Seoul weekend. Pt. 2 - Sunday

Sunday we got up at 8 as we were trekking across Seoul to meet Jenny, Kwang ho, Jin baek and Jenny jr. to check out the Seoul zoo. The night before we had stopped off at a real bakery near Bobby's place. I say real because many bakeries in Korea give themselves French names like 'Paris Baguette' or 'Tous Les Jours' but only about half the stuff in them even looks like bread you'd find at a bakery in Europe. While I had a shower Bobby made pancakes and we had that and a muffin. I should also add that Bobby's place in Ilsan is, well, amazing. His last place in Yeonshinnae made my old place in Seongseo look good. Bobby moved to a new branch of his school solely because of the poor quality of his old apartment (think below ground with window out to ground level of alleyway, if someone was standing in front of his window you could see them from the shins down). Wanting a better place is something I totally understand. This new place is huge, warm, has a shower that could be in a 4 star hotel, 7th floor and lots of natural light. Anyway we ate breakfast and then hopped on the subway around 10, getting to Seoul grand park at 1130.

We all met up in front of the entrance and headed in. We quickly realised that we would not have enough time to see it all as I had a train to catch at 415 and the zoo would take a whole day to see. We opted (or rather baby Jenny opted) to see big animals so we headed off to African Safari. Here's the group:

me and Jenny jr.

I started to hum 'Eye of the Tiger'

she didn't get it.

I guess it was before her time.......

Jenny showing that alligator statue who's boss

Jenny, Kwang ho and Jenny jr.

Bobby out front (yeah, Seoul is still very cold... suckers :)

Jin baek (Jenny's sister).

While Jenny jr. had been terrified of me in previous encounters she seemed very comfortable with he this time and even remembered who I was (a first). She let me carry her around (demanded at one point) and was happy to have me take her picture. It amazes me how much energy a two year old can have, and how curious they are about everything. We headed out to see the African safari animals, which included zebra's, antelopes, giraffes and gorilla's. We then headed in to the SE Asian exhibit which was done in a giant dome and featured crocs and other tropical animals (walking in to that 28 degree dome was also great, I felt tropical for 20 minutes... I want that weather again soon).

welcome to tropic dome

a Siamese Crocodile

an Indian tiger

By the time we finished in Asia dome it was 3 and Bobby and I had to start to get going (I had a 30 minute subway ride to Seoul station and he had to be back by five for F1 racing) so we headed to the subway. We said goodbyes and headed to the subway. Seoul zoo is actually quite well done and compares very well to other zoo's I've seen in Asia (zoo's here are often less than satisfactory when it comes to animal enclosures and health). While a few of the monkey cages were, well cages most of the enclosures were fairly large and spaced far enough apart to give the animals some rest. There were also lots of activities to keep children happy.

looks happy to me.

I parted ways with Bobby at Seoul station (he continued on his way to his transfer and home). Actually with the app for subways in Korea we were able to time our trip, organize the fastest way to get where and calculate how long it would take. It worked well as I got to Seoul Station, had time to use the toilet and eat a muffin, and got on the train with 5 minutes to spare. 

I had an amazing time though I was amazed at how cold Seoul still is. I have had my spring jacket on a few days in Daegu but no chance up there yet. When the wind came up it was downright cold. Amazing the difference in climate over a relatively small area. Anyway, great weekend to catch up with some wonderful people up in Seoul.