A Cave in Korea

I had only been in Korea a few days and the jet lag was hard to kick since Korea was about half a day ahead of Europe. Since I had only been in Korea for a few days, I didn't have any culture shock besides the fact that I was on US soil. The air force base I was staying on with family reminded me of a college town. We would go to the "BX" to get a quick meal, do a little shopping, kind of like a student center. There were people walking absolutely everywhere because parking was typically impossible.

We had already been out of the air force base once to get a fancy dessert. I would soon learn that Korea really excelled at making nice desserts. This was a type of ice cream/coconut milk/macaron dessert which was unlike anything I had ever had. It was big enough to share! This fun outing was shared with the Walker's, who were great friends with my family.

A few days after we had the chance to eat the yummy dessert, we went to the Gwangmyeong Cave with a few of the Walker kids (I had the chance to spend a lot of time with this family and it was honestly a blast!).

Before we got into the cave, we saw some examples of contemporary art. The kids loved seeing this!

Even though I was absolutely exhausted and could have slept 50 more hours, I was really excited to see the cave. I'm used to American caves, where it's just dark and cold with cool rock formations. Gwangmyeong Cave was nothing like that! This cave was originally a hiding place for Koreans during the Korean War. We were able to see where they would try to store their food. What makes this place really special is that the Koreans took this place which was full of the gloom of war and turned it into something really beautiful and positive! Something that is considered a hallmark of Korean caves is the use of lights; they sure did use a bunch of those in the Light Space.

These lights were made to look like fish; how fun!

This was a part of the Golden Plaque Wishing Well. I felt like all my wishes were being fulfilled as I had the opportunity to travel the world.

It was a lot of fun to see some recreations from different films; this cool part of the cave features Smog and Gollum from the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books & movies. Kevin, my uncle, had a lot of fun doing Gollum impersonations which were spot on!

I loved seeing the glowing flowers. What a cool cave!

After we got out of the cave, we were able to check out a rainbow themed exhibit which was perfect for kids; the adults all had a great time too. The exhibit was interactive and played with the use of light and colors.

After we wrapped up with the exhibit, we took a lunch break that was desperately needed before heading to our next venue: Mr. Toilet House. Mr. Toilet House was essentially a garden/museum dedicated to toilets and all that toilets entail. Everything was in a toilet shape--even the building!

It was a crazy time but the day wasn't over yet! We drove back home and had some dinner before Heather (my aunt), Brianne (Sister Walker), and I left the air force base to go to the SED for a girls' night. We took a look at some shops before ending up at a really fancy dessert place. I definitely wished we were sharing treats that night because it was impossible to finish mine alone.

After our tasty desserts, we went to an arcade where some karaoke booths were. It was so much fun to be crammed into a small room with the three of us singing really bad and having a blast. Karaoke is a pretty big deal in Korea and I can definitely see why. What a perfect end to a fun day!