Korea yet again for the 7th time - March and April 2026 - Page 9

Not part of the museum yet, but I was enjoying the tunnel from the metro to the museum. The big open spaces are a sign of things to come.

They really are very very proud of the art newspaper visitor figures survey, I believe when I arrived in Korea they stamped the same message in my passport.

There it is. I cannot quite fit it all in, despite the large amount of concrete I have decided to feature in the foreground. There are numerous chain coffee stores and convenience stores just to the left of this photo.

It looks a look like a Starfield mall - more on that later, probably.

The hole in the middle is large, polluted today but you can still see the Namsan tower in the distance.

I completely explored the entire outside of the building before going in.

The interior is pleasingly monolithic.

The bottom floor, like seemingly all museums, is ancient pots. Lots and lots of pots.

Someone traced a series of ancient tablets, they call them stele's.

More pots.

As is often the case, I could not determine if this is real, or a re-creation.

One of many 3D digital exhibitions, hard to know what they were all about, seemingly random mix and match images. There is also a VR exhibit where you sit with goggles. I did not.

Probably the best bit, the quiet contemplation room, just 2 statues, and just out of frame, a security guard with the loudest security radio of all time. I stood and contemplated the hilarity of that for quite a while.

There is a large section on Buddhist art, this is a huge painting.

They recovered the monolith from the movie 2001. I smacked someone with a bone to celebrate.

Despite all the signs warning not to take a photo from this spot, I did. Thankfully I did not fall over the railing to my death, or drop my camera on someone below.

The guy sitting right in the middle of the photo had no intention of moving.

And just as I expected, much busier than anywhere in the museum itself, people buying museum themed k-pop souvenirs from the museum shop. Peak Korea. The BTS designed hair clip was $50 (not a joke).
Now you have seen the third most popular museum in the world.

It's a whole new world. When I was over the road it was showing an animated version of 'the scream' painting, but by the time I got to the photo spot it was playing something much more boring.

The amusement park has various devices designed to kill the occasional visitor. I am willing to bet if I google that, I will be correct.

A very nice place to walk around. They have markings on the ground for joggers to know how far they have run, assuming they cannot afford a fancy gps watch like I have.

The world's largest digital thermometer, and 6th largest building.

I screamed abuse at the fun park patrons.

Lots of malls.

No blossoms, just yellow flowers. Boring.

The upper level restaurants were very nice, but I did not feel like lining up.

It is a huge mall. 2 malls in 2 nights. No mall tomorrow night.

No running track in this mall, just fake grass. I like the fake grass, nice to walk on.

Malatang again, but really, it was matang, a little ma but no la. So not as good as the actual malatang I had in Daejeon a week or so ago.

After my dinner I walked a lap of the other half of the lake, which gave me a shot at a night shot. Impossible to get all of the tower in.
Tomorrow is a hiking day... the last one!

The entrance / exit to Namhansanseong station, my journey will start and end here.

It is about a kilometre from the station to the start of the fortress park / trail. Lots of convenience stores to choose from.

A lot of construction going on at the entrance, I suspect these are future Starbucks stores.

The journey up to the wall is steep, developed, and busy. A lot of old folks around with their transistor radios listening to conspiracy theories.

Not the best creek today.

First temple of the day. Again with the plastic lanterns.

Before too long, the wall appears, with one of its 4 majestic gates. I will pass over or under or around all 4.

I walked along the top of the wall wherever that was possible, which was probably 90% of the journey. There are also paths below it on both sides that are less rocky.

The first bastion. A lot of the bastions have construction going on. Eventually I get to say 'the last bastion of hope'.

My loop was anti clockwise, I would say for 2/3 of the hike around the wall, there were no other people at all other than at one temple, and one road crossing with construction. This was very surprising. I expected to be battling old folks.

Parts of it are steep, and you can easily fall off the side too.

The next bastion has not been restored fully yet. Nearly all of the wall has been fully restored. More since my last visit.

I was still shocked that there were no other people.

Parts of it have the hessian mat to walk along. New hessian mat too.

This is probably the main temple along the way, a bit back from the wall. The road comes up to here.

This bastion has been constructed to protect this tree.

The Stepped wall helps explain how steep parts of it are. Normally photos fail to convey steepness.

City in the distance, through the smog. More city coming up soon.

