Wandering Fel

If you are a tour group participant, you don't have to walk all the way up to where Namsan Seoul Tower is located. However, you will still to walk for a bit since the bus can only bring you up to certain point. Thankfully we visited Namsan Park when it is still early in the morning and hence, it is not that hot yet since the sun can be so hot on a summer day. If you are watching Running Man, you may remember this episode where Jong Kook has to sing at the pavilion there. It is one of those early episodes of Running Man where Song Joong Ki is still a part of the Running Man family. Omo, look at how the time flies, Song Joong Ki is about to get married to Song Hye Kyo and I still could not find any man yet. O_o!

Prior to reaching Namsan Seoul Tower, you will the lushful greens of Namsan Park. It is one of the historical sites in Seoul and you will see on the right side of the picture below, the five beacons. The beacons are called Bonghwadae and this is were the center of capital defense used to be. To protect city from invasions, castle walls were built on mountains including Mt Namsan. The five beacons were built to report the news from local governments to the central government with a five signal system. Some kind of beacon coding must have been involved in the signalling system. 

One of the famous attraction at Namsan Park and Namsan Seoul Tower is the love padlocks. A lot of couples in Korea "sealed" their love in the love padlocks to the railing and then scribble a lovey-dovey message on the padlock with the hope that their love lasts forever. Few years back, I only see the love padlocks at the ground level of Namsan Seoul Tower. But I guess since it is a very popular activity in Korea, the number of the love padlocks is getting higher and higher every year and the area where love padlocks can be chained to has expanded to the viewing railings at Namsan Park. Love is all around Seoul I suppose. 

You can choose pretty much any kind of padlock. Some couples even "lock" their love on mobile phone casing. Well, technically you can write longer message on mobile phone casing. If you break up after locking a padlock together, are you supposed to trace back the padlock and remove it? Hmm, looking at the number of the padlocks locked, I suppose you can just move on from the old padlock together with the old flame. Oh gosh, relationship is hard. 

Oh oh, I saw a Gudetama padlock. Does that mean the love is kinda eggciting or just meh? After all Gudetama is a lazy egg and his famous line is "meh" and "I can't". Wait can it even talk actually?

We were somewhat too early for the admission to Namsan Seoul Tower and hence, the only thing we could do around Namsan Park is to wander around and view the scenery of Seoul from uphill. I have been to Namsan Seoul Tower so I guess I did not really care if we can or cannot enter the tower. But if you have not visited the tower before, let me do a brief explanation on the tower itself.

Namsan Seoul Tower is basically an observatory tower where you can view the 360 degrees view of Seoul and its surrounding cities. The tower is 480 metres above sea level and it was used as broadcast tower back in the 60s. Nowadays it is just a popular tourism site in Seoul. Teddy Bear Museum used to be in the plaza level of the tower but I think it has moved to other location. 

Other than the observatory, visitors can also go to Ssentoy Museum & Showroom and Hello Kitty Island which both are located at level 5 of the tower. A combined admission package is available for purchase at the ticketing booth. Ssentoy Museum & Showroom is apparently an exhibition of limited-edition toys which I suspect are highly valued for collection purpose. Visitors can buy certain collection too I think. Hello Kitty Island at Namsan Seoul Tower should be pretty much the same if not smaller than the one at Jeju Island. 

Some of the trees outside Namsan Seoul Tower have changed its color. The whole park must be quite beautiful on an autumn day. 

Namsan Seoul Tower's admission fees:

INDIVIDUAL ADMISSION

- Observatory: Adults 10,000 KRW/ Children 8,000 KRW

- Ssentoy Museum & Showroom: Adults 10,000 KRW/ Children 8,000 KRW

- Hello Kitty Island: Adults 8,000 KRW/ Children 7,000 KRW

PACKAGE ADMISSION

- Ssentoy Package (Observatory + Ssentoy Museum & Showroom): Adults 14,000 KRW/ Children 11,000 KRW

- Hello Kitty Package (Observatory + Hello Kitty Island): Adults 12,500 KRW/ Children 10,500 KRW

- 3 Type Package (Observatory + Ssentoy Museum + Hello Kitty Island): Adults 19,500 KRW/ Children 16,000 KRW

Adults: Older than 13 y.o.

