Yeosu 2019 Day 5 – Rail bike, Aqua Planet and Teddy bear museum

First morning at Yeosu and I was intrigued by possibility of a beautiful sunrise and so I got up pretty early. But it was so cold outside that I tried to find a viewpoint that kept me warm. So I took the elevator up to the highest level, 26th floor to try my luck at the sky lounge but was disappointed that it was closed at this early hour. Then I left for the 5th floor where there was an open air space where I could take a picture but by then the sun had already risen. Went back to the room to rest and jot note.

The rest of the family started to wake at about 830-930am, sleeping in in a sleepy town. I went downstairs to the in-house pastry stall to get some croissant and pastries that costed about 10k for 3. Had our breakfast before taking the car to drive to the Yeosu ocean rail bike, about 20mins drive away. Found that our hotel carpark had free parking.

Parked in the huge carpark and headed towards the rail bikes after visiting the loo. Approached a photo stall thinking that there’s where we would get a ticket only to get a confused look and a direction to the obscure ticket office next to a mini restaurant. Paid some 31k for 3, and some simple information about the return trip on the rail bike that would happen at the end of the tunnel.

Then we went to the bike dispatch whom had a good amount of English vocabulary and he explained the details on how to operate the bicycle. Then we were on our way, mommy and me pedaling away as K enjoyed the ride since his legs couldn’t reach. Going towards the tunnel was easy since it was downhill but back up took a bit more effort. The tunnel had some lighting decorations but that was about it. The scenery was ok, summing up pretty much of this experience.

We returned to the photo stall and found the photo taken rather nice and paid 10k for it, which came with a photo frame. Left for hotel which was a 20mins drive.

Back at the hotel, we started to explore the port area on foot, walking about 15mins to Hanwha Aqua Planet. Upon reaching we went to the ticket counter to get tickets and found out that there were some packages available. Big3 meant all 3 attractions of Aquarium, AR trickeye museum and 5D movie but we took the Big2 giving AR museum a miss.

Went to the food court to get lunch of Ramen and Tonkotsu rice which K surprisingly didn’t like as it “wasn’t real ramen” (I thought it tasted more like instant noodles). After lunch, we entered the aquarium at around 1pm.

The aquarium was divided into 3 sections each having a different varieties of sea creatures and even land animals. We were thrilled to see raccoons, our first encounter with such playful animals. Amongst the usual aquatic animals, there was one exhibit that showcased the fishes found commonly in fish spa and you could dip your fingers for an adhoc dead skin removal on your fingers. There was also a show at the main tank that drew the most crowd (the biggest crowd that I have seen in the entire town of almost no people). There was story telling about rubbish in the ocean, some magic show and mermaids. It was all in Korean so we just watched and imagine. Then there was a video about the worklife of an employee within the Aqua Planet, which was also in Korean. The show ended with a feeding session by the divers where all the stingrays would crowd around and that made a good photo opportunity near the end of the session.

We left after walking through the store and walked towards Yeosu expo. We thought we could see some exhibition stuff but was disappointed to find that the entire area was very much empty. All the big spaces within the buildings were empty! It felt desolated and sad, that the modern designed building seemed to only represent an interesting point in history and that was it.

We walked to the playground nearby where K had some fun climbing around but bumped his head against a railing. Then we walked backwards towards the teddy bear museum for a visit, spending 24.5k for 2 adults and 1 child. The exhibition showed mostly American related destinations with the bears as the actors in the scenes. There were many photo opportunities with bears in different setting as well but we weren’t all that interested except for some big ones where K sat on them to take photo. What I thought was interesting was a huge 8m bear from the story of Gulliver’s travel. There were 2 levels to walk around and we ended off our visit with a photo of donning bear mascots heads for both K and myself. That sure entertained K.

We decided to take a break at the bear cafe ordering a cheese cake for 3.5k and an Americano for 4k. After the short snack, we left to walk to Odongdo island, and check out what we left out yesterday.

On the map it didn’t looked far but walking from the expo to Odongdo was actually, and as we were also going to catch a show back at the aquarium at 7pm (the only time slots available was 10am and 7pm) we had to walk fast. Carrying K on my shoulder, we went back to the island and arrived at about 6pm. We took the wooden pathway and had to make a Uturn for the restroom at the same location we visited the day before. Then returning to the wooden pathway, we found the restroom just a few meters ahead! What a wasted walk.

Climbing some flights of stairs flanked by trees, we arrived at a junction that led to the cave of Dragon and went to have a look. Couldn’t see much other than a hole at the side of the mountain and we returned back to the path. Walking further down, the route separated to the lighthouse and the other to the water fountain. We were initially looking for a Camellia flower garden but came to realize that maybe the entire island was full of Camellia but it was not blooming time and thus we didn’t see them?

Walked back to the fountain for K to watch whatever that was still left. Then we walked back to the hotel to take the car so that we could drive the remaining short distance there to the Aqua Planet.

It was almost 7 when we arrived and we found ourselves walking to a building that was nearly closed. The staff standing there were surprised to see us so we explained that we were there for the 7pm show. Showed them the tickets and they allowed us into the small cinema that was projected 360 all around, short of a small area underneath of the roof. We were also given 3D glasses. Since we were the only customers, we had a choice of Poseidon or Dinosaurs. We chose dinosaurs.

The show was a short 10mins show (that’s what I thought) and it was in Korean. It was really disappointing as we expected more than just the visual such as sense of touch. There was none of such and so I didn’t understand where the other 2Ds were about.

We left the building at 710pm and went back to the car. We skipped the fountain show at the Big O cos the timing of the show was at 750pm, guessing from the poster on the gate  but we couldn’t wait in the cold, and there wasn’t anybody around so we weren’t sure if the fountain show was going to be up anyway.

Returned to the room after getting some foodstuff from the convenience store and called in room service for dinner of seafood spaghetti and abalone porridge for 32k and 24k respectively, spent some family time with K and his sticker books, a super long dip at the bathtub since this was the last bathtub he was going to get for the rest of the trip and then off to bed.