Shanty town in the distance here.

One of a few 'command posts'.

This section is very near the main temple in the middle of the walls that I did not visit today. As you can see, there is a wheelchair friendly road, and other people.

The city below! There is the Lotte tower from last night.

I once again left the road along the wall behind and had it mainly to myself once more.

The other main temple other than the main temple... What I mean is, the 2nd biggest temple that is along the wall, rather than the one huge temple that is in the middle of the wall. OK that's confusing, it's just a photo.

Downhill for the rest of the way now.

Probably photo of the day, even though it has a couple of other people in it.

And after a few hours, I was back at the same gate I started from, having completed my loop. Time to head back down to the city the same way I came up.

The outdoor library, seating and exercise equipment let me know that I was almost back to the city and the awaiting train.
No more hiking.

The back streets are all very interesting. The row of blue chairs on the right are to line up and wait for a seat at the crab shack. Currently, there is no line.

I became a bit shaky so decided to have an earlier dinner. Coco this time, not as good as Korean knock off brand Abiko, but still pretty good. Vegetarian omurice for me.

Back to the main road, and they have provided a bus stop in the middle of the road for people to stand at and take photos of traffic.

View of bus stop area. And also Gangnam.

Over to the west side of the street now for a bit more back street action.

The buildings are all shiny. I think I have taken this photo before.

Then since I found my dinner early on, it was time for an early night, via the underground.
Tomorrow is not a hiking day. It could have been. I have a 'spare' day in Seoul in case of rain preventing any of the hikes that are now completed. There was no rain. So as I often say, I have no plan.

A shrine to pray for the arrow to fly straight and true.

Because yes, the shrine looks over this archery area. I did not take a very well angled photo, they are shooting at targets about 100m away, over some rocky areas with flowers. Not many hit the targets.

Now I will go up there. I had taken a wrong turn and was about to double back, then I checked the map, and there is indeed a side trail.

The side trail has many stairs, and more shade, and less people. All a fair trade off.

The low down view with stairs. Still polluted today, I read an article suggesting the pollution was worse than the last few years, and that is surprising given the lack of crude oil in the world.

I arrived at the junction with the main trail. I have climbed that small mountain before too.

Now I will follow the wall up there, largely in the sun.

Looking down as I near the top. It gets steep. Hello Seoul tower.

Beyond there are more walls and trails, but not for me today.

Here is the summit area, full of tourists. Despicable selfie takers.

Now I will head down again. It probably takes about 45 minutes to get to the top if you don't stop for a 3 course meal.

More rock and view.

Probably a quicker way down if you had a long rope.

Possibly the same photo as earlier, but with a bit of purple flower.

There is the top seen from further down than on my way up because of the whole side trail thing.

Not far to go.

I was glad to be back in shade, the wall is still there though.

After a subway ride with one transfer, I arrived at Mangwon k-market, ready to see what a trending market looks like.

Exactly like any other market, but with more young people and tourists.

The other end is labelled Mangwondondong world cup market, with a few soccer (football) balls painted around the place.

It is never too late to get crabs.

The streets around the market have a lot of cafes but it is probably not worth the hype.

Finally, I needed some water, so sat at a convenience store trying to figure out if this sculpture at the pop-up trendy market was genuinely made of lego or not. The jury is still out.

On this corner there are flagship dealerships for Mercedes, Audi, BMW but most importantly, Hyundai, who have flipped all their cars against the windows. This is to give potential customers browsing inside the store a good look at the leaf spring suspension.

Japanese dinner option number one. Too early.

A nice street, or more correctly, rodeo, at Apgujeong.

I took this photo to make sure I would be able to spell it.

Over the road, another department store, this is the high end annex of, wait for it... Galleria. There are so many Galleria's in the world, I could make a documentary series about them all.

I looped my way back through the rodeo and roped a couple of steers.

Next dinner option, too pink and fluffy, even for me.

Do not mess with these guys.

Not sure if department store, hotel or hospital.

The fancy street of Garosu-gil is very nice, but very hard to photograph. Much more like a fancy street in a non Asian city.

And finally, for my last supper, hamburg steak. Cheap options in Garosu-gil were not plentiful, but I managed to find one under $10.
Tomorrow is a flying day. I will kill time and then wonder why people think Incheon airport is special in any way.