Children: 3 - 12 y.o.

Namsan Seoul Tower's operating hours:

Sunday to Friday: 10AM - 11PM

Saturday: 10AM - 12AM

One of the Korean restaurants that I kinda miss is Gogung and I was so ecstatic to see the restaurant on the level 2 of this building in Myeongdong named Sunshine. I actually offered my Mom and Bro if they want to eat other things because Gogung is famous for its bibimbap and we have eated bibimbap before albeit it's a vegetable bibimbap. But it seems that they are pretty much tired after walking for so much in the past few days and decided to just go ahead with my suggestion. 

The restaurant is not crowded around 6PM on a weekday but diners are slowly coming in around 7PM-ish, probably it's because that's the timing where people knock off from work. Gogung Myeongdong is actually a branch for its main flagship restaurant at Jeonju and it specialises in Jeonju Bibimbap. Bibimbap has always been one of the most favourite Korean meals amongst tourists and Jeonju Bibimbap is considered one of the best food in Korea, up to the point that the country celebrates annual bibimbap festival at Jeonju. 

Gogung offers set meal which has quite good value of money. The set meal consists of one dolsot Jeonju bibimbap (hot stone bibimbap), one Jeonju traditional bibimbap (served on normal bowl), a choice of either seafood pajeon (pancake) or japchae (Korean clear glass noodle), salad, and two glasses of Makgeolli (Korean rice wine). The price of the set differs depend on what you want to have in your set. If I recall correctly, the price of the set meals is usually cheaper during the day. So if you want to be economical, you should visit Gogung for lunch instead. 

If you are ordering pajeon, remember that the size of the pajeon in Korea is big so unless you come to Gogung in starvation mode, the set meal for two people is good enough to be shared amongst three people. So if there is only two of you dining at Gogung, remember to come with empty stomach. I love the seafood pajeon served at Gogung because they do not skimp on the amount of seafood thrown into the pajeon. Yumz.

Bibimbap is supposedly a nutritious and healthy food comprised of rice with bean sprouts, five colors and five tastes with 30 kinds of ingredients including gingko, pine nut, chestnut, walnut and fresh vegetables (cucumbers, seaweed, mushroom, etc). The different between dolsot bibimbap and traditional bibimbap is that the meat will be cooked by the heat of the hot stone bowl used to serve the dolsot bibimbap. 

However, the Korean traditionally eat Jeonju bibimbap in its raw setting. So if you want to try the "original" taste of bibimbap, you should try the traditional Jeonju bibimbap. If you don't really like it raw, you can mix the egg and the meat to the dolsot bibimbap's hot-stone but then the two type of bibimbap will kinda taste similar to one another. 

I personally think bibimbap is one of the comfort food which cannot go wrong because of the magic sauce named Gochujang. It taste good enough to eat rice + fried rice + gochujang sauce, let along mixing all of them together with veggie and meat. Oh right, you know you are supposed to mix all the ingredients (despite they look oh-so-pretty in the bowl) together with the gochujang sauce before eating? Once they are all mixed up, it's time to pop them into your mouth. Massiseoyo~~

Gogung Myeongdong's address:

37, Myeongdong 8ga-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul

Operating hours:

Daily 10AM - 10PM

The admission fee to Trick Eye Museum also includes admission to Ice Museum, which is located at the exact opposite of Trick Eye Museum. The admission fees for the Trick Eye Museum and Ice Museum are as follows:-

Adults: Individual 15,000 KRW/ Group (more than 20 pax) 11,000 KRW

Students (18 years old and below): Individual 12,000 KRW/ Group (more than 20 pax) 8,000 KRW

Visitors are encouraged to scan the barcode to install an app designed by Trick Eye Museum. Basically if you are using that app to take picture with the painting of raging dragon on the sea, you will be able to see even more enhanced effects (like video) and you can upload it straight to you social media accounts such as Instagram. The app is quite big in size and our wifi connection did not allow us to complete the downloading so I did not really use it at the end. Too bad. 

