On the same day, I realized that N Tower is just next to Myeong-dong. We walked from Myeong-dong Guest House to Namsan cable car station. The slopes were slippery due to the snow. Along the way, there are plenty of restaurants selling dongkatsu. We took dongkatsu at one of the restaurants as our breakfast and it was not bad.
We continued with our journey to Namsan cable car station after our breakfast. It was just a short way from the restaurant. One way is 6,000 won and the return fare is 7,500 won. The scenery at Namsan Park and the N Tower was very beautiful. There are a lot of decorations there due to Christmas and New Year. I was very excited when I saw two huge polar bears with Santa hats in front of N Tower. They were cute but not nice to hug.
There is a Teddy Bear Museum in N Tower so we bought the observatory package consisting of the admission to Teddy Bear Museum and the N Tower observatory at 12,000 won. If purchase separately, it will be 8,000 won each.
Teddy Bear Museum was amazing and the bears in costumes were extremely cute. If you are a fan of a 2005 Korean drama called Gung or Princess Hours, you will be thrilled to see the teddy bears in the museum. The museum is separated into two sessions and be sure that you visited both. View at the observatory was not spectacular. At least I was not impressed.
Namsan Park is also reachable by bus. From the N Tower, turn right and walk all the way down till you see some buses. We took bus no. 2 to the Korean traditional village at 800 won.
We had lunch in one of the restaurants beside the bus stop near the Korean traditional village (Namsangol Hanok Village) and it was the worst Korean meal I ever had. It was tasteless and Korean dishes are not meant to be like that. Strictly not recommended!
Admission to the Korean traditional village is free. On New Year’s day, there was a ice sculptures exhibition. It is rabbit year and there were some rabbit sculptures. In the village, there are free games and Koreans dressing up in traditional costumes. It is an interesting place to visit for those who have not seen Korean traditional houses before.
Our last destination on New Year’s day was Myeong-dong. Myeong-dong is a huge shopping area with lots of shops, restaurants and people. Here, you can find a lot of street performers. We had dinner at a hidden restaurant near Uniqlo in Myeong-dong. This shop is recommended by Dr Andrew for its bibimbap. It costed 9,000 won each. We ordered a Korean style steamboat for 35,000 won (2 pax worth of portion). The side dishes consisted of seafood such as mini crabs. Although expensive, it was very delicious and we enjoyed it.
After dinner, we went for a major shopping and bought lots of cosmetic and souvenirs. There are many local brands for cosmetic here and they have a wide range of products, from lipstick to cleaner. Masks can be easily bought at around 1,000 won. I bought an eye shadow (two colours) for about RM10 and a lip gloss at around RM12. I bought a purple down jacket from Uniqlo for 79,900 won (around RM240) and like it very much.
P/s: Please note that in some tourism brochures, you can find some discount vouchers. For the Facebook, we manage to get a 5% off for purchase of 50,000 won and above. My bro got a 10% off as he purchased more than 100,000 won. Free colourful calendars were available as it was around New Year!
We had some soju and aloe vera after the long day. It was not that bad.
Day 7: Nami Island Lotte Mart
How to go to Nami Island?
Take a subway to Cheongyangni. From there, take a bus or train to Gapyong. The journey by train or bus (1330-3) from Cheongyangni is about 1.5 hour. At Cheongyangni bus station, there is a display for the waiting time. To take a train, go to a building with Lotte Mart near Cheongyangni bus station. Once reaching Gapyong, take a taxi to Nami Island jetty. The taxi costs around 4,000 won. Admission to Nami Island including the return ferry is 8,000 won.
Nami Island is a small and relaxing island. It was one of the filming locations of Winter Sonata and became famous after that. Along the walkways, you can see lots of tall, slim and straight trees. In the island, there are no electric poles. You can also find lots of fire place around. Food there is not very expensive as well. We ordered a bibimbap at 6,000 won each. (Okay, I know we have taken lots of bibimbap for the whole journey).
Bibimbap ingredients
Korean Pancake
Due to the traffic jam, we got back to Cheongyangni really late. It is recommended to the train instead. We had dinner at a food court near Lotte Mart and went for a quick shopping after that. This food mart consists of 3 levels! We bought some food at the first level and ran all with our might back to the hostel.
P/s: The food in Korea is comparatively not so expensive. They have more variety for biscuits and tea.
Throughout the whole journey, I would say that we were considerably lucky. We do not have to wait too long for buses and just-in-time for most of them. I dropped a lot of things due to the bulky and multi layer clothing. You tend to drop or loose something, which is quite frustrating.
See FB for more pics.
[THE END]
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