Day 7 was a free day.
We had shifted base to Myeongdong which was not too far from Insadong, but it was a bit more central.
The day was split between Yongsan and Myeongdong (sort of) – Hybe Insight and National Museum of Korea at Yongsan, and Namsan Tower.
Yongsan
Hybe Insight (more info)
If I had one main gripe, it was that Hybe Insight’s exhibition was closed during the time I was in Seoul. It was supposed to be one of the main highlights of the trip, but alas! I was going to give the whole place a miss but apparently the Museum shop was still open, and was having a sale, so I took the trip to the building in the end.
The Hybe Insight building was about 15 minutes walk from the Shin Yongsan station. You won’t miss it if you follow the main road. A big sign is plastered at the front.
The museum / shop is located at a corner of the building, still facing the main road. Staff is parked at the main entrance. The Hybe Insight app is required to collect a queue number to enter the premises.
To my surprise, we had to have the app even though I was only going into the museum shop. The good thing was that we could track the number of people in front of us. There were about 100 people ahead of us, and we figured we had about 3 hours to wait out, so we took a bus down to National Museum of Korea (around 3 – 4 stops away).
National Museum of Korea (more info)
Since we had time to kill before our turn to go into the shop, we decided to go for plan b (well, the plan had always been there), that is to go to the National Museum of Korea where BTS had filmed their Dear Class of 2000.
The bus stop was pretty nearby – less than 10 min walking. Take bus service number 400 or 502 (accurate as at this point of writing) and drop off at the stop after Ichon station. Get your fingers ready to press the bell because the bus usually barely stops at the stops, and you would reach yours sooner than expected.
Naver / Kakao Map really helps here, so I highly recommend getting used to the app.
There was a mix of free and paid exhibits at that time. We only had sufficient time to view two exhibits (I think it was Korea history and art?) before we had to head back. I wish I could have gone to more exhibits – it’s probably at least a half-day affair for me. I love museums :’)
Namsan Tower
We asked our hotel reception the best way to go to Namsan Tower. They replied confidently that the best way was to take the cable car and that we could walk to the station. It…was not a walk.
The road winds upwards. I would say the road was pretty steep, and not one to attempt if you’re generally an inactive person. It took me about 15-20 minutes of the walk-climb to reach the station.
The good thing was that the view of Myeongdong as the cable car climbed upwards was absolutely fantastic. The weather wasn’t so good. We could probably see more of the city if the weather had been better.
You don’t get to the tower immediately. After disembarking from the cable car, you have to climb a number of steps to a parade square of sorts. There are a number of things going around here:
- A space where there are benches facing city. If the weather had been great, you could have seen the sun setting over Seoul
- A fence / gate / bridge area where people put locks on. You can also purchase the mini locks here
- Entrance of N Tower
- Entrance of N Tower souvenir shop (or also actually the exit)
- A road winding downwards to the bus stop to leave the area (When I visited N tower, I took a bus and climbed up the winding road)
After that I took the bus back to the station closest to my hotel. It was a very winding path, but it did allow me to see quite a bit of Seoul that I later referenced from for the following days!
Food
We snuck in a late lunch between schedules at Bakso Bejo Myeongdong, an Indonesian restaurant in, well, Myeongdong. It’s a bit away from the main road. Not sure how it would be like at night…hm…
Diary of an Internet Addict 
Leave a comment