Oh right, if you never visit any trick eye museum before, let me give you a brief and short explanation on what to expect from Trick Eye Museum. The museum is basically an art gallery with paintings created using "trompe l'oeil" techniques which give each 2D art piece the illusion of being in 3D. So instead of just being able to view the painting, you can pose together with the painting to show illusion that you are after all, being a part of the painting. 

There are not only paintings in the Trick Eye Museum but also some props like this one where you can probably act like you are washing your hair or taking a shower with this uhh naked lady. The museum is pretty fun especially if you come in a group with your friends/ family members. That way, you can pose together with certain painting/ exhibit and make funny memory. 

 After we were done exploring Trick Eye Museum in probably less than 30 minutes, we decided to check out the Ice Museum. Every visitors are given thermal cover because it's freezing inside the ice museum. The reason of why the temperature inside the Ice Museum is kept at -4 degrees celcius is because everything in the museum is made of ice. 

Inside the ice museum you will see a variety of ice sculptures from Penguin, igloo house, Hello Kitty look alike, ice house and even slide which is built behind the the icy wings and Hello Kitty look alike ice sculptures. As mentioned above, the admission fee for the Ice Museum is included as part of the admission fee for Trick Eye Museum. 

Since the Ice Museum is not that big either, we kinda finished checking out the whole place in 30 minutes. There are some arcade games like the doll catcher which seems to be a popular game to do when you are dating your bae in Korea. I suppose it's sweet if your bae managed to catch a cute little Pikachu plushie for you. But I am not really a doll person so I will be happier if he buy me ddeokbokki instead. Hahaha. 

After the whole tour participants gathered at the meeting place, it is time to go watch one of the famous Korean performances, Cookin' Nanta show. It is a non-verbal performance which integrates Korea's traditional rhythm, Samulnori, with comedy. Nanta made its first appearance at Broadway in New York on 2004 and since then on, it has been shown and obtained many awards internationally. If I'm not wrong, the show was shown at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore before too. 

Even though it may be a non-verbal performance, there is a storyline involved in Cookin' Nanta. The storyline and various comic scenes revolve in the kitchen where 4 chefs and a restaurant manager have to prepare dishes for a banquet. There is love, rivalry and action incorporated in the drama and audience participation is required at some stage of the performances. 

Using mobile phone and any other recording device is strictly prohibited once the show is about to start. The ushers are there to watch you closely so don't even bother to try. In the event that you got selected as one of the volunteers on stage, you don't have to worry about not having anything to commemorate the moment. They will give you a polaroid of you doing some action on the stage as souvenir. Quite a nice touch although there is no guarantee if the polaroid will turn out okay. Hahaha. 

Oops turn out it is a chicken stew instead of beef stew. Oh well, I suppose we have to eat a tad healthier after the street food feast that we had at Myeongdong the other night. 

Cookin' Nanta show admission fees at Hongdae Theater:

VIP - 60,000 KRW

S - 50,000 KRW

A - 40,000 KRW

Cookin' Nanta Hongdae theater address:

B2F, 357-4, Seokyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul

For the location of other theaters showing Cookin' Nanta show and the timing of the performance, you can check its website here. 

After trying out hanbok and taking pictures for uncountable times, we were ushered out to the classroom for the kimchi making lesson. On the way to the classroom, you will see a lot of exhibit about Korean traditional food. 

Laver (seaweed) is one of the important staple of food in Korea and there is an exhibit explaining in detail on the making process of laver. Based on what I watch on The Return of Superman, I think the kids love eating laver so much. 

