Another weekend in Seoul as I try to recover from my latest bout of sickness.
Quite tired of the idea of Seoul, and being quite a beautiful Saturday, I suggested a trip to
the Seoul Zoo. I thought this would be a fantastic way to soak up some sun, have some
light exercise, and be able to take it easy and rest whenever I felt tired. So we got onto
the subway and rode the subway just over an hour to Seoul Grand Park. It is a
campground, hiking area, Seoul Land Amusement Park, and a zoo in one large area.
We walked out of the subway straight up to the outer ticket office via a large
walkway that ran between the car park. Green trees, flowering rhododendrons, and lily
bushes hid the cars from view while vendors standing next to folding tables or sitting on
blankets did their best to distract you with rice cakes, roasted silkworm larvae, fish paste
on a stick, and other traditional Korean snacks. Other venders sat by in hope that some
child would demand that their parent buy them large balloons, animal ear headband,
bubble guns, and stuffed animals. Or perhaps, that Ajumas would buy a visor, an Ajushi
would buy a hiking hat, or a young couple might buy matching baseball caps in an effort
to hide from the beating sun. Hiding in the midst of this distinct Korean atmosphere is a
Family Mart and a Dunkin' Donuts. We made it to the tram and were
taken around the lake that separates the park from the rest of the Seoul.
The zoo started out fairly normal. We started at the beginning, in Africa. The
large, wide walkways are lined with flowering bushes, flower displays (local flowers, not
African), and various statues and artworks or animals of Africa. The giraffe area was
kind of nice with a small two-story viewing area. There are no trees or plants. Just a dirt
arena with some poles to hang the feed from, and at the back is a fake rock wall made to
look like a mountain.
This is where it begins to become the weirdest zoo I have ever been to. All of the
animal pens are dirt. No grass. Many of the pens don't have any bushes, flowers, or trees inside the pens to look like a natural habitat. Mostly the pens are areas that
have a central feeding location, a watering area, maybe a couple of rocks and a couple of toys (there are some pens that are the exception). All of the greenery seems to be on the main path.
Most of the pens have a small fence on the path, then a bush, then another fence,
a pit, and then the animal pen. This is fine, but most of the bushes are so tall that you
can't see the animals. There is a tiny bush-free area where everyone groups around to
watch the animals. Like most zoos, Africa gets the biggest amount of attention. Then
there is a bit of Australia, South America, North America, and North Korean animals.
Many of the same type of animal is spread out all over the park. For example, the reptiles can be found in with the apes and in the South American area. The peacocks are in the poultry pavilion as well as a whole peacock village further on in the park. The amphibians can be seen every where. It's as if they get an overflow and have to house them somewhere.
Also, there seems to be more space management issues. The lions can be viewed from the main path, but for some reason the cheetahs are stuck in a pen that cannot be viewed from the path, you look up and you can kind of see a cheetah, but only because he is laying on top of a platform.
As Koreans love museums, there are random buildings throughout the park in which there are various displays of dead animals (it really seemed that the amount of dead animals and statue animals in this park equals the number of live animals). In these buildings there are glass windows where you can look into animal holding cells. These rooms are exactly what I picture Asian prisons to look like (minus the glass window and the moat that separates the animal from the window). The walls are orange or sick-green and covered in feces, the floor is cement and has a bit of hay on it. There is one heavy metal door that has either a small barred window or a sliding window (as if to slide a food tray to the prisoner). Here a zebra or an elephant can be seen pacing the small, florescent-lit space while children press their faces up to the glass.
To further question the humanity of this zoo, the poor large water snakes and
lizards lived in tiny glass cages with a two-foot shallow pool for them to swim in (one water monitor didn't have any water to swim in what-so-ever). The crocs had just enough water to lay in. And the raccoons had a tiny little water fountain to drink from or wash themselves in.
Some days I wonder how people function. Everywhere are signs in both Korean and
English (including a nice picture) that says "Do not cross this fence," or "Do not feed the
animals." And of course people would let their children run under the fence and put their
fingers into the pens. And people would feed the animals while staring at the "Do not
feed" sign. This was after we watching people take flash photography in the nocturnal-animals building and people taunting the monkeys and raccoons with food or water bottles and other shiny moving objects just to get the poor creatures to run around on the bars.
Despite all of this insane frustration it was a good day. We got to see some of Seoul. I even conquered some of my fear of heights by going on the sky lift over the park. We finished off this exhausting day with a beer, some good Indian food, and some Baskin and Robbins!
