I went inside creepy abandoned theme park with crumbling rides and feral cats

Two smoking men, 30 stray cats and a mechanical goose watched me as I strained against the merry-go-round. A couple of heaves later and the rusting carousel began to move, encouraging the dusty horses into a slow, undulating trot. Fifteen years ago, it didn't require its riders to pull a muscle to make it spin. The ride was part of the bustling family-run theme park Yongma Land in Seoul's Jungnang District. The funfair opened in the early 80s and was a big success, before competition from the nearby, high-tech Lotte World and the IMF crisis of the late 90s brought the good times to an end. The power was switched off, the gates were shut and a colony of feral cats moved in in the place of screaming children. But that wasn't the end of the story for Yongma Land. The park's canny owners realised there was a place for the mothballed thrill zone on the tourist trail. They reopened the doors, offering visitors the chance to explore for 5,000 Korean won (£2.50). I arrived on a hot morning in the middle of April and approached the tall iron gates, the words 'Welcome Magic Land' sitting at the top. A blind cat lounging in the sunshine yawned before a man with a set of keys appeared. "Come in?" he asked, gesturing a welcome. I was the first to arrive for the day and quickly discovered what a weird place Yongma Land is. Having been left just as it was when it closed, the rides are slowly crumbling into the ground. The paint on a large rotating octopus is flaking and now a stained yellow. Eight legs still support carts at their tips, but the central head appears shrivelled with manic, wonky eyes. A collection of random solo rides more often seen outside Tesco Extras are dotted around the park: a sun-bleached Union Flag racing car, a filthy yellow submarine and a troubled-seeming Father Christmas among their number. Keen to get a better vantage point, I asked the owner if I could climb onto the long dry-docked pirate ship. He takes a puff before shrugging his consent. I'm similarly allowed up onto the spinning disk. This ultra-relaxed attitude is a surprise to encounter in Seoul, which is the most rule-driven place I've ever visited. It's a city of countless signs forbidding smoking, dog walking, hiking without a flashlight. It's a city where jaywalking is as difficult to encounter as a sub-£5 London pint. Despite a complete absence of public bins, street litter simply does not exist. Yongma Land could not be more different. Health and safety rules appear not to count here, while a shabbiness very at odds with the South Korean character has been fully embraced. This may explain why it's proved such a hit. And not just with the local cats. K-pop megastars BTS and Blackpink are just two of the many acts who've filmed music videos here, while hit shows The Sound of Magic and Cafe Minamdang have used the rusty rides as locations. It's also a popular wedding photography spot, as I discovered when a perfectly made-up bride and her groom began busting poses in the shadow of the octopus. The existence of a large, abandoned theme park with very few patrons, in one of the most densely populated, highest-tech cities on Earth is curious. But then, a lot about Seoul is. The ultra-high-rise city of 10 million packs three times as many people into each square mile as London. They live in a glittering neon metropolis that puts Piccadilly Circus to shame in parts, while in others, it ascends to picteresque, cherry-blossom scattered heights of natural bliss thanks to the central Namsan Mountain. You might think this combination of beauty and modernity would come at a cost, but Seoul is breathtakingly cheap (at least for a British tourist). A half-hour cab ride costs £5, a round of five beers a tenner, and a suitcase of cutting-edge cosmetics a third of what you'd pay in the UK. The question is whether these good times are about to end. The world’s 12th-largest economy has been hit hard by the global energy crisis. Its oil reserves are running so low that state employees are banned from driving on one day of the week and washing machines should only be used at the weekend. President Lee Jae Myung has said the Iran conflict has created a “war-like situation” for Koreans. Like Yongma Land, South Korea genuinely faces a future in which it might have to switch off the lights. Tickets can be bought on the door for 5,000 won (£2.50). Photography permission may cost more, depending on how the owners are feeling. Inside Asia offers tours of Seoul in general and Yongma Land specifically. Virgin Atlantic flies from London Heathrow to Seoul daily.