I’m slowly starting to come to terms with the fact that we now have just over two months left on the Peninsula. We’ve got movers scheduled and flights booked, so things are getting real over here. All this really means is that my bucket list is constantly being added and subtracted to. At this rate, we’ll have to go on a MINIMUN of three adventures a week to make it through my entire list. I realize that’s not feasible with five kids, so I’ll have to settle with just doing what we can and accepting that we won’t get to everything. BUT, we did manage to check one major thing off the bucket list while my parents were in town: visit an animal café.
Bird Sori Parrot Café in Sosabeol
If you’ve been following along for a while, you might recall me talking about cafés and Korea. It seems that there is a café on just about every corner here and there are all different kinds. Kid’s cafés (remember Naughty Child Café in Cheonan?), themed cafés, and then of course… animal cafés. My only real struggle with visiting an animal café is that some of them don’t allow children. And if they DO allow children, they often don’t allow YOUNG children. And as a mother of some young children who are USUALLY in tow: that becomes a problem for me. So when I learned from my friend over at Loving Life Moore that Bird Sori Café doesn’t have any age requirements, you can bet I tucked it away for a visit later!
When we showed up, we were the only visitors – and we remained the only visitors for our entire stay. This made for a really personal experience with the birds – which we absolutely didn’t hate. At one point, we had 10 birds at our table, so we all had a bird or two on our arms (or heads). I was impressed by how well the kids were handling the birds – our two-year-old was the only one that got a little bothered and that was only after we’d already been there for about 40 minutes.
As for me, I was surprised at how much I loved playing with the birds and how comfortable I was with them. Honestly, birds kind of freak me out, but for the most part these were so gentle and sweet – of course, they bit and pecked some, but none of it was too bad.
We pretty much just let all the birds do their thing, although after two of them pooped in my hair, we stopped letting them sit on our heads. Still, it was a memorable and fun experience (poop and all) that I’m so glad we were able to have. We plan to go back next month when some family members come visit so we can experience it all over again!
’til next time…
Ash
How to visit Bird Sori Café in Sosabeol
Directions & Parking: There is a parking garage underneath Bird Sori Café. You can access it by pasting 경기 평택시 비전동 into Naver or by using this link to the Baedari Garden Parking Lot Entrance. The cafe is located on the third floor of the building (use this link for directions to Bird Sori Café).
Cost:
Admission
₩8,000 per person for one hour
Food for birds
₩3,500 per cup
Age restrictions:
There are no age restrictions, anyone over 16 months must pay admission.
Things to know before you go: The birds are well taken care of and are mostly gentle. They will bite occasionally, although it usually didn’t hurt. Except for occasional pecks to the neck that didn’t feel very good (and actually did break the skin on one of our kids) they were mostly harmless. Be aware that, although the birds are very used to people, you’re still dealing with animals. Be prepared to be pooped on and take full advantage of the wipes provided for you at your table.
