So for our last two days in Korea, Petrine and I decided to be yolo and go to the outskirts of Seoul. We decided to head to
Odusan Unification Observatory. It's actually a museum that hopes North and South Korea will reunite one day. It also has an observatory where you can see North Korea with the binoculars.
We'd have to take the Gyeonggui Line from Seoul Station to Geumchon Station. (Note that the train departs only once every hour) We were really lucky as we arrived 5 minutes before the train departs.
Once at Geumchon station, take bus 900 to Odusan Unification Observatory. If you're lazy to count the stops, you can actually tell the bus driver "Odusan" and they'll prompt you to alight once they reach.
After you alight, turn left at the next junction at walk for around 5 mins and you'll come to a huge clearing where you'll have to board the shuttle bus up Odusan.
The buses all have unification observatory printed on them so it's not too hard to spot them.
Had a quick picture before we boarded the shuttle bus.
The shuttle bus only takes about 5 mins to reach the top and there you'll have to buy admission tickets at 3000 won each.
Apparently this is some famous guy but I forgot who he is.
So there you are, North Korea right opposite us.
There are binoculars all over the place and all you have to do is to insert a 500 won coin to get a real close up view of North Korea.
Had a tour around the museum and saw some stuff that are being produced in North Korea. There are actually several trade agreements to let North Korea produce stuff in view of cheap labour costs and also to provide their citizens with a job. Who knows the next pair of socks you buy are not manufactured in China but in North Korea.
They also showcases things that the North Koreans use such as textbooks, liquor etc. Of course I think these are only for the upper society in Pyongyang.
There was also a theatre that supposedly has a show that introduces North Korea but we didn't manage to see it cause at the same time there was an excursion for some school kids and it was playing cartoons instead.
Here's how a typical North Korean classroom will look like.
Across the entire museum there are lots of information about the Korean war and how they separated. They also have great ambitions of seeing both Koreas reunite again in future but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
Here are the noisy kids that rampaged the museum running around and screaming and hogging the binoculars. Luckily we managed to get our fair share of North Korea before they came in.
The observatory is really scenic and not only can you see North Korea, you can also see South Korea from the top level.
We made our way back to World Cup Mall as the afternoon passed. This is the place where the 2002 World Cup was held. That, however was not what we wanted to visit.
We made our way to Haneul Sky Park located beside the world cup stadium. Before we got to enjoy the breaktaking scenery, we had to climb up this flight of stairs that had exactly 291 steps. It was a long hike up but the reward was just extraordinary.
The scenery was so goddamn beautiful that we spent so much time taking photos there. Luckily we went in the late afternoon and we were able to catch the splendid sunset. It's the only place where we didn't feel weird walking around with a tripod and camera because everyone else was doing the same thing.
They also have this huge inverted dome structure that allowed you to climb up and get a better panoramic view of the whole sky park.
Every autumn, there will be a festival held there and some folk performances. Just standing there admiring the scenery and listening to the folk music was so spiritual. Felt like I was problem-free all out of a sudden.
Had our last picture there and started to head down as the sky darkened.
So if you're lazy to climb down the 291 steps like us, you could opt for a 2000 won ride down but being the lazy us and with the weather being so cold in autumn, we decided to get the quick ride down.
Check out the rest of my Korea posts here!
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 5 (KTX Daegu to Seoul)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 6 (Seoul Airbnb and Dongmyo)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 7 (Seoul Lotte Mart, Sinchon & Dongdaemun)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 8 (Gangnam Underground Shopping Centre & Garogusil)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 9 (Itaewon & Myeongdong Hanbok)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 10 (Hongdae & Namdemum Market)
Korea Trip Oct 2014 Part 12 (Yongmun & Hongdae)
