South Korea Day 7 & 8 - N Seoul Tower & Jjimjilbang

Day 7 evening, we moved on to N Seoul Tower after a half day tour at DMZ and some history sightseeing at Gwanhwamum Square & Gyeongbokgung Palace.

N Seoul Tower stands at Namsan Mountain and is 243m high which offers panoramic views of Seoul and the surrounding areas. 



How to get there: You can pay with your T-money card!

1) By Namsan Shuttle Bus

No. 02
Namsan Library/ Hanok Village/ Chungmuro Station (Exit 2, 4)/ Dongguk University Station (Exit 6)/ National Theater

No. 03
Seoul Station, Seoul Square/ HoeHyeon Station/ Namsan Tunnel no. 3/  Itaewon Station (Exit 4)/ Yongsan-gu Office

No. 05
Namsan Library/ Namdaemun Market/ Chungmuro Station (Exit 2, 4)/ Hanok Village/ Dongguk University Station (Exit 6)/ National Theater

2) By Cable Car: You would need to walk for about 10~15 minutes to reach the boarding place by following the street of the right side of the Pacific Hotel, after coming out of the exit 3 of Myeong-dong Station (line 4) Operating Hours: 10:00-23:00 Fee: Adult: one way 6,000 won/ return 8,000 won Child: one way 3,500 won/ return 5,000 won We chose to take the Namsan shuttle bus and walk up to N Seoul Tower. It was pretty cold actually during the month of March.

Lovely sunset time...



Us with mascot Haechi which is announced as a city symbol of Seoul in 2008. It was believed that it is an ancient Korean symbol who is a mythical beast and a guardian of justice that can discern good and evil.



Love-lock tree!



The entrance fee to the observatory tower is 9,000 won per pax. Some views from the tower...







Our love-lock! We actually brought our own lock along from Singapore as I read that the locks that N Seoul Tower sells is a little expensive. But from all the locks all around, many ones had their ones bought there so it is similar.



Time for dinner! This round we went to Jokbal Alley to satisfy Dear's craving!



A small portion for 2 paxs costs about 30,000 wons.



The owner of the shop was very nice to treat us Bindaetteok (mung bean pancake) upon knowing that we are from Singapore. I guess this area is pretty unusual to receive tourist unless you are a local.



Jokbal Alley - Dongguk Uni Station Gate 3. 5m walk

You can find out more info from here.

Finally its our last day in Seoul. We still have a few hours before we need to reach the airport so we went to explore for Jjimjilbag.





It is something that most of our friends that had went to South Korea had missed trying. It is quite cheap however personally it was a shock as everyone is naked although we are split into male and female changing room etc.

If you are going, please look for the common stairway where you can meet your friends to enjoy the different hot/cold room or eating the hard boiled eggs etc. I wasn't aware where to meet Dear so I just go for the hot bath which is the same level as the changing room.

Dear ended up waiting for me for 20 minutes and even got the Ajuma to shout for me! *So embarrassing". It may not be the same "configuration" for all Jjimjilbang so check out the surrounding first before getting changed.

Remember to try their rice wine and hard boiled egg, challenge yourself by cracking the egg with your head. The shells are quite hard.  

With it, I ended my March 2013 trip to South Korea! Hopefully my next trip comes soon so I can start blogging more on my travel.

Thanks for reading so far! Do check out my other posts.