Day 82: Fear Factor, Korean-style

Today was a great day, for many reasons!!! First off, it was a holiday! (yep, another unusual random Korean National Holiday thrown into the middle of one of my work weeks - today it was Children's Day!) My Korean friend James had phoned me earlier in the week and invited me to join him at SeoulLand, yet another amusement park in the Greater Seoul Area! And it was a beautiful sunny day - perfect!

I met James at a subway station in between his place and mine and we made the great trek to SeoulLand, which can be found at Seoul Grand Park, nestled in the green hilly suburbs of southern Seoul. I knew it was going to be a busy day - after my holiday experience at Everland a month ago, I had learned my lesson with amusement parks and holidays, yet here I was at another one! We got off the subway station and it was just one looooong stream of screaming families in this mass exodus towards the gates of the park. Wow! Admission to this park proved to be cheaper, and I even got a 'foreigner's discount!' - how cool is that? Man this rock star lifestyle is great!

SeoulLand was not as big in size as Everland, but it was really cool nonetheless. Everland was very much a copycat of Disneyland, whereas SeoulLand was much smaller in scale and pretty much had just the rides (no zoo or flower gardens or parade or anything like that.) It was crazy busy at the park - kids and parents running absolutely every which way, but it was a blast even with the crowds. We checked out the Haunted House first (kinda lame, and we had to wait almost 45 mins. to get into it - not worth it!) and then checked out the giant swinging Viking ship. While in line I was attracting the attention of a group of girls in line who kept yelling out 'you are sexy!' in both English and Korean to me. "Why hello ladies, yes you may have my autograph, would you also like a photograph?" was my response. Oh wait...no I'm not *that* much of an ass.....I just did what I always do when the flocks of Korean girls throw compliments and flirtations my way - smile, wave hello, and giggle nervously. :-) What am I going to do when I return to North America one day and NO ONE looks my way or makes a fuss? I'm SO going to miss this Pseudo Celebrity Lifestyle... *sigh* ;-)

My moment of bravery came shortly after this. I must confess that when it comes to amusement parks I'm a big wimp. I'm too scared to go on anything that puts me upside down, and get sick on rides that spin too much. SeoulLand has two massive, and I mean *MASSIVE* rollercoasters, containing various combinations of sky-high drops, corkscrews, and the dreaded back-to-back double loop-de-loop! My stomach was just churning staring up at them.... Now when it comes to rides, I have no problem really with heights or with speed, it's being upside down that I ABSOLUTELY HATE! Ever since my terrifying experience on Montezuma's Revenge at Knott's Berry Farm in LA when I was in Grade 6, I've been petrified of rollercoasters that go upside down. You could put me on a coaster 100 stories tall and rocket me down to the Earth at Mach 6 and I'll laugh the whole time, but put me on a coaster that has one little corkscrew or loop-de-loop and I'll shit my pants... I don't know what it is, but ever since that one scary experience I have yet to EVER set foot on a coaster that puts me upside down. Yes I realize that was a long time ago, but still, I've been to many amusement parks since Knott's and I've refused each and every time going on anything that puts me upside down. Or anything too spinny.

So there I was, staring up at this soaring monstrosity of a rollercoaster, watching hordes of Korean children and teenagers and frickin' grannies for Christ's sake ride the coaster, screaming out in joy the entire time. It was at this pivotal moment that I found the strength inside... I told myself that only the 'Old Scotty' would still be afraid to go on this upside down rollercoaster...the 'New Uber-Manly World Traveller Open To Any New Experience Laughs In The Face Of Fear Scotty' would ride the damn thing without batting an eyelash. Oh the dilemmas....which side would win out?

I took a deep breath, gave myself a little pep talk (okay a really big one), and got in line... I got on the first rollercoaster (the corkscrew one), buckled up....and.....ABSOLUTELY FUCKING LOVED IT!!! I laughed the entire ride and yeah I screamed "OH MY GOD!!!" like a million times but it was the most fun I've had in...I can't even remember... It was such a rush! I got off that rollercoaster and felt like a million bucks. I had shed my 14-year long fear of being upside down on a rollercoaster just like that. And it all it took was one 2-minute ride on a damn rollercoaster in Seoul, Korea. IT FELT AMAZING!!! This may seem to be over-dramatic, I know what you're saying, "Scotty, it was *just* a silly rollercoater, get over yourself!", but it was a big deal for me. (Barbie you'd be so proud of me!! Not only did I not puke but I didn't have to sit down and lie on the grass for an hour like the last time you took me on a rollercoaster at PlayLand!)

After that I was on such a high that James and I made a b-line for the second, even more scarier rollercoaster - the one with the two loops. And guess what? I loved that one too! I felt so alive, so excited, and so damn proud of myself! Hooray for me! :-)

We checked out a few more rides in the park (including spending an ungodly long hour and a half waiting to get on the log ride) and stayed almost until the park closed. (No, I didn't go on anything especially spinny, I figured I can conquer my fear of being upside down, but no amount of pep talks is going to prevent my weak stomach from wanting to ralph anytime I'm on a spinny ride. Whatever, one mission at a time, folks.) We had some dinner and then it was time to go home. SUCH A FUN AFTERNOON!!!! On the way home, two different Koreans, on two different trains, came up to speak with me, say hello in English, and ask how I was enjoying my time in Korea. Man, Koreans are just so darn cute and friendly!!!

The other reason why today has been so great is because when I got home, I had a normal, healthy, fully-operational computer waiting for me in my bedroom!!! While I had been away all day at SeoulLand Steven took it in to get repaired. I was honestly expecting the computer to be gone like a week, but it was gone and back already all in the time I was out of the house. What a great surprise!! My computer is now completely virus-free and I'm thrilled to have my at-home online privileges back.

Life is grand!