Day 4: Scenic Day in Seoul

By Victoria Quek

Finally, the scenic day that we’ve all been looking forward to has arrived! Today, we visited many beautiful places and got to see Seoul in all Her beauty at various locations.

We set off from our hotel early in the morning to Namsam Seoul Tower, the highest viewpoint in Seoul to appreciate the view of the city. Although the hike up the hill was slightly tiring, the warm sunlight and morning breeze made the hike enjoyable and the scenery that greeted us at the top of the hill was definitely worth it!

We got to see a perfect combination of a man-made and natural environment.

We had a blast taking pictures with our friends using cute props and a green screen provided that showcased the different landscapes of Seoul. A few of us even decided to purchase the pictures as a keepsake of the fun time we had in the lovely city, Seoul. We also got a better look of the city in the observatory room, where many of us whipped out our cameras and phones to take pictures against the beautiful cityscape.

With the green screen, we got to see the nighttime skyline without having to physically be there at night!

We then headed up to the roof terrace to get a glimpse of the popular attraction among couples – the “Locks of Love” fence. Though usually known as a romantic experience for couples, the thousands of colourful padlocks made it a great photo point for us students!

Here we have Jia Wen, Yi Jia and Ci En taking an adorable picture with the love padlocks in the background.

For lunch, we enjoyed a hearty meal of warm octopus soup, delicious grilled fish and one of Korea’s local delights, Haemul Pajeon (Korean seafood pancake) before travelling to our next stop – the Goyang Autumn Flower Festival.

We ventured through various exhibitions of brightly coloured flowers and quirky themed gardens such as Alice in Wonderland and Halloween, and were lucky enough to witness the flowers in full bloom! Other than taking Instagram-worthy photos, many of us hid from the afternoon sun by resting in small shops by the side with ice creams and cold drinks in our hands. We also got to watch an outdoor magic show that was extremely entertaining and hilarious!

Shima looking like one of the pretty flowers in the field!

As tourists, we were welcomed with gifts such as albums of K-pop stars like G-Dragon, BTS and Shinhwa, at the Hallyu Gallery which made many of us really excited!

For our final stop, we got to enjoy the sunset with our friends in Haneul Park, also known as the Seoul World Cup Park. This majestic view came after conquering 291 steps, with all of us out of breath the first few minutes in! Unlike any other parks, Haneul Park was absolutely breathtaking with the soft Eulalia in full bloom this autumn. Some of us even took this as a chance to make our own music video, and created many heartwarming memories.

The pretty Eulalia provided us with picture perfect photo opportunities.

We ended of the day with a filling dinner of dakgalbi, otherwise known as spicy stir-fried chicken with seaweed rice, cabbage and sweet potato. It was so tasty that everyone ordered second helpings to fill our bellies!

"Even though it was really cold and we had to climb up so many flight of stairs, the picturesque view we got to witness in the end was really worth it." – Jia Wen