The last of the Summer Wine

A nice family sightseeing day following the family shopping day yesterday while the rest of the group went to tour the Kia Factory, Taekwondo and Baseball.

We joined the Dennis family on a jaunt to Coex. Coex is a massive building that puts Chadstone to shame as a shopping mall. Why on Earth, after a day of complete shopping across many Seoul suburbs, would we choose to go to the mall is a bit of a mystery until you learn that coex includes a casino.

Travel on Seoul's efficient subway system is easy and safe

Well that and a massive theatre showing contemporary musicals, huge expo atrium and.... oh yes, more importantly, an aquarium.

Enlarge the picture to see hundeds of baby Sea Horses

So this was. Basically, the purpose of the day. A little light hearted sightseeing for the kids.

Now we have seen Aquariums in several Australian states and overseas countries. Well Koreans do it differently with that little naff flare that no other nation can quite match. Sure they feature fish and aquatic life native to the Korean peninsula, but no other aquarium seeks to use so many everyday items as fish tanks.

There are fridges, washing machines, traffic lights, bed heads, vending machines, telephone box, complete with deceased agent 86 making his last call. All appropriately located within the kids gallery of the aquarium.

Amelie's favourite by far were the Doctor Fish. Some of you may have heard of these little fish as they have become popular as a natural beauty product. These blighters have a voracious appetite and gleefully take to cleaning dead skin from the surface of submerged bodies. This basically makes them the piranhas of the ex-foliation industry.

These fish were kept in a large spa bath covered with a perspex lid. The lid had hand sized slots through which digits could be nibbled enthusiastically by piscatorial nail technicians. Amelie delighted in how they tickled, enjoying the sensation so much we had to drag her away from the tank.

How many heads?

Pirhanas look pretty hungy this close

Although the visit began peacefully enough, soon hoards of school children descended upon us. Being Korea, it wasn’t just one school and it kinda felt like the elephant dawn patrol from “The Jungle Book”. It seemed like there were thousands of them, not quite as many as the Traditional Folk Village, but they all were using their outside voices and concrete only reflects 98% of sound.

Following lunch Dennis Dad and Reddick Abba went off to try a little souvenir hunting on their own. You guessed it, this meant a desperate dash to Yongsan Electronic Market and Techno Mart. Almost every kind of electronic toy and gadget is on display making them geek paradise. I must be getting old as nothing appealed. Sure there toys, lots of toys, but it was all kinda 'same ol, same ol'. Whatever happened to 'he who dies with the most toys wins'. Must be getting old. Even Brendan missed oun on his hobby trains as the hobby stores didn't have them in stock contrary to website claims.

Actually the likes of eBay and online shopping are taking away the appeal of these places. You need to do considerable research about an item you wish to purchase and as the Internet is the main research tool, you may as well stay online.

We cut short our shopping jaunt as we had to make ourselves beautiful for the INKAS farewell dinner. It was the last hurrah and final celebration of our Inter-country Adoption Return Trip to Korea.

This was a requiem, celebration and debrief all in one. Now a debrief is defined by Wikipedia as semi-structured conversation with an individual who has just experienced a stressful or traumatic event. Well for Sunny, and Rachel, the better part of 3 weeks guiding a bunch of Australian and KAUSSIE kids is the kind of event worthy of a thorough debrief.

Expressing our thanks to Sunny and INKAS President.

Sunny translating to her boss about the great job she did. Not awkward at all

Please take it from us Sunny, Rachel and fellow INKAS staff, one of the greatest compliments an Australian can give is a leg-pull, tease, and ribbing. To have a bunch of Aussies willing to provide the odd friendly jibe is a great compliment to your work to make this a thoroughly memorable journey for all our families. Well it's that or my revenge for that raw sting-ray sushie.

Rachel with the kids

Sunny provided a most interesting summary of INKAS activities and services. Whilst primarily a support group for Korean children adopted internationally, the range of activities is considerable. Helping families plan itineraries for homeland visits is but a minor, but welcome part of the overall support given to Korean born Adoptees.

Rachel and Amelie couldn't take their drooling eyes off the cake.

Birthday Girl Barb playin the field

Fabris Family, Rob, Barb and Lee

Guess who likes cake

Liz with our INKAS host Sunny

The evening also included the 50^th birthday milestone of one of our favourite Mums and shopaholic Barbara. Birthday cake and champagne flowed to make a great evening almost perfect with cheering parents and minors high on sugar.

Remember the ceramics painting? Well Liz managed a great scam. Her plate cracked during the glazing/firing process so to make it up to her the potter supplied a replacement. Given he is one of the most recognised potters in Korea, this bowl is worth almost as mush as Liz's original. She felt very humbled by the gesture.

After such a wonderful evening, why on Earth did someone go and spoil it by suggesting Norebang. For those uninitiated Norebang is the Korean name for Karaoke so you can imagine the way the evening finished. Not a pretty sight.

Do you think they realise?

Entry to Norebang. Very understated.

Some of the INKAS staf showing how professionals do norebang

Still the kids had fun.