Arriving in Seoul & Namsan

Alright I'm back from Seoul and I really regret not blogging every night that I was there. The pictures and memories have all piled up and it makes blogging about the trip that much more difficult. So, I've decided to write several posts instead of lumping them all into one looonnngggg post.

This was a 10 day free & easy trip that I went on with my family on Good Friday. We had no fixed itinerary and I often wandered off on my own to do stuff since I wasn't interested in little kid museums (nor Lotte World), and neither was my family interested in doing things that I wanted to. 

Although it was my first trip to Korea, I actually wasn't all that excited to go. Part of it was because I didn't expect to have much fun on the trip. And the reason for that was because I felt a bit tied down going with family since I prefer travelling alone. 

Selfish right?

:(

However, the trip turned out to be awesome in the end! But more on that later......

Arriving at Incheon Airport got me a little excited first because I finally got to see in real life, the airport in which so many Kdramas have filmed the epic *lover chasing after lover* scenes.

A giant limo taxi came to pick us up from the airport and we were all stunned at the lights inside the limousine. It made us feel like we were going to prom or something! LOL!

We stayed at the Millenium Hilton Hotel which was right next to Seoul Station.

Was supposed to share the room with my two noisy little bros, but they ended up sleeping with my parents throughout the entire trip. 

Hooray for me!

This is the view from my hotel room. The trail up to Namsan Tower is just about a 10min walk from the hotel.

I was very happy to see that people drive on the right side of the road here. Felt like all things were back to normal again.

My favourite feature of the hotel room- a full length mirror. It made dressing to go out that much easier.

On our first morning, my family and I decided to go up Namsan since it was the closest attraction. We walked up the long way, not knowing that the cable cars were on the other side of the hill.

Thank God for the shuttle bus which took us up to where the tower is! We had some trouble trying to figure out the fare for 3 adults and 2 children at first, but some friendly Korean tourists from Jeju Island were there to help us with their bumbling K-english. 

From where the shuttle dropped us off, it was a short but steep climb to Namsan Tower.

The place was crawling with tourists. Still, it wasn't as crowded as many tourist spots in China.

I found out very quickly that this was a place that many Korean couples like to come to declare their love for each other. 

The main attraction for these couples being a long wall of locks.

So you're supposed to come here with your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend, add a lock of yours and throw the keys away to signify "locking your love in FOREVERRR"

If you could see my thought bubble while walking around this area, it would look something like this: "....#foreveralone.gif..."

LOL

Up on top is where you'll find a nice view of smoggy Seoul.

Some ahjussi was singing bossanova songs in Korean and he drew quite a crowd. I thought he added a very nice flavour to the place. 

For lunch, we ate at this restaurant called The Best Burger In Seoul.

I hope they're lying about this being the best burger in Seoul, 'cause it sure don't taste like it deserves to be the best burger in Seoul. The herb fries on the other hand...

The trees were all still barren even though spring has arrived.

We walked down this side of the hill to get to the cable cars.

6,000 won for a one way trip down.

In the cable car station, I saw the vending machines from which Geum Jan Di bought coffee for Gu Jun Pyo in Boys Over Flowers!

Also saw the platform on which they were stuck overnight.

xD

That was exciting.

Packed like sardines for the ride down.

We were rewarded with an extremely fast ride down. I was surprised at how short the ride was. It made me change my mind about the cable car ride being cheap. They should just charge 2,000 won instead for such a short ride...