While the War Memorial of Korea is the largest war memorial in the world, my primary destination was actually a place called Funique (website only in Korean). Incongruously located inside the War Memorial in an area near the souvenir shop, Funique contains a number of fun and unique items made available mostly for the younger set (read: kids). That’s not to say adults can’t have a fun time as well – in fact I dare say this would be a great place to take a date.

I would be negligent in my blogging duties if I didn’t at least mention the War Memorial – here is the outdoors portion in full living color:

A row of tanks used during the Korean war. The front-most is a GAZ-51 truck used by the Soviets – a 2 1/2 ton vehicle produced by the Soviets, according to the sign.

An LVT-P7 – a vehicle from the USA starting in 1974 (again, from a sign describing the exhibit)

Inside the cockpit of the tank – look at the forward seat and imagine actually sitting at the seat having little more than a viewfinder-sized view of the field ahead of you.

Described as the “Tower of Korean War”, the tall structure at right describes symbolizes “the image of a bronze sword and a tree of life”.

A grand view of the War Memorial sans memorials – the 60 you see in the center of the picture refers to the 60th anniversary of South Korea’s first republic after World War II.

Just a selection of the planes shown – note the Seoul Tower in the background.

An F-86D Fighter, introduced in February 1960.

Part of the Memorial. Between each stone pillar stands a black marble pillar with the names of every soldier that died during the Korean war – every name amongst the hundreds of thousands of Korean, UN Forces, and all.

The panels of Americans that died during the Korean war stretched 200-300 meters. The quote reads thus: “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend they never knew and a people they never met.” What’s interesting is that quote is largest in English; the Korean meaning the same plays second fiddle.

The entrance to the War Memorial – I didn’t enter only because my priorities were elsewhere.

The Funique House was promoted as a place to see some unique inventions and a hands-on experience with the exhibits.

An inverse mold that seemed to be staring at you no matter where you looked. Instead of protruding from the wall, this one sank into it,

A robotic hand playing the piano? Sure, why not?

An interesting instrument – no idea as the name, but it resembled a xylophone in that you used a striker / hammer to hit the metal plates. What made this instrument different was that each group of three metal plates rang a different chord – a C chord, a G chord, and others.

Another curious instrument – resembling a music box where the user turned a crank on the outside to move the cylinder to the left. The pegs looked like they could be repositioned whenever it was time for a new song.

Ever wanted to use the power of the sun to cook dinner? Apparently, this solar cooker was meant to do just that – yes, that’s a crock pot in the middle.

A box of tissues – but take a closer look where the tissue comes out.

A pair of sandals with an interesting pattern on the bottom. Imagine walking along the sands of your favorite beach with the message you’re sending with these sandals.

No, that’s not me undergoing some form of torture – in fact, the yellow thing on my head is a scalp / head massager. Use the black handles to pull it up and down your head – it felt really good, actually…

An ingenious wine glass – not sure which glass to use? Just turn the wrong side upside down to serve as the base of the glass.

A huge kaleidoscope – want to see what’s inside?

Nothing special to see except the scale – but still interesting.

A few ‘warped’ clocks – take a closer look at that clock on the left. All the clocks were accurate, for the record.

A Korean furiously rubs the side of a large metal bowl holding water trying to produce some sound from it.

You know those Newton’s Cradles on your co-workers desk? This is the life-sized version.

The Funique museum is worth checking out – especially on a cold Saturday when visiting a park is too cold to do. What was more interesting, however, was the Rolling Ball Museum (a seperate admission ticket):

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect – hopefully some interactive parts amidst some professionally designs.

Quite a few designs were fascinating – the two pictures above are of a very large wall clock showing the time based on where the balls were. Take a close look – it’s pretty easy to figure out what time it is.

Some of many creations by Matthew Gauldren, a master of the art.

“A sound of the bell” by Stan Bennet – the marble sometimes hits the bell, creating a rather satisfying ‘ding!’ sound.

“Vertical Roller Coaster”, by Matthew Gauldren – before you knew it the ball would shoot down the dive, almost out of sight without an especially good set of eyes.

“Sound Track” – the marble strikes several tones of a xylophone and a number of metal plates.

At this point, I transitioned into the ‘try-it-yourself’ part of the exhibit. This part was not behind protective glass and more put-the-ball-in-the-hole type of things.

This section started off big – easily 3 meters long, 2 1/2 meters tall, and 2 meters wide – with enough metal to ensure an entire steel plant stays employed.

Just a sampling of the ‘try-it-yourself’ side of things – literally dozens of wooden forms to just drop the ball and see what happens.

Within ‘The Dream of Automata’, a poster begins to explain how these things work (you’ll see what things I’m talking about in a few pictures).

A close-up example of a gear in work – turn the crank for yourself.

A couple examples of the automata in question. They’re behind some glass, so push a button to activate the small electric motor that makes them ‘run’.

Some great artwork – the two wooden pieces run opposite each other, which naturally create some interesting shadows.

A number of exercises using pieces you can put together on the wall to watch the ball run down.

Watch as the kids poke the balls from the underside of the table – the only way to actually move the balls.

Move the tubes down to make the balls move around (the velcro is a lot of fun)

In the end, the day was a lot of fun – while Funique was interesting, the Rolling Ball Museum stole the show with the boundless amounts of creativity / fun, as well as the chance to really feel like a kid again.