[Winter Korea Trip 2010/2011] Day 13: Namsan Park & Myeongdong Part 2

As our planned itinerary for the day was not as hectic as our previous days’, we could afford to have a longer rest time than usual. Besides, a little more sleep would go a long way in recharging our energy levels after our episode of exhilarating but physically-exhausting experience at Vivaldi Park Ski Resort the day before.

For today, our aim is to conquer Seoul's Iconic Namsan Park that sits on top of Namsan Hill (Duh!), after-which we would continue our exploration of Myeongdong.

Given Namsan's close proximity to Myeongdong, we decided to have our brunch within the shopping district before heading uphill. We also had to get off at Myeongdong Subway Station to get to get to Namsan by foot anyway. Like always, we stumbled upon an attractively-designed restaurant signboard which showcased its signature main dish in such an appetizing way, making us salivate right there and then. With no specific restaurant in mind to patronize, we all agreed to step across the threshold to yummyland.

Yooganae Restaurant offers a variety of meat dishes that are cooked in huge frying woks on the dining tables right in front of customers, just like the many other Korean Restaurants we have been to. A young chap who seemed to be in his teens turned out to be our chef of the meal! To our amazement, he certainly did a wonderful job in whipping up a delicious meal for all of us!

We started out for Namsan as soon we had finished our meal. There are two ways of getting to the peak - to follow the long steep footpath all the way, eventually leading us slowly but surely to glory, or we could just take the cable car up which drastically shortens the time taken and spares our poor legs from the long uphill climb. Having heard the rants of people who had taken the footpath before, we decided on the latter. Well, we felt it would be wiser to conserve our energy to explore the park rather than to be utterly exhausted even before getting anywhere near the top!

Even so, the cable car station is located on slightly elevated grounds with a rather steep gradient of climb which meant we couldn’t escape the initial hike. The cost of a fast-forward ticket? 7,500 won (~S$8.80) for a round-trip.

  My round trip ticket

After alighting from the cabin at the highpoint cable car station, we were still a few final steps away from the peak. Glancing back at the endless winding pathway that stretched out all the way down, oh thank goodness we took the cable car! =P Does anyone still want to climb up?

 Fast-forwarding =P

Just a bit more to go!                                                                                                             What a long way up! =P

It was unfortunate that as soon as I got to the top of the hill, my camera started showing signs of failure almost immediately, perhaps due to the extreme cold temperature and high altitude we were in. Initial troubleshooting seemed to have remedied the software hiccups but it soon fell victim to the strong bitter-cold wind, resulting in a total failure of its autofocus function. I then had to rely on the traditional manual focus which was not an easy task with my fingers all numb and trembling >.<

Back to our story, Namsan Park is a scenic sanctuary that provides many photo opportunities with its combination of nature and both historical and modern features. Its elevated location allows visitors to have a bird’s eye view of Seoul although it would be best viewed from up above the famous Namsan Observatory Tower. There is also a Teddy Bear Museum within the main building, however as mentioned before, museums were just not our thing so we decided to give it a miss.

 Overlooking Seoul

Followers of the Khuntoria couple from the MBC variety show, "We Got Married", as well as Korean dramas might be familiar with the Namsan lock fence surrounding the N-Seoul Tower. Encased by thousands and thousands of couple locks of different shapes and sizes accumulated over the years, it has become a symbolic custom for couples (mostly the young ones) to write their heartfelt love messages to each other and interlock them together on the fence. The keys to the locks are then supposed be thrown off the side of the mountain. This is to pledge their everlasting inseparable love for each other (although the act of throwing is technically not allowed as stated on a warning sign).

While most couples settle for locks that are small and cute, some choose to get fat-ass ones, i.e. bicycle locks, huge gate bolts, etc. Well, these, too, get consumed by the ever-growing number of locks as people seize the opportunity of space to hang their smaller ones on these giants, like they were an extension of the fence.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I do hope the couples who have hung these locks are embracing their lives together through thin and thick, just as their entwined locks are braving the harsh weather together!

There were also locks that looked like they had withstood the test of time embedded in rust, and are still firmly holding together. I wonder if the owners of those locks are seeing their children graduate from elementary school by now.

And of course with the growing trend of hanging couple locks on the fence, more and more of such locks will be included into the array as the years pass. I would definitely want to hang one with my future spouse too!

Having done exploring the area and taking pictures, we decided on having a round of hot coffee at the N-Seoul Tower Coffee House to simply chill (or rather, warm ourselves up) and enjoy the ambiance for awhile before heading down. We had also decided not to ascend the tower itself because a fellow housemate whom we coincidentally bumped into on Namsam had gone up earlier and mentioned that it was rather foggy and so there wasn't much to see. 

MMMM... Hotdog and Mocca...

Having rested enough, it was time to head downhill for Myeongdong. Taking the same fast-forward route in reverse, we were soon at the foot of the hill and walking towards the shopping district which was just across the street! Welcome back to Myeongdong!

If you are looking to buy your favorite K-pop albums in Korea, chances are that you would have a hard time finding a CD-store if you were looking out for one anywhere along the streets! The fact is that Korea has very few of such stores around. But fret not! We did a fair bit of scouting and here are some of the places we recommend buying music albums from!

