Adventure Time in Korea: Namsan Tower Visit

Namsan Tower

One weekend in Fall, we decided to make a Friendship Lock and make the trek to Namsan Tower. Namsan Tower is a tower in Seoul. Traditionally, people put "Love Locks" along the top of the tower. When you lock your love into the top of the it means that your love is forever. A lot of people put friendship locks up or they will put their names with their favorite idols (We put our names with sharpie on the wall with our favorite idols).

We bought a ridiculously cute lock, covered it with stickers and our intitials. We had a general idea of where we were going, however we were a little lost. We just kept trying to follow signs. Eventually we found the cable car that takes you up to the top. You can walk or take the car up and down. We opted to cable car up and then walk down. The weather was lovely but we didn't want to be sweaty on the way up. The cable car cost about 15 each..... possibly.... maybe.... something along those lines.

When you get to the top of the tower, there is a lot to do and see. There is even a movie theater there. First things first, we went in search of a spot to put our lock. There are literally millions of locks everywhere on around this place. There are lock trees and lock balls and lock benches. Just everywhere. We put ours along one of the paths that seemed a little less crowded. It was  fun to read some of the locks and see all the colors.

Love Walls

We then went exploring around the top. Most of the attractions are dedicated to "love." There are lots of cute things to take pictures with. If you walk up and down the layers, there are some great photo ops. There are even places to set up your camera to take the couple photos. There are some cafe's and food places inside. We found some really fun photo booths. We had a great time taking pictures and you are able to stick the pictures on the wall after you are done. A lot of people are making out in the photos on the wall. We were making guesses of which couples were still together or not.

Photo Booth Fun

After taking a million couple photos with eachother and thoroughly exploring the top. We decided to make the trek down. Fall is a great time to make this hike, it's not as hot as summer and the colors during the walk are stunning. The trees were all red, yellow, and orange. It was really a beautiful site.There are lots of stairs on the way down, and we saw a lot of girls walking up in heels. The hike up would not have been too bad, but the cable car was also a fun ride. We did the "basic" thing and took photos of the leaves on the ground. There were some great views and if you are good with a camera, you could probably get some great photos. (Note: Take a charger with you because my phone died on the way down because of all the pictures and videos at the top T.T)

View from the top of the Tower

Korea Life: Halloween in Seoul

On Halloween weekend, we wanted to go see zombies at Everland, but we didn't end up making it. However, that night we decided to dress up and go out in Hongdae. Halloween is not a big holiday in Korea. We had all come from countries where people our age go all out on Halloween. But it is a lot different in Korea. There are not many Halloween costume stores. You have to order online or get creative with your own costume to dress up for this holiday. If they do have costumes, it is usually for children. Nothing compared to the giant stores we have back in the U.S.

Halloween Squad in All Black

We made a visit to the local costume store and bought a few props and were ready to go out for the night. We had read that Itaewon and Hongdae are the best places to go in Seoul for Halloween because they have the most foreigners. So, with our dinky costumes we went out for the night. When we first walked out of our hostel... we were a little embarrassed because there weren't a lot of people dressed up and people were staring. Every once and awhile we would see someone else, but we definitely felt quite ridiculous. We headed for where the foreigners usually go "The Park" (I have mentioned this place in a previous post and once again I know how to walk there but not actually what to call it). When we got there, there were tons of other people dressed up. We actually felt under-dressed when we got there because everyone had gone all out with their costumes.

Probably shouldn't be out at this point....

We met up with friends there. We saw a lot of our favorite Youtubers filming for their channels. We took pictures with some of the best costumes. It was strangely cold that night, so we were decently whiny from the cold and decided to drink until we couldn't feel it. We ducked into a bar close by, and kept drinking and were those ridiculous people that maybe should have stopped drinking or gone home. Then we ducked into a shady club and decided poles were the thing to be on....

Eventually we stumbled home, one by one between 5-8am or 9am. I think I slept maybe 2 hours before I had to drag my insanely hungover self off the floor of my hostel to catch a train back to Cheonan. It was a great memory and a fun weekend. Maybe next year I will try Itaewon so that I can write a post on the differences between the two places.