The wild world of Korea

2014/08/05

Today I would like to tell you about my communication with these beautiful and graceful creatures - cats. Of course you can find it quite uninteresting. After all, in Russian cats can be found on almost every street corner, in friends', girlfriends', parents' apartments, and we ourselves usually raise cats in order to brighten up our loneliness, or just to enjoy pleasant surrounding with this fluffy lump, holding on to you like a limpet and doesn't leave you alone even for a minute and often annoys you with its constant mewing and poking its nose into all your business, sleeping on your computer while you're trying to have a sweet conversation with the pleasant guy (or girl) .... oh, it's so cute .... or just in the process of writing a thesis for your report or something..... this sticky animal doesn't want to slip away from your computer. Or walk across the table with a triumphant look of an absolute owner of it ..... but nevertheless, we love them, caress and cherish receiving the same endearment and care in return. The same goes for dogs- the best human's friends, as they are called. We all know that people are divided into three categories: those who love dogs, those who prefer cats, and those who do not like neither one nor the other. In Korea you can hardly ever see stray animals on the streets. For all 2-month of my living here, I saw only 2 cats near my dormitory. Nevertheless, it is necessary to face the truth and accept the shocking fact that almost all Asian countries eat cats and dogs. More often they eat dogs. Gush! ((((And Korea is not an exception. To me, this is simply unacceptable. But the fact remains ..... But. ... I'm not saying that all of the animals are caught to be eaten because of its, hypothetically, very delicious meat. There are animal shelters, where you can take a pet and raise it at home. But this procedure is quite complicated. To take an animal costs 100$ and you will need to answer 50 questions on the questionnaire, such as "Whom you live with, where, what's you apartment's size, your working schedule, and you are even asked to  send photos of you apartment.

Shelter workers should make sure that the animal will be kept properly and is going to be in comfort. But in return you will get a lot of positive emotions being near a snoring puppy or a purring under your nose cat. Breeds of dogs and cats can be very different. But Koreans mostly prefer small dogs as it's easier to keep them at home.

And now a bit fun ..... In Seoul, there are some cat and dog cafes, even a cafe with sheep, can you imagine this? ! That's right, I also can't still picture it to myself, moreover up to know I didn't visit any dogs or sheep cafes but only cats ones.

This Garfield seems to have so deep thoughts)))

Paying only 8-10$ you can enjoy the presence of these animals the whole day. And also any drink from the menu is included. But, the cats in this cafe are so out of control, they really seem to be tired of people's presence. They don't willingly  go to your hands, moreover, when you try to catch or at least touch a cat, it just simply runs away. But in the cafe you can buy special food and feed them. And then they'll lick it..... from your head to toes)) Of course they will 

I didn't visit dog's cafe but anyway I think the dogs are going to be more friendly and eager to play with people than cats are.

Sphynx cat seems to be i bit ugly, but it's really so cute

The cat's cafe where I've been is located in Myeong-dong area (one of the most popular streets among young people, which is famous for its street shopping) with my friend and my Korean helper 더우미 (as I wrote earlier, so called Korean - Assistant). We observed the cafe and took photos of all the cats that were there. And  there are about 15 cats there. Some of them were with yellow bands on their backs, which means that they have some injures and it is better not to touch them, otherwise they can try to hurt you. Many of them were simply asleep in their houses that stood on the high shelves, so that its next to impossible to touch the cats without a chair. 

So cool house for cats. Each cat has its own box. Some of the were sleeping there and if so it was inpossible to get them out

Sleeping Beauty)))

Such magnificent eyes!!!!

This guy is my favourite. He was lying there for all 1,5 hours

This cat is shouldn't be touched. And it looks so boreeeeed!

Those who were sleeping didn't pay any attention to us as they simply didn't care. There were staff working there, mostly girls whose duty was to look after the animals, to make sure they are not teased. Also each animal has a name and it's own house. So cute-cute. We spent 1.5 hours there. I could not stop looking at them. Some of them have so charming eyes, with the hypnotical look. That was breathtaking!!!
Apart from the cafe I also took a so-called small trip to a huge aquarium, called COEX Aquarium. I don't  know whether there is such a big aquarium in Russia or not, but I was told in Seoul it is not the largest one. It is located on the underground floor of the huge COEX mall in Seoul's largest exhibition center. A ticket for an adult costs 21$, but to my mind, there is no need to worry about the price, because it's definitely worth it.

The COEX Aquarium entrance

COEX Aquarium in Seoul consists of 90 smaller aquariums inhabited by not only sea creatures, but by river flora and fauna. All in all there are 40 thousand fish and 600 species of marine animals in this aquarium. Stingrays, a variety of sharks, turtles, crocodiles, jellyfish, piranhas, fat, and at the same time, cute elephant seals and fur seals, nasty eels, shoals of sardines, and many others are gathered here. But there are not only aquatic animals, but also those able to to jump, run and fly as well . I was completely amazed by the creatures that look like  squirrels. But they are not. And I don't even know how they are called. God, they're so cute. They were sitting in a huge terrarium which size is around 3x3x2 meters. Some of them slept in the hollow, some- sat still as a statue, watching all those who stuck to the glass with their beady eyes. And the third ones were crawling around the terrarium. They  seemed not to be worried about people  staring at them and poking fingers, and about kids running around here and there. 

They have everything in there up to a toilet. LOL

There were also tiny chipmunks and beavers. Oh my god, they are so large and heavy, I imagined them to be a little smaller in size. One beaver now and then swam here and back, and the other which I liked most of all, raised on his legs right in front of me, unfortunately, on the other side of the glass, so I couldn't touch it, of course, and began to scrape at it with such a zeal that I was about to think, it is going to rub it till the hole in the glass)))

The otter

Seoul is a very bright and creative city so it requires everything in it to be the same level.

The structure of this really magnificent Aquarium is constructed in a form of the tunnel which gives the opportunity to watch the giant fish, including sharks and rays swimming right over your heads, while you just stand on the slowly moving escalator and observe all these show. The visitors feels themselves here as if they were on the sea bottom.

The shark is flying above your heads

The decoration within the aquarium is of striking beauty. There are places where you find yourself in the jungle like the jungle of those times when, instead of us, half-naked hunters were the only inhabitants of the ground. Besides, the design of the aquariums with small fish are also quite interesting. I didn't expect to see something like this here. Fish swim even in telephone boxes and street lamps))) That is really very beautiful and original, I would say.

Gush, there are even real alive big bats on a background of the already painted full moon. Exactly like the Dracula-movie)))

And in the end of all the way you will come across the huge shark jaws, you can even get in it and take a photo in the style of the old American movie "Jaws." In conclusion, I can say that the impression of this magical Aquarium is really awesome.

"Jaws" style