Dinosaur Land

We woke up late for our big breakfast at the hotel (which turned into a norm during our stay in Jeju). When we were wondering whether we should stay by the pool side or go down to the beach (Jeju's beaches are very nice, volcanic setting and big waves, not as nice as Big Island though), it started to rain. Grandma showed up at that point and told us that the taxi driver would pick us up in 30 minutes.

In Jeju, you can either rent a car to drive around (with GPS in Korean) or hire a taxi by the day (costs about KRW 100,000 or USD 85). We thought it'd be like in the US where we can drive with our HK license and ID, we didn't apply for the international license before our trip. When we couldn't present that piece of paper that says "International License", the lady at the counter withdrew the car key. Well, not a big loss since the available cars were either Sonata or some 7 seaters. The Kia Sorrento or Hyundai Santa Fe weren't on the list! Anyway, we randomly picked a card from the pile we collected so far and called one taxi drivers for tour service. Turned out he was booked already and he told us his friend would be there to be our guide.

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw the ajashi's name plate when we got into the cab. His name is Kang Chang Un! Chang Un Ajashi would drive our Changunnie around Jeju that day! Grandma wanted something fun for Changunnie and was thinking about Dolphin show, Dinosaur Land and some other theme park. Which was not exactly what we envisioned for our holiday but well.... we decided the dolphin shows in HK and San Diego are better and ended up at Dinosaur Land.

If you grew up in HK between the 50s and 80s, you would know of the Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park (荔園遊樂場).



http://paper.wenweipo.com/2008/05/08/HK0805080073.htm

Think the last time I went to LCK Amusement Park was when I was 7 or 8. I literally walked down the memory lane the moment I set foot into Dinosaur Land. I held a teletubbies "uh-oh" under my breath. I could not justify why we paid the KRW 10,000 per person entrance fee but since we were there, might as well get the most out of it.



There were lots of big dinosaur sculptures around. Changunnie was amused but the boats in the small pond by the entrance was screaming "come here" to Changunnie. She shot over so quickly that made me wonder if she could break the world record for 100m. The pond was about 60cm deep. The water.... well, algae on the bottom of the pond and made the water green. There wasn't any fish in there at all. However, Changunnie's favourite sport is to row a boat (by someone else while she watches). As sucker parents, we promptly pulled out a KRW 5,000 note for the boat rental. The weight balance didn't work too well at first and the caretaker had to hold the back of the boat to prevent it from sinking. Finally, daddy got the trick of how to stay afloat and off he went with Changunnie.





Next stop? There wasn't really a next stop because it started to rain when we emerged from the Dinosaur Cave (a short tunnel connecting the pond and the other side of the park, 100m long). Grandma went to see the "sea creatures museum" on the left and we took Changunnie to the shed on the right. I knew D-Land is the Korean version of LCK Amusement Park. Again, as sucker parents, we pulled out two KRW 500 coins for Changunnie's enjoyment.




Changun Ajashi came running with umbrellas to our rescue and we gladly accepted that and convinced each other that we couldn't let Changun Ajashi to go back to the car on his own and left D-Land after 30 minutes there.