travel: South Korea 2013 Day 7: Seoul: Namsan Tower, Hongdae

Our trip is closing to an end and today is the last full day for us to spend in Seoul, as tomorrow night we will be flying back to Sydney. Planning to just relax and stroll around the neigborhood (and try to not swipe the credit card for more shopping..).

We went to Seoul Tower / Namsan Tower, than can be reached by taking the cable car (you can also walk all the way up, but hey, I am lazy) which location located around 10 minutes walk from MyeongDong.

the cable car station

Upon reaching the station at Namsan Tower, you can see the guards dressed in their traditional attires ad simulating their guarding duty during the old days. There is also a free service to try on Korean hanbok.

Hey, Free and I are best friends

Damn. How short are we compared to that guard

We opted to visit the Teddy Bear museum also located in the tower (you have to visit the museum first before going up to the observatory). The ticket for both the museum and the observatory costs KRW14000 per adult. The teddy bear museum showcases the old era and modern era of Korea - teddy bear style.

Love it. The extra details they put into the dioramas are crazy.

the poor bear! she fell and broke the dishes

Then the modern era...

guess who

Observatory is pretty meh... . Been to HongKong and Taipei, I think I have started to think all high observatories are pretty much the same. However the view would have been gorgeous in the midst of spring time (where all trees should be blooming flowers or ripe with greens and can be viewed from up high). But apart from that, there are only tall buildings around. Viewing this during night time when the city lights light up would be better I think... .

But trust the South Koreans to make the best of everything and make them as cute as possible. Check these pictures out: those are locks hung on the trees and fences, written with affectionate words of couples, families, and friends. Some are so rusty indicating they have been there for a long time. We were tempted to add a lock of our own, but could not think of words to write... :P

Then we headed back down via the cable car and had some KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) at TwoTwo. You cannot miss this place when heading back to the station.

Total damage: KRW16000 (for half garlic chicken & half spicy chicken)

MyeongDong is always alive

After heavy but heavenly lunch of fried chicken, we headed to Hongdae (Hongik University station) to go to Trick Eye Museum. I think it is enough to visit this place just once. Be creative, take lots of pictures, move on.

There won't be many pictures posted in this blog for our visit to the Trick Eye museum as they are mainly of us being idiots and I prefer being idiots around my circle of friends, not on a public blog... :D
But basically the place has lots of 3D pictures that you can pose with to create comical effects depending on your pose.

Hongdae is full of trendy young people and it certainly is not difficult to find someplace to eat. We had dinner at a place called 'Meat-ing' - a korean BBQ all you can eat that only costs KRW10800 per person for dinner time (lunch cost around KRW9000 I think, forgot how much exactly). Cheap or what. They have all assortments of meat, side dishes, and fruits as well. My camera battery went dead though (and we left the spare at the guesthouse). We took some pictures via iphone, but I am too lazy to upload them now :P