By Melanie Ferguson
Phileas Fogg may have travelled around the world in 80 days, but at Aiins World, you can do it in just 80 minutes.
Aiins (rhymes with ¡®fines¡¯ or ¡®wines¡¯) World is located in Bucheon, a smaller city of 850 000 located in Gyeonggi-do Province between Seoul and Incheon. A sign near Bucheon Subway Station reveals the city¡¯s history as a farming village renowned for its peach trees. Once the city became connected to the Seoul-Incheon subway line in 1974, the city rapidly grew in population and became more industrialized. The peach trees couldn¡¯t last. Now, the city looks like any other neighbourhood in Seoul, with bustling streets and blazing signs.
Arriving at Aiins World, my friend and I were surprised to see that the theme park is outdoors. I had imagined all the replicas to be indoors, away from destructive weather. But perhaps the natural skyline would be an advantage, we thought, making the 109 carefully crafted miniature replicas more realistic. Not quite, we soon discovered.
Our first stop was to London, England¡¯s Tower Bridge. The theme park is arranged for easy photography, with footprints marked on the paved walkway for both the subject and the photographer, so all we had to do was stand on the proper footprints and take a picture. Tower Bridge was successful—I did look as though I was at Tower Bridge in London on a hot summer¡¯s day.
A few steps down the sidewalk, we arrived at London¡¯s Big Ben. Now it was my friend¡¯s turn for a picture. I stepped to the white (photographer¡¯s) footprints and my friend stepped onto the blue (subject¡¯s) footprints, and I lifted my camera...only to notice that the fake sky positioned behind the clock tower and parliament buildings doesn¡¯t quite extend far enough, cutting off midway through the shot. On top of that, Kuala Lumpur¡¯s Petronas Towers kept poking their way into the frame. We tried our best, but nothing could make that picture look realistic.
On the other side of the sidewalk, Stonehenge was waiting for us. Immediately, we knew this one was not going to work either. Besides the disappointingly fake grass, there is no background to hide the other park visitors, Eiffel Tower replica, or Bucheon high-rises behind. But we each took silly photos in front of the exhibit, knowing that we were going to enjoy Aiins World all the same.
The park has twelve designated zones, allowing you to conquer one part of the world at a time. England, France, and Europe Zones are first, with famous sites such as Westminster Abbey, the Eiffel Tower, Palace of Versailles, and Tower of Pisa, where you can watch the famously leaning tower periodically straighten itself out. Each exhibit has a sign posted with information about the building in both English and Korean, letting visitors less familiar with the real thing learn a little bit more about its history.
After taking a short detour to the Oceania Zone and seeing the Sydney Opera house, we went back and saw more of the European treasures, our favourite of which was the Roman Colosseum. Having seen the Colosseum in its current ruined state, we were surprised to see it fully intact, looking as though it had never been damaged by earthquakes 700 years ago. Apparently, Aiins World not only takes you around the world, but also takes you back in time.
We then travelled to Russia, Africa, and West Asia Zones, visiting places like St. Basil¡¯s Cathedral, the Great Pyramids, and Petra, to name a few. In Latin America, we visited a proudly realistic-looking Teotihuacan. Next, we travelled somewhere not found on any map I¡¯ve ever seen: Atlantis. Plato mentioned the legendary island in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, and Aiins World has an exciting recreation of the island¡¯s unfortunate sinking into the ocean. Around the globe, back in time, and now into the imaginary world—we were literally travelling everywhere.
Walking through America Zone is like walking through Washington, D.C. and New York City all at once, with Florida¡¯s space shuttle launch site as a bonus. Kuala Lumpur¡¯s famous Petronas Towers, from the neighbouring Asia Zone, effortlessly blend in with the New York City skyline. The Asia Zone has some other amazing sites. Approaching one exhibit (a black, sprawling complex) my friend and I both gasped at its beauty. Reading the sign, we realized it was Angkor Wat, the 12th-century temple in Cambodia. We both immediately put it on our list of places we must visit once we were back in the real world. Even in miniature form, Angkor Wat is impressive, to say the least. Arriving into the Korea Zone, our around-the-world-in-80-minutes adventure was complete; faster, cheaper, and easier than Phileas Fogg ever could have done it.
There¡¯s more than just Aiins World to see in Bucheon; it¡¯s easy to make a whole day exploration of the city. Bucheon has a surprisingly large number of museums, including a water museum, glass and stoneware museum, and nature museum. My friend and I checked out the Korea Comic Museum, located near the Bucheon Leisure and Sport Park and stadium. While there are no English signs to be found, we continued the fun by posing with the various cartoon characters in the small museum. For a silly and unique daytrip, Bucheon is a great place to go.
Getting There and More Information
From exit 2 of Songnae Station (Line 1), take city bus No. 5-2 or 90 and get off at Aiins World (15 min ride). Or, it¡¯s a 5-10 minute taxi ride from Songnae Station to the theme park. Aiins World is open every day from 09.30 to 22.00. At the stadium and sports park, follow the signs and the colourful cartoon drawings on the ground to get to the Korea Comic Museum.
For more information, check out Aiins World¡¯s website at http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=257684, and more information about Bucheon and its attractions can be found at www.bucheon.go.kr/en/index.jsp.
