I was texting a friend on Kakaotalk last week when I noticed his profile photo was of a rubber duck! I thought, "Hey, I've seen this before," thinking back to the number of photos I saw online of a similar duck floating around the Hong Kong harbor. Could it be that bright yellow rubber duckie has made its way to Korea? It's true! I don't know why it made me so happy, but it did. I'm glad I made it out to see it before the little duckie floated off to its next destination.   

It's just so cute! Its beak is curved ever so slightly, almost as if it's smiling. And it's so massive! The world is its bathtub.

I've never seen so many selfie sticks in my life. While I didn't have one myself,I found a pretty good spot to take a photo. Pics or it didn't happen, right? It was a stressful process to say the least.. If you stand there for more than 30 seconds, people will stare at you until you get out. I guess they wanted their own turn? Patience is a virtue, kids.

As soon as I took a step back, this happened. See what I mean now? 

I heard that the duck represents world peace. Here's the description taken directly from artist Florentjin Hofman's webpage: The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation. The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages.

I smiled every time I looked at it, so I can attest to its "healing properties." I wish I had gotten something from the souvenir shop to remember it by, but I guess these photos will just have to do. The rubber duckie will be up in Seokcho Lake by Lotte World until this Friday, November 14th, then it'll float on its merry way elsewhere.