Namsan Tower (tandem biking will have to wait)

Last weekend, we finally followed through with Amy's dream of visiting Namsan Tower - the big tower sitting atop a hill in Seoul overlooking Itaewon, Myeongdong, etc etc etc. If you check the pictures from the Skyway, you'll see it lit up atop a hill in one of those.

Namsan tower is fairly new. It's got amazing views of the city, boasts a restaurant, a few museums, and a post office (yes, I sent a few post cards - if you didn't get one it's because I didn't know your address from memory (or I don't know you), sorry). It's a steep walk up a hill to get to the cable car, or you can hike the mountain up. We took the cable car, which was a massive line too, but for 6000 won (about $6) it was worth it, even though it was scary and the line was long.

We had to wait a long time, and when you reach the end of the line, they cram as many of you into the thing as possible, and it swings on the way up. There were maybe 25 to 30 of us crammed into this little box:



When you reach the top, there's a few more steps to climb to the main top place, which is where the tower, the museums, and a Coldstone is (you cannot escape this place whereever you are). There's a Teddy Bear Museum, a pagoda, and a nice gradual walk down the other side to the bus stops (you can get buses from Itaewon and from Myeongdong). WE got there right when the sun was starting to go down, so we took our pictures, ate some hurricane potatoes (they're fried potatoes twisted in a spiral up a skewer and coated in powdered cheese, yum!), and paid to get into the tower, which boasts a very very fast elevator. Since the ride is so smooth, to remind you it's fast, they make you stare at the ceiling, where an image of you blasting into space is projected, but other than that, it's not that cool.


Inside the cable car, that's Seoul on the Myeongdong side below


View from the base of the tower


Namsan Tower


Brooke and Beks at the tower


Amy at the tower


The pagoda as the sun set

At the base of the tower are a bunch of wire trees, to which thousands of padlocks are attached. These padlocks are left by couples, sometimes with messages, always signed and dated, and it's supposed to represent being together forever. There's also some rubber phone cases for longer messages attached to the trees with the locks.


The padlock trees

Inside the tower, when you get up there, is a cafe and an observatory, which looks out in all directions over the entirety of Seoul. We made it in time to watch the sun set from the tower over the last of the hills, and then we sent off a few postcards. We found Denver, and London too, and Brooke found Australia (that's where she's from), and the views were spectacular.















After we made our way down the hill to the bus stop, we got a few final looks at the tower.








Next Post: Tandem Biking, and Snoop Dogg in concert at the Olympic Park!


-Sam

Mum and Dad's Visit! - the Skyway and Seoullung Tombs

My mum and dad stayed for ten days. After returning from Busan, we met with a work colleague of Dad's and his wife, and they took us to a lot of places around Seoul. We had an amazing barbecue dinner. There was so much food on the table and they kept bringing it that when we were done it just looked like we'd not even touch it!

Afterward, we went and drove the Skyway to look at Seoul from the top of the mountains. What a view! The pictures don't do the place justice. On the way back down, we stopped by a place for tea, but it was closed. It was an old Geisha house turned into a tea house on the side of the mountain all with old architecture and traditional pathways and soju-making jars. Even though we couldn't go in, that was really cool too. Then we ended the night by finally getting tea and cake at a little coffee shop near the President's house.


Gate of Gyeongbokgung, the big palace in Seoul.


A look over Seoul from the Skyway.


Seoul from the Skyway.

Later that week, we visited the Seoullung Tomb, which was a little green forest in the middle of the towering landscape of Seoul. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to two former emperors and a queen of the Joseon Dynasty in Korea, and it's a really pretty place. The pamphlet tells the story of the first king, King Seongjong, who Dad said "sounded like a fairly decent guy" was into poetry. He wasn't the oldest son, instead coming to power because of his granny and mum, who worked pretty hard to get him there and help him keep power. He was apparently a fairly good, well-liked ruler, who tried to be good for everyone. His second wife, Queen Jonghyeon, is buried with him at the site, as well as their son, Jungjong, who became King himself after his father's death (he was less successful than his father, and he came to power after his half-brother was overthrown in a coup, I believe the story was).

The tombs are really well taken care of, with spirit roads from T-Shrines to allow for the passage of the dead. Rites are still held at the tombs for these departed monarchs, but nothing was going on the day we stopped by. It was so quiet and nice, with blossoms on the trees, that I immediately fell in love with the place, because it's not often in Korea you encounter such quiet places without anyone else around. If I get the chance, I'd like to go back again, because it's one of the few places in Seoul that really seems peaceful.

Pictures of Seolleung:




NEXT TIME: BLOSSOMS!!!

Bundaegi and Hongdae

Sorry for the week's delay in this post. I've been busy with tests at school. As a result I've stayed at home a lot recently, but I do have a few adventures to share.

Last weekend, Van, Amy, and I went out with Rebekah and Karla for a few drinks and dinner. That was all well and good until Rebekah and Karla turned in for the night and then things went a little crazy. Amy and Van decided we should head down to a little place near Rhythm and Booze, the local foreigner bar, where they serve Bundaegi. Bundaegi, for those who are not aware are roasted silkworm larvae. Since they'd both tried some the weekend before when I couldn't go out, they decided it was my turn.

