Seoul Day 5: Kwangjang Shijang & Namsan Tower

On my final day in Seoul I wanted to have at least one more unique meal and I wanted to stand at the top of the Namsan Tower with the best possible view of the city. To find my meal I headed to Kwangjang Shijang just before lunch time expecting to find a bustling marketplace filled with food, clothing, electronics, and who knows what else.

Unfortunately, it was Sunday, and the market was anything but bustling. There were a few shops open and several of the food stalls were doing great business, so I chose to feast on a Korean pancake made with a corn batter mixed with onions and peppers and then deep fried to crispy perfection.

After eating only half of my lunch, I was stuffed and had to move around. I wasn’t in a wandering mood, so I took the subway directly to my next destination, Namsan Park and ultimately the Namsan Tower (or N Seoul Tower).

If I had to do it again, I would not take the cable car up the hill. The line was long, the ticket cost as much as the tower admission itself (7,000â‚©), we were packed in like sardines, there was no fan or air conditioning in the cabin, and the view wasn’t any better or different than the view at the top. Instead, I would take a bus, walk up the stairs or take a taxi.

As the crowd of people filed out of the cable car and towards the tower, we walked into a sword fighting performance mid stream. The performance was pretty neat and I sat and watched the choreographed moves for a while. It was my one touristy day of the trip, and I wasn’t going to miss a thing!!!

As the crowd dispersed after the performance I scoped out the best spot to hang Nik and I’s “lock of love”. I wanted it to be in the spot with the best view of the city, but it was so foggy and cloudy that I could hardly tell what was a good view. I finally decided on the right hand side of the ramped deck looking to the left of the radio tower (the photo at the top is the view standing right in front of our lock, the one below is not). On one side, our lock has a red and white Ox signifying 2009, the Chinese Year of the Ox because we are spending most of this year in China. On the under side, it simply has our names and date. I have attempted to weatherproof it by wrapping it in clear tape, but I doubt that it will work!!!

Then I hung around and waited for the monsoon rain to come and take the clouds away so that I could have an amazing view of the city. As entertainment, a man named Rafeal sang Spanish songs and played several wooden flutes. I enjoyed the music, and from what I could tell, so did everyone else!

Ultimately, the monsoon rain never came to sweep the clouds away and I started getting bored around 5pm. I was tempted to stay until nightfall to see the city lights, but that would take at least two more hours and I didn’t think I had the patience.

And seeing all of these couples was making me homesick, so I knew it was time to turn in for the night!