. Run at full speed along the shore of the lake! Refreshing race by drive (sic) a classic European car."

We didn't ride this thing, but I include a video of it in hopes that it will help entice the Topfs to come visit. :)

The tag line for this boat ride is:

Go on a cruise ship full of romantic feelings. Geneva cruise lines will slowly glide over the calm waters of Seokchon Lake! You can see the beautiful and romantic scenery of the lake at everywhere you pass along.

Michael having romantic feelings.

These waters sure are calm.

The stage theme for the indoor park this year is "Rio Samba Carnival". The prevailing modesty level here is very conservative, so we were a little shocked to see Brazilian women dancing in sequined thongs at a major children's theme park.

I tried not to take too many shots of the naked dancing women, and instead wound up with a few odd creatures.

A lot of the dancers had to carry/drag their props around.

At first I thought this ape had a cigar in his mouth, but if you click on the picture & zoom in, you'll see he has a tin horn shoved up his nose...

.......

...............

AAAAAAAA get away!

Monorail

Monorail

Monoraaaaaaaaaaaaaail!

The capstone of the trip for Michael. He borrowed against next week's allowance to buy this double-sided lightsaber toy, which his friend at the hotel broke into a one-sider the next day.

Bye Lotty!