N Seoul Tower

The main focus today will be N Seoul Tower. I think this name confused me soooo many times. In English it should be Namsan Tower, which in Chinese is 南山塔. But when it's written as N Seoul Tower, I always think of it as N for North, and I'm just thinking.... isn't it supposed to be a South Mountain tower?! But no.... N is not for North. N is for Namsan -_-

Anyways.

Let's just focus on the main event today - Namsan Tower. I wanted to see the tower at night, since you can see the night view better. I left after dinner, around 6pm or so. Took the subway and got to the place where I need to get on a bus to go up to the tower. Well.... that bus took like 15 minutes to get there! I really thought I was at the wrong place... but it just took a while. You really don't need a bus to get up to the tower from the subway station, but it will be a long upward hike, which I saw a lot of people do (either hike or bike). It kind of reminded me of the hike up to Griffith Park.

There wasn't a lot of people up at the tower today at the time I went. It was sooo nice. I really enjoy traveling by myself, as long as there isn't tons of tourists around. The advantage of traveling by yourself is that you can set your own pace, no need to strike up conversation when you don't want to talk, and no need to make sure that everyone agrees on what to do next before you move. I actually feel that last reason is the most important reason I go everywhere by myself. I just get kind of annoyed when traveling with a lot of people and everyone have different opinions (or even worse, no opinion) on what to do. And then walk really slowly... or get stuck at a certain place and take a lot of pictures. Sigh. I think the next time I travel with someone else, I need to mentally prepare myself for that before I commit to that kind of traveling.

The con-side of traveling alone is that you have to take selfies all the time. I don't have a selfie stick and I'm not great at doing it.... but I'm doing better! Alright, so here are some pictures of Namsan Tower.

There are many levels to the Namsan Tower before you get to the place where you need a ticket to go up to the observation deck. Everything in the plaza level is free to public. I think the theme of Namsan Tower is definitely "love". Everything is super lovey-dovey about this place. They promote it like crazy! 

For example, they have all these photo-op places set up for couples to take pictures (yes, there were TONS of couples there).

And then there are these places where you can dedicate your never-ending love to each other with pictures on the wall, messages on the wall, love locks, and etc. People basically graffiti everywhere. I suppose, legal graffiti. I saw a guy just writing on the ceiling beam. Is that even allowed?!

There are people who lock in the large lock place.

This area reminds me of Santa Monica Pier.... 

And then there are people who hang their locks on these Christmas Tree look-alike.

And then there are people who just hang their locks at random staircases.

And also, there are people who either are too cheap to buy a lock or forgot to bring one, and decided to use their cell phone cover. -_-

They also have these official love declaration places. You don't have to buy a block (I think). You can just write on it.

Here are some nice pictures I took while in the lower plaza.

Pikachu is really cute....

Lots of couples everywhere....

They have this place that is sponsored by LG that you can watch a short 3D film while wearing the 3D glasses they provide. It's kind of cool!

Time to go up to the observation tower. You have to buy tickets to go up to the top, which is 10,000 won. Now you can easily find coupons online dedicated to foreigner for much cheaper price. I bought it from Klook.com and it was only $6! 

How does it feel to be on the top? Actually, not much, until you look down and you say "whoa, this is really high!" It really reminded me of the US Bank Skyspace Tower. There wasn't a lot of people when I first go up there, which was probably around 8:30pm or so. It was nice walking around without a lot of people around you. The later it got, the more tourists got up to the tower and it was time for me to go down, where there is no NO ONE. And I can easily take nice pictures without interruptions.

I did have a moment up on the tower where I thought "I'm gonna miss Korea when I leave. I can't believe I actually stayed at a country outside of US for more than a month!" So I bought some postcards to mail out to some friends. 

The ride in the elevator is really interesting. I think they want to make sure that you don't feel so bored going up and down the elevator, they play this short clip on the ceiling of the elevator to keep you entertained for the 15 seconds that you're in the elevator. Not bad :)

A few more pictures of Namsan Tower.

I can't believe I was at the top!! The top!! Wow...... There were a lot of cyclists who arrived at this parking area when I was leaving. It's quite nice to be there tonight..... without a lot of people. 

Alright, back to the beginning of the day. So today is Kpop - Day 3. Filming day. We were filming in a real studio!

Isn't that crazy? I don't have a film of our dance yet... but I will upload it once it's available!

Alrighty folks, that's it for the day!