#1 Basement 1 of Migliore Building in Myeongdong

Located within the Migliore Building (just next to Exit 6 of Myeongdong Subway Station), this basement corner shop is one of my favorite stores to purchase albums from in Seoul. Not only does the shop sell its albums cheaper than the standard market price, the ahjumma even gives out free posters when she has extras! They also do sell some official fan products such as photocards and light sticks for the different fan groups. Do note that this shop is one of those open-concept stores rather than the usual shop within 4 walls.

#2 Level 3 of the Nature Republic Building

This is a more professional-looking store than #1 and sells goods at market price. To get there, simply walk down the street a little further from Migliore building at the cross-junction. The store layout is very neat, organized and spacious. The staff gives out only a precise number of posters per sale (i.e. 1 poster to 1 album) and nothing more, even if you were to express interest in purchasing the posters. The store has quite a commendable stock of albums so chances are that you would be able to find all your sought albums here even if they are widely sold-out at other stores.

For fans of Girls' Generation, f(x), Shinee and Super Junior, the partly SM Entertainment-owned retail brand SPAO is definitely the place to shop at while in Myeongdong. With SNSD and Super Junior as their exclusive models, you can expect to find the entire 3-levels of retail space filled with posters, wallpapers and even signboards of them adorned in the latest apparels - a true heaven for the die-hard fan!

Of course, being a fashion retail store, their main area of focus would be on their line of clothes which is segregated into departments - Men's, Ladies', Unisex & Accessories. The retailed price range is definitely considered reasonable and affordable, so you need not worry about spending too much. With the Sales Season on-going then, their clothes were sold much cheaper than the original price too!

 

SPAO @ Myeongdong

SPAO window display

 Greeted by a huge SNSD + Super Junior wallpaper as I got to the 2nd level

Do remember to also visit SM Entertainment's EverySing store located on level 4 if you happen to be an avid fan of their celebrities! First thing you would notice when you enter the store premises would be its huge stockade of official fan goods which includes mugs, files, posters, clips, photo cards, calenders and many more up for sale on its shelves!  

Entrance to Everysing

Folders, mousepads, photo frames...

 Photo card sets, calenders....

A shelf at the far end of the wall displays autographed and rare collectible items that are obviously not for sale and touching. They are being monitored by CCTVs as warned by the numerous signs placed along the shelf. This includes the rare SNSD doll set, autographed shirts and commemorative boards just to name a few.

The untouchables

For those yet to have made purchase of your favorite SM group or artiste's albums, you may do so at the 'Music Store' or music corner to be precise.

Music Store

Who wouldn't want to take plenty of pictures with their favorite idols in person? Sadly however, it is impossible for SM Entertainment to give everyone that opportunity. But they have provided a special alternative! Fans may consider taking pictures with life-sized standees or fork out a little cash to have photocards taken with their favorite idol's template (a la neoprint-card style) as if they were there in person, posing cheek-to-cheek with you!

 SNSD life-sized standees

Neoprint Machines

If you always had the urge to croon your lungs out to K-pop music but tend to hold back because you feel embarrassed with others around, fret not for there is a blast-proof karaoke room which ensures no off-pitch horror-movie screams ever get pass those 4 walls! Located at the rear of the store, you might want to give it a try and who knows you might discover a star-quality voice in yourself!

Karaoke rooms

Having described so much, you might want to know how to get to the SPAO building itself. Well, it is about a 200m walk from exit 6 of Myeongdong Subway Station as shown on the map below:

View Larger Map

After a day of walking and shopping along the streets of Myeongdong, it was soon nightfall. With our hands filled with our shopping carriers, we decided to head home and drop them off before heading off again to have our dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Playing the random game again, we decided on a Korean-Japanese Restaurant which was on the 2nd level of this isolated back-alley shophouse near our "home". Our first impression was that the restaurant was under-staffed. There was only one waitress attending to all the customers in the restaurant. Fortunately it wasn't very packed at that time and the waitress could just barely manage with much effort.

X decided on the Pork Cutlet Kimchi Udong while C and myself ordered the Pork Cheese Cutlet Kimchi Rice that costs 6,500 won (~S$7.65) and 6,900 won (~S$8.10) respectively

Pork Cutlet Cheese Kimchi Rice

Pork Cutlet Kimchi Udon

Well, the meal wasn't too bad and the food came rather quickly, which was rather unexpected given the shortage of staff. However, that didn't fill our stomachs well enough and we wanted more! Roaming the streets in search for more food, we decided to seize the opportunity to try out one of the many Soju tents along the road side!

Soju tent

While C and myself were only interested in attempting the soju, X had some crazy ideas up his sleeves. He wanted to try out the notorious stomach-clinching live octopus! Well, despite our reluctance on eating a live octopus up, X was adamant on trying it out even if it meant doing it alone! 

And with that, he ordered a whole octopus from the small water tank and had it chopped up on the spot. With a stomach and mind of steel, X picked up the still moving pieces of tentacles one by one, dipped them into the spicy bean paste, sesame oil with salt and gobbled them up!  *Applauds* According to X, it was chewy, had a bit of seafood rawness in its taste but goes very well with the sauces.

 Soju

 Poor octopus

 Its still moving... Eww... >.<

Want some?

With X finishing up his octopus meal, we headed back "home" to rest and do our usual late night internet surfing. It was a rather carefree day and a nice change from having jam-packed activities, and I personally enjoyed shopping at Myeongdong best among all the shopping districts. Arriving back "home" to settle for the night, this marks the end of day 13. Zzzz...