Wazzup With All The Teddies?

After a tiring day of walking around, we went back to our hostel to rest for a bit and bathe. Yes, we haven’t bathed that entire time, so it was time to give time for hygiene. (We arrived in Seoul early and Zaza backpackers had no common bathroom) Refreshed with soap, shampoo and toothpaste, we set out to conquer Seoul Tower.

Seoul Tower, N Seoul Tower and Namsam Tower, they are all one and the same. I read that you can ride the cable car going up the tower when I was doing my research. But, for some reason, I think that slipped my mind and I forgot about that. When we asked help from our hostel, we were advised to take a bus going to the tower. The bus stop is just a stonethrow away from Myeongdong station. The waiting time lasted for about five minutes.

Seoul Map, written in the walls of our hostel

I looked at the map and the route of the bus consisted a lot of stops before reaching the tower. The bus ride took around, 30 minutes. It was a picturesque view going up the mountain.

Electric bus. Charging. Cool!

Dusk was just settling in when we arrived in the tower. 

Standard pose. Yeap. The purple camera case eats up some pixels

You have to walk to get there. Uphill.

The price of the Seoul Tower ticket costs ₩ 14,000 which covers the entrance fee to the tower and the Teddy Bear Museum. The Seoul City pass has this coupon which says we can get 10% discount in the ticket price but this was not honored. Boo to that.

Priceboard.

I still don’t get why it is a teddy bear museum. Is Korea teeming with bears in the ancient days?

Wherefore art thou teddy bear?

The Teddy Bear museum is a district of cuteness. Teddy bears are dressed up and decorated to replicate ancient Korean times.

So many bears. Although the whole museum was amusing and oozing with cuteness, I still didn’t understand WHY teddy bears. They could’ve used stick figures, wax, wooden carvings or what.

With a teddy bear mural in the background

There was this line going up the tower. We had to queue up the elevator. It was quite a wait but were kept entertained by the Korea tourism campaign which runs in the screens pinned up in the entire place.

Remember how I loved the ceilings in Europe? The elevator’s ceiling here shows an animation during your ride up. Definitely kept the passengers entertained while going up.

 Seoul Skyline at night:

It was a beautiful skyline. I would love to feel the cold air while taking my fill of the lights – reminded me of the Eiffel Tower.

See my reflection there?

After taking some pics of the city, there's not really much to do up there. The view "gets old" after a while. Maybe it was tiredness, or maybe because I am comparing it with another tower. We spent around 30 minutes up there, then we went down. Warning, the lines can get quite long.

Illuminata

The sky was a shade of gray. Interesting that if wasn’t pitch black. It was a pleasant background for the still bare trees.

 Shadows.

We waited for a bit for the bus to arrive. Had to withstand  the cold. I distracted myself by taking pics of the place.

With all that walking, sleep came fast.