Some farming tools are on display in the artsy manner. 

Laver are usually eaten as it is with some sauce together with rice. Or rolled as the wrap for the kimbap (Korean version of sushi). 

Okay, we have finally reached our classroom. You will see that the ingredients and tools for making kimchi are already prepared on the table for each of the participants. The basic ingredients are the cabbage and the red sauce. There is no basic rule on making the red sauce and I have seen a lot of variety available on the internet on how you want to make your own red sauce (some even use srichacha sauce). But if I recalled correctly, the instructor explained to us that the sauce si basically made with a mix of sugar, pepper, garlic, and red chili. 

Right before we are about to slap on the red sauce on every layer of this cabbage, let's just wear our apron and plastic gloves shall we. The instructor taught us the correct way to smear the red sauce to the whole cabbage. In a gist, you have to smear the sauce evenly on all sides of the cabbage. 

Once you are done smearing you should wrap the kimchi in a certain manner so that the kimchi will be bundled together. I'm quite surprised I managed to do it though because I am usually pretty bad at a-good-wife-related skill. Turns out, I'm quite ready to find my hubby now. LOL. 

Once the kimchi making lesson is over, the instructor will continue her explanation on laver, rice, kimchi, and red sauce because she wants to sell the food products and the laver snacks are quite good for tea time snack, really. 

If you are interested to join the kimchi making lesson, you may want to check out this place:

Seoul Kimchi Academy House

2F, Dongyang Building 12-27, Chungmuro (2)i-ga

Junggu, Seoul

Estimated fees for the two hours course: from USD 13.28

Operating hours: 10AM - 7PM

Myeongdong is best visited at night time because there will be more food carts to see at night. In this case, you will not go shopping with a hungry stomach. 

There is an ahjumma (re: middle-aged lady) who sells spicy Korean rice cake, ddeokbokki. My Mom and I were salivating looking at it and we decided to just buy it since my brother is nowhere in sight yet (he's getting overwhelmed by the 4-stored Uniqlo I suspect). The ddeokbokki really taste oh-so-good. And there are some pieces of fish cakes too in the mix. Yummy! Massiseoyooo~~

This particular stall is quite interesting too. It seems to be fried egg pancakes. Too bad we were seriously full from the early dinner of bibimbap and the ddeokbokki that we just ate. Oh well. 

Did I tell you earlier about the abundant skincare stores in Myeongdong? Holika Holika, Too Cool for School and Club Clio are located next to each other. Myeongdong is really an open market for all skincare products in Korea. Sometimes, the price of the skincare products sold in Myeongdong can be way cheaper than those sold at department store though. So far I've stocked up my skincare regime which I'm sure are sold at cheaper price in Korea such as: Laneige's grapefruit lip gel, Faceshop's collagen eye patch + CC cream, and Etude House's pencil eyeliner. 

If you are looking to buy clothes in Myeongdong, you may want to check out SPAO and ROEM. SPAO is more for street casual style (for both guys and girls) while ROEM (which is advertised by Park Shin Hye) leans more toward feminine/sweet style for ladies. Uniqlo is also available here at Myeongdong and it has four levels (no wonder my Brother took forever inside Uniqlo). 

 Oh there is also another Line Friends store in Myeongdong and while this store may not be the biggest Line Friends store in Seoul, I managed to find phone casing for my S7 Edge and it was on sale woohooo. 

Anyeong Brown and Sally. This huge version of Brown doll is always popular for photo taking with visitors. Hahaha. 

Line Friends store in Myeongdong sells food and drink but to be honest, I was more attracted to the ddeokbokki outside the street at Myeongdong. 

Line Friends snacks like peanuts and chocolates are available too if you would like to buy some to give out to friends or families as souvenirs. 

The mini Brown lamp looks so cuteeeee. If only I have enough space to put him on my desk. Not having your own place to live is kinda troublesome sometimes. But that's the price to pay if you want to work in another country. Oh well.