Summer is in full swing on the Pen and, while I’d like to be outside hitting all the hiking trails, monsoon season continues to hit at full force. So we’ve postponed all of our hiking and looked for more indoor activities and adventures to enjoy as a family. The Asan Ecological Environment Insect Museum has been on my list for a while, and it fit the bill. So on a VERY rainy Saturday, we decided it was a good time to go.
Asan Ecological Environment Insect Museum
The Asan Ecological Insect Center (it goes by many different variations of its name) is only about 30-40 minutes away from Camp Humphreys. It’s an easy enough drive – with no expressways and no tolls to get there. We headed out in the early afternoon and arrived at the center by about 1:30pm. After wandering through the square for a bit, we finally found the right center. It’s really not difficult to find – we just weren’t aware at the time that the giant tower was part of the Insect Museum. So to make it easier for you: got to the building with the giant tower – you can’t miss it!
We went inside – grateful to be out of the rain – and purchased our tickets. It was only ₩14,000 (about $11) for our entire family which felt like a steal! We started off in the front display room, where they have incredible exhibits of giant insects – the world’s largest rhinoceros beetle, giant butterflies and stick bugs, and cocoons that you can actually help spin. The kids could have spent hours just in that room alone – even H who just kept pointing to the butterflies and saying “burrfry dead.”
The next exhibit hall was decorated with all kinds of variety of palm trees and tropical plants – it was hard not to feel like we’d just entered a jungle. The kids immediately located the Doctor Fish exhibit – a tank of water swarming with Garra Rufa fish (who are sometimes called “Doctor Fish). The cool thing about this exhibit? It’s completely hands-on… LITERALLY. You can stick your hands into the water and the fish will eat the dead skin off of your hands. The kids were laughing hysterically the entire time – and we ended up making one more stop to the Doctor Fish before we headed up into the tower at the end of our trip. And honestly, that $11 we spent on admission would have been worth it JUST for the Doctor Fish experience.
After forcefully removing our children from the Doctor Fish (slight exaggeration), we made our way into the hall with different animals: meerkats, macaws, prairie dogs, and something that looked like some kind of anteater, but the translation said “raccoon dog.” This, however, was not a Tanuki, which is the animal that is typically referred to as a raccoon dog. So it remains a mystery what the animal was. After tormenting the peacocks (Brandon thinks it’s hilarious to play bird sounds from his phone), we went into the actual insect hall. They had a dirt pit with caterpillars that you could pick up and hold. And while I didn’t personally handle the creepy-crawlies, the kids had a blast. In addition to the caterpillars, they got to hold giant beetles – which was a whole experience on its own.
There were so many exhibits and so much to see at the museum – I obviously can’t share every detail and ever picture I took. But we spent almost two hours inside the museum before we hopped on the elevator to take us to the top of Green Tower. And honestly, I think that Korea really likes their towers. I’ve now been to the top of Seoul Tower, Lotte World Tower, and now Green Tower – and they are all more-or-less the same. Still, nothing beats the views from the top and it’s totally worth going up – especially since it’s included in the admission price for the museum!
On the floor above the observation deck there is a restaurant. We didn’t patronize the restaurant as we’re trying to save SOME money (we get to purchase two cars when we move back to the States… so that will be super fun) and we had plenty of food at home. Still, the picture we saw advertising the restaurant had a large variety of different foods and they all looked delicious.
Whether it’s a warm sunny day, or a gloomy rainy one, a visit to the Asan Ecological Environment Insect Museum makes for a great day. When it’s warm, there are giant insect and animal statues outside to pose with, as well as a full playground right in front of the Jang Yeong-Sil Science Museum. But even if you opt to visit on a rainy or cold day (like we did), there is so much to see and do inside the museum that you won’t be disappointed.
’til next time…
Ash
How to visit the Asan Ecological Environment Insect Museum
Directions: Paste 충청남도 아산시 배미동 15-3 into Naver and it will take you to the museum campus. There are a couple different museums, but you’ll want to head to the one that is attached to the giant tower.
Parking: There are multiple parking lots around the museums – all of which are free to park in.
Cost:
Ecological Insect Center + Green Tower Admission
Adults – ₩3,000
Children and Youth – ₩2,000
Children under 3 – FREE
Ecological Insect Center + Green Tower Admission *DISCOUNT ADMISSION
Adults – ₩2,000
Children and Youth – ₩1,500
Children under 3 – FREE
Green Tower Entrance ONLY
Adults – ₩500
Children and Youth – ₩300
Children under 3 – FREE
Combo Admission: Ecological Insect Center + Green Tower Admission + Jang Yeong-Sil Science Museum
Adults – ₩5,000
Children and Youth – ₩3,200
Children under 3 – FREE
Combo Admission *DISCOUNT ADMISSION
Adults – ₩3,200
Children and Youth – ₩2,300
Children under 3 – FREE
*Discount Admission applies to: groups of 20 or more, Asan citizens, soldiers, 65-years or older
Hours:
Hours of operation are subject to change any time without notice. Times listed are accurate according to information available at the time of this posting.
Tuesday – Sunday: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Mondays: CLOSED
Know before you go: Each exhibit had an explanation of it beside it. However, the explanations were ALL in Korean. We were surprised that they didn’t have English as well, but we weren’t bothered (since we are in Korea after all). Have Google Translate or Papago ready to go and you won’t miss out on anything!