So here's how that turned out:

Yes, that's right. I ate one. Only one. They tasted really weird, like slightly sweet and slightly sour, but also at the same time I couldn't get over the fact that the things had faces. The fish on the table was treated with about as much disdain but after eating a bug I figured I'd have to at least try that as well, and decided that in hindsight, fish is not that bad. Silkworms, though, are off the menu for now.

After that adventure, this weekend, we ended up going out for drinks on friday night with some of the guys from work. We ended up at a club, which was an experience, and then finally a sake bar. In all, I spent only about $15 the whole night. At the Sake Bar, a trio of Korean men decided that they were in love with my smile and told me I had beautiful eyes, and refused after that to let us pay for ourselves. They kept wanting to drink and talk, so with the brother of a Korean friend playing translator we passed quite a great evening all said and done with them all.

Yesterday we went into Hongdae, the hipster part of Seoul, which is packed with bars, clubs, and late-night market stalls. We were going to go a silly art museum with funny artwork, but instead we ended up just wandering around and found ourselves in a place called the Fuzzle club, which was done up to look like a dorm room, with lofted beds above glowing tables, disco balls on the ceiling, and mismatched dorm room type furniture all over the place. Amy was thrilled to find gin and tonic, but overall we didn't drink too much, instead just wandering around, and finally caught the last subway home to Bucheon in time to get some hot chocolate.

Today we stayed in and watched Murray and Djokovic playing in the Australian Open in tennis. This upcoming week we finish intensives, and our kids have a graduation ceremony. Next weekend, Amy and I are going to head back to the art museum.

Until then, that's all folks!

Itaewon and Tim Burton

Today was one of those days where a lot of different things happened. Amy, Van, and I headed out at 11am to Itaewon, which is a part of Seoul known for selling clothes in so-called "Big Sizes" for Westerners. It's located near the military bases in Seoul, and turned out to be quite a seedy, dirty sort of place. Compared to the rest of what I've seen of Korea, I was quite disappointed by it all. The place was full of t-shirts with slogans complaining about being based in Korea, or over-priced merchandise because the Hilton Hotel was in the area too. It was also full of miserable, rude people who would wander around the streets loudly and complain of the place being "provincial" or who would say "It's locked. That's why he has to come and open it" when we stopped by to go into a shop (the man did unlock the shop at that point, but there wasn't a sign or anything, and there was no need for this American man to be such a smarmy so-and-so to someone who was just going to try and enter a shop. If it hadn't been for the shock of what he said, Amy and I both would probably have gone for him at that point.

All in all, Itaewon's not really worth a visit unless you absolutely must go there for something you absolutely cannot find anywhere else. It's filthy and old and full of people who hate life and the world. Avoid it if you can. Compared to Myeong-dong or the shops in Bucheon, it's really a horrible place to be.

After Itaewon, we met up with Brooke and Beks to visit the Tim Burton exhibit at the Seoul Art Museum. Tim Burton, for those of you who do not know, did the Nightmare Before Christmas, the Corpse Bride, and most recently Alice in Wonderland and Frankenweenie. He's known for dark humor and stop-motion animation. The exhibit was a continuation of one that had been originally done in the U.s. (primarily in New York). As the only Asian stop, Seoul's Art Museum was really popular, so popular in fact that it was hard just trying to get into the place. Tickets were 12,000won each, or about $12, and then there were so many sold they had to break up the number of people into groups of 100 to let in at a time so they didn't get overpacked. So we had an hour and a half wait before we got in. It was really good though, showing old work he'd drawn on napkins and paintings he did when he was younger all the way through the original Batman costumes, Edward Scissorhands props from the movies, and stop-animation clay figures used for the films themselves. As an artist, he really is an interesting piece of work. There was one wall covered in drawings he'd done of idioms taken literally. So flossing between the ears was someone actually running floss between their ears, and "Jen and Joe like to hold hands" was a picture of people just holding extra hands.

The front gate.

Part of the exterior.

Another part of the exterior.

The characters sitting in the windows.

Amy, Brooke, and Beks while we were waiting in line for tickets.

Then on our way home in the subway station we ended up being interrogated by an elderly drunk man who wanted to practice his English. When he learned we were teachers he wanted to buy us all coffee, and we couldn't avoid him, so we ended up with coffee we didn't really want. He then informed Brooke that she was fat and that was frowned upon in Korea, but that she also had "a real treasure, and would be powerful" whatever that meant. Somedays Korea can be a really weird place. After escaping him with our unwanted coffee (he wasn't a threat, he was just way too friendly, and over here they just tell you what they think straight away), we finally managed to make it home, or at least to the next station for dinner at a Japanese burger place called Mos Burger, which sells Melon soda. It tasted a bit like jolly rangers watermelon flavor, so I didn't have more than a sip, but the food was nice, and we had onion rings.

By that time we were finally worn out and it was 8:00 at night, so we headed back on the train to go home, and that leads us to this point.

Tomorrow we shall go and see about getting hair cut, but for now, that's me, signing off. :)