Gwangmyeong Cave: Miracle of an Abandoned Mine - South Korea
This hidden gem located southwest of Seoul is the largest themed cave in South Korea, probably because it's an abandoned mine. It's different from any other cave that I've visited in America. It was a magical cave.
A normal cave tour consists of stalactites and stalagmites, the spikes that hang down from the ceiling and vice versa. I don't remember which is which and always need to look it up. They also have boring lighting, built in wood steps and maybe even some limestone formations you can't touch or you'll be fined and booed at. This cave was very different.
Even the trail to the cave was adorned with neat things. Someone made Hangul letters out of the hedge bushes. Google translate was unable to instantly translate the letters and I didn't care enough to find out. They had the cave mascots outside to take a picture with, two magic fairies and a deer statue. I don't know if they're part of pop culture somehow or were invented for the cave.
Further up and past the food court was the entrance to the cave. It felt like you were standing in front of an air conditioner. One where the owner was bold and didn't care about the electric bill. I even thought there was one for a second. It felt like 65 degrees blowing out of the cave. The entrance fee was about $6 for an adult and $2 for anyone under six years old.
Inside was a long entrance paved with stone bricks, a low hanging ceiling at different points and two drains with a steady stream of water receding. The ceiling was wet and would drop water down on you. I only got hit in the eye once while I was in there. The air wasn't as musky or humid as I predicted. I think it was even less humid inside.
After the long entrance pathway there was a tunnel of lights, numerous decorative items and lighted waterfalls in the cave. The employees did some crowd control because of covid. Most of the narrow passage ways were only about 7 feet tall, with low overhangs that I had to duck under.
About halfway through was the fairy mascot, a treasure room and a wishing area where you could buy a wish for $5. There were several wishing areas. There were also two light based shows, one we skipped because it was too scary for a three year old, the other one had moving images projected onto the rock side. It was reminiscent of those Disney movies that show a character's backstory by animated cave drawings.
We descended further into the cave and at what point I asked our guide friend if it had an elevator at the end. Nope. However, the ascent had different scenery. She said a very famous dragon was at the bottom of the cave and all I could think of was Smaug, the Lord of the Rings dragon, but knew it was very unlikely.
It was Smaug! It was also the canonically incorrect Gollum near the dragon. I didn't nerd out at my wife how that didn't happen in the books or movies, as I was very happy to see him there. It was completely confusing. They also had the hulk in there, just because, and a replica of the Gandalf staff.
At the end of the exhibit there was a bit of history about the cave. Korea doesn't hide their history, so it was perfectly fine having statues of Koreans being subjugated and tortured by the Japanese to mine the cave of metals. I found it a bit alarming. I didn't take pictures of the statues, only the informative plaques.
I researched the cave later and discovered that the cave still likely has a lot of unearthed gold. They also collect the coins from the numerous wishing wells to pay for children's scholarships.
The entire cave was beautifully decorated as seen above and had a lot of little stops to take great pictures of my daughter.
The stairs were a little too much for a three year old so I was carrying her up and down them too much for my endurance level.
Thank you for the read and any upvotes!