Let's start, so, we walked from Caribean Bay to the shuttle bus station which we took the shuttle to the interchange station. We saw our bus waiting there and there we quite a number of people boarding the bus. From the back we saw another bus coming with the same number, so we thought we'll take that bus instead. Scanned out T-money and stood on the bus as it was full.
After a couple of stops, finally we got places to sit. Such a relief. The strange thing was, the stops seemed more frequent and the distance was much shorted as well. We were curious but just kept quiet and just sat through the journey. After about 20mins, almost all other passengers had left the bus. So, the driver asked us where we were heading in Korean. We told him Gangnam. He then mumble something and said "Gangnam aniyo, Gangnam aniyo" (which means it's not going to Gangnam. He stopped the bus at the next stop and told us to get off the bus.
We got down out of shocked. Then we noticed that we were stranded.
The place is like a small town and I believed that not many would understand English. There were not many people on the street as well. We decided to go to the convenience shop to load our T-money with another W5000 each and tried to ask the staff how do we get back to Gangnam.
Lucky enough he could understand us and showed us the direction that we could take a bus back there. When we were about to leave, he even wrote two bus numbers that we could take. Really thankful to him "Jin ja Gomawayo" (really grateful to him)
So, we crossed the road, walked for 5mins to the bus stop and waited. After about 10mins the bus arrived and this time we asked the driver to make sure we are boarding the right nus.
**Tips: Always ask if it's the right transport you are boarding. You won't want to learn it the same way I did
We actually planned to go back early because the weather was quite good and we wanted visit Namsan tower or N Tower. But it turned out that we were back quite late. Lucky for us that buses have their own lane that in not jammed at all compared to the lanes car took. Their highway had 10 lanes, 5 on each side of the road and the cars will never occupy the bus lane. Another +1 to Koreans
A few stops later a lady boarded the bus and asked the driver if he was heading to Gangnam, he nodded. We then agreed to follow the lady when she gets off the bus. After about 35mins, the bus stopped and the lady stood up and went to the back of the bus. (the front door is for boarding and the back door is for getting off)
So we stood up, got all our things and walked to the back of the bus. But when she reached the back door, she TOOK a seat, and we were left walking out. Once we ere on the street, the place looked new to us and we knew we got off the wrong station AGAIN. TQVM
The place we were at is actually quite happening as there were many people walking on the streets, many fashion shops and stalls. We entered a shop where they were giving out free orange juice. We saw many people queuing up, took the juice and walked off. So I went for the queue while Kathy checked on the products of the store. By the time i got my juice Kathy was already out and off we went.
Korean orange juice, tasted a bit different but it was cooling. (Who A U was the name of the store)
Imitation of Coffee Bean, but the signs looked so cool
We continued walking for about 7mins and finally we reached the subway station of Gangnam. So, we took the subway back to Myeong Dong. We went to a shop in the subway station to grab something to eat
Tteokbbokki
And Korean fishball that was not a ball
Once we finished, we climbed up the stairs to look for a real meal. We say a stall just beside the road and the menu was written on the banner outside the show. The best thing was everything is in Korean. We tried to find words that are more familiar to us but no avail. The lady boss then came out and the first thing she said was, "we have English menu." So we went in and made ourselves comfortable.
We got the foreign menu from the lady boss
As we had come a long way, we decided to try the Korean's soju (looks big but you can guess the size with the shot glass next to it)
W3000
Seaweed soup that was provided FOC
This was what i ordered, Stir-fry spicy pork
W15 000 + W2000 for a bowl of rice
Kimchi soup that Kathy ordered
W10 000
The bill came up to W30 000 that was about RM90, very costly for food from a hawker stall beside the road
As time was running late, Kathy suggested instead of going back to put our stuffs in the guest house, we'll just bring everything and take the shuttle bus up. So, we waited at the park where we saw the shuttle bus the day before and even in the morning when we left.
5mins...10mins...15mins, we finally gave up. We walked up to our guest house that was about 5mins away, left our stuffs and started walking up to the cable car station.
View of N tower from out guest house
We also found a some what familiar shop, but with un-familiar price as well
W7000 for a plate of fried rice, that's about RM20
We walked uphill for about 15mins just got to know that we were heading the wrong way. The road was dark and there was no one on the street to ask. After another 5mins we bumped into a couple and ask for directions to the cable car. He told up to walk uphill for another 10mins which we did and finally...
Namsan cable car station
Paid W7500 for a return ticket
As it was quite late, there were not many people waiting to go up
Korea night view from cable car, not as bright as other cities, but surprisingly it looked like a shape of a heart
The journey took about 7mins, we exited and walked up the stairs and before we knew, we were at the foot of N tower
We then proceeded to the observation deck, along the way there were trees filled with locks, where wishes were written and and fasten to the wires
Taken with the help of the LED light from the iPhone
Wonder how many people it would take to carry this
We reached the observation deck and there were even more locks
Taken with the help of my tri-legged friend, just before my camera ran out of juice
So, we'll have to make do with my small backup friend
Some love shaped structure
A fountain on the way down
We took the cable car down, and walked for 20mins back to our guest house and we were dead tired. Took our bath and knocked out straight away.
blogged by
Jason
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