The last post was on the part one of the fifth day. Here comes part two.
The shuttle bus from Nami Island brought us back to Tapgol Park. Here our group were split into three; Nadia and her parents went to look for fabric near Jongno 5-ga, Rahah, Kaifa and Azie went to Gwanghamun Square while me and Anis went to Namsan Tower again. We hailed a cab to Namsan cable car and went up~
Namsan Tower sighted
View from the cable car. Our hostel is around here.
This time around the weather was really clear and we bought the tickets to go to the observation decks. We were also discounted 10% using the coupons we got when we bought the Seoul City Tour Bus one-day pass. Inside the lift to go up there were cool lights and visual shows, showing as if we were taking an extremely fast lift ride to the outer space and back to Seoul. The lift were fast, my ears popped, not actually gravity defying though.
Then we were in the observation decks! Almost the whole of Seoul can be seen clearly from here. We took some time to take it all in..
Thousand kilometers away from home.. (A bit miffed Malaysia were not listed here though)
Love seems to be the concept of Namsan Tower, maybe because the many love locks and love messages people left here.
The new part of Seoul is at the right side of Han River. The tower, Myeongdong where we stayed, the many palaces are all at the old part of Seoul.
Compared to the first time we came, the weather was really clear. We can see the top!
Walking down to the cable car station...
We took the cable car down, and I wanted to buy a bottled water at the store next to the cable car station when a big white dog with wagging tail came to me. I. was. freaked. out. Probably amusing the heck out of the shop keeper. Even when I went to another place the dog still persisted to come near me. While I was freaking out, an ahjumma who was probably the shop owner came in, asking:
"Wae? Wae?"
Pointing to the big dog I could only say;
"Gae.."
(I learned gae = dog from Running Man. LOL). She then told me;
"Gwaenchana, gwaenchana." (its okay, its okay)
Its okay for you, but I'm scared of dogs :S. The dog probably only wanted to play with me, but sorry buddy, you need to find another (though I must say you were one beautiful dog! Pity I'm scared of you). I managed to buy the bottled water when the shopkeeper took pity on me and picked up the bottle I left when the dog came in and gave it to me. Phew.
We then had to go to Nambu Bus Terminal for a meet with a Korean Super Junior fan that Anis bought some lightsticks with. Seeing as it was quite a far walk to the nearest Myeongdong Station, and we would need to change train at Chungmuro if we board the train from there, we decided to hail a cab and went straight to Chungmuro Station. It was a long journey from Chungmuro to Nambu Bus Terminal but the station was also far from our friend's house. It was a halfway meeting point for both of us.
We arrived earlier than the promised meeting time and by this time I was starving. There were a few convenience stores at the Nambu Bus Terminal station but the breads didn't look appetizing to me. So I finally just bought Banana Milk and Halal Pringles. Haha..
Then we met Da Young! She was the most precious person ever and it was a pity we didn't talk for long because she had to go back home for dinner. And silly silly me, I forgot to take pictures with her too. Before she left, she told us the directions to the place we went next...
The place where we met Da Young. Picture screen-capped from Naver Map.
KBS! The train station near KBS was National Assembly. From this station we had to ask for directions from several people on the street. It was very near though and we finally saw the KBS Building. Still we were unsure where exactly is the radio place so I went and asked a security guard..
"Syupa Junieo radio odi issoyo?"
He was really helpful (and cute!), using body language he (cutely!) showed me the way to the main entrance and told me to find anyone wearing the uniform he was wearing at the front entrance and asked the same question I asked him so that that person can also show me the way.
Why so cuteee (ahem.) and helpful?? I was so thankful, Anis observed my bow-of-gratitude was almost 90 degrees. After that we found the place easily enough. And there were already a small crowd there. There were some places on benches in front of the glass screen that were empty but almost all of it had papers stuck on it claiming ownership of the space.
We were there early, around 9.30pm while the radio was scheduled to start at 10pm. So we lingered around taking pictures and met with three school girls who traveled all the way from Incheon to watch the live radio.
We chatted with their limited English and our limited Korean, but when you really want to get to know each other, and share the same love (our Super Junior opparssss), language barriers meant nothing. Soon we saw people running to the front entrance and I asked the girls what were happening. Apparently a Super Junior member has arrived. I observed from where we were sitting and I saw Yesung walking into the KBS building. He was accompanied only by his manager and looked mightily accessible to the fans. The fans around him were also very well behaved and didn't try to grab/touch him, just calling out his name hoping he would look at them. It was only Yesung, and Leeteuk didn't arrive yet so I devised a plan..
When another black car arrived, I followed the crowd to the main entrance. Leeteuk came out from the car, walked to the entrance.. nearing me.. in front of me!.. and I said:
"Oppa! Apa Khabar!"
Hearing the foreign "Apa Khabar" (which is probably the only Malay words Super Junior know, they kept repeating that during their concert in Kuala Lumpur), he turned around and upon seeing this girl wearing headscarf with a wide grin on her face he said..
"Ne, Annyeonghaseyo"
THAT. Totally counts as a conversation. Hahaha. Ahh.. I was really happy. I actually got to meet (and talk!) to a Super Junior member in Korea.
When the radio broadcast finally started, the crowds all stood up and some people even brought small step stairs and the representatives from fan clubs had paparazzi-grade cameras and lenses to take pictures with. Standing way at the back I almost couldn't see anything!
That guy wearing a silver blazer is Leeteuk :D
I guess one of the girls from Incheon also got bored with not being able to watch, so she went to the next radio screen. The DJ here was Yoo Youngsuk, who is probably familiar to Super Junior fans as the original singer to the song "7 Years of Love" that Kyuhyun covered. That girl, Kyoung Min was a big fan so she kept on showing "Love" sign to the DJ. I then joined her to the huge amusement of Yoo Youngsuk's manager.
Yoo Yongsuk's biggest fan. ♥
The ~cool~ Yoo Youngsuk.
They typed a message to Yoo Youngsuk on the phone screen. The manager agreed to relay it to him. Bawww.
The girls then had to say goodbye, it was a long way back to Incheon and they have school the next day. We said goodbye.
Super Junior Kyuhyun - 7 Years of Love
There was still a crowd in front of Super Junior's radio. Being short, I thought I should take my chances to just try to slip to the front. I did. But still the view from where I stood was not very good. I soon gave up.
The view to the good looking Super Junior's manager was very good though. He is famous too. Super Junior's fans call him "Prince Manager". LOL.
The best shot of Leeteuk I got. That door should be fully made of glass!
Anis still wanted to stay for a while so I wandered around again. This time I met a Japanese Super Junior fan. Again with my limited Japanese, and her limited English we struck a conversation. She told me she is Heechul's fan, so I enthusiastically told her me too! Then she said she went to SPAO at Myeongdong to buy Heechul's cap but they ran out so I told her I got that last one! LOL.
Not wanting to miss the last train, me and Anis made our way back to the train station. It was late, the station was even almost empty. It was not goodbye though, we happened to came again the next day. Haha..
Empty.
