Have you ever dreamt of going to the place where your favorite k-drama took place? Well, I wouldn’t call myself a super fan of K-dramas but I do love watching them! They have this rich storyline and dynamic characters, you’ll just fall in love with them. Other than those things I’ve mentioned, what I love about watching k-dramas is that you get to have a glimpse of their culture and traditions; you get to see these beautiful locations, that you’d wish you’d be transported to in just a snap!
In January 2020, I was lucky enough to fly all the way to the Land of the Morning Calm, South Korea, before the total lockdown occurred.
One of the locations I’ve seen in K-dramas that I got a chance to go to was in Nami Island. It was an hour and a half away from the city, a swift travel in their public transportation will get you there in no time and there will be a ferry that will bring you to the island. It is known for being the iconic location where “Winter Sonata” was shot! Some of their scenes, especially the remarkable bike scene of Joon-sang and Yoo-jin.
There’s also a statue to honor the drama that became well known across the globe—didn’t have the chance to take a picture of the statue due to the amount of people wanting to grab the chance. Instead, we just wandered about in the island. We took a gander to the gorgeous rows of trees, to which I bet are twice as beautiful during spring or autumn!
My visit in South Korea had a lot of “firsts”. We went there at a very cold time—winter season in South Korea starts in December and lasts until February. I experienced extreme cold weather for the first time and it was the perfect excuse to wear some of the clothes that I see on K-dramas that are impossible to wear at home. In the Philippines it’s just wet and dry seasons—no extreme kinds of coldness. So in order to survive the cold weather, we bought some heat tech inner garments from Uniqlo, sweaters, and also jackets for added layering. I also advise you to find heat tech gloves that are conductive so you could use your smartphone without removing your gloves. There are also affordable earmuffs and face masks along Myeong-dong that could also help lessen the coldness.
When traveling it is great to have a trusty backpack to store your valuables—water, your tripod, extra batteries, and snacks (of course)! I also brought a fanny pack where in I put the things that I constantly bring out, like my passport—a very important one, my T-money card—which is rechargeable and can be use to pay public transit fares in the Seoul-Gyeonggi areas and other cities around South Korea, alongside with my wallet and phone.
South Korea is the haven of K-pop. They had dominated the music industry by storm, specially today with the rise of BTS and Blackpink in the western hemisphere; K-pop has really made its mark in the industry. Before BTS and Blackpink debuted, there were the “OG'' K-pop artists and groups that helped with the rise of K-pop. SM Entertainment, one of the leading agencies that produces world class K-idols groups—Girls Generation, Super Junior, EXO, and Red Velvet. They even had this sort of museum to let the fans have an up-close experience on how they made music videos, the clothes they wore—basically how they made their name in the industry. Sadly, in some recent news the SMTown Coex Atrium was closed due to some rental agreement but don’t you worry, they are planning to move to a new location in the near future. This museum has a cafe where some idols also hangout and even sign the chairs and the like.
Since I arrived during the winter season, I had the chance to experience skiing! It was fun and scary at first but when you get the hang of it, you’ll really have the time of your life. We went to Jisan Forest Ski Resort to experience skiing and we also visited Everland along the way. We booked this at the Klook app to have a more blissful trip on that day. In addition with our package we got from the Klook app, we got picked up and dropped off near our hostel, so you better be there earlier or on time to lessen hassle and stress along the way.
On the last day I tried going to Hongdae on my own as my mom, tita, cousin, and my mom’s friend rested
for a while after visiting palaces and the Dongdaemun design center. It was a fun experience for me because it was also my first to wander around on my own in a foreign soil and now I’m hoping for more in the near future. Whilst travelling alone, I brought my trustee tripod and snapped some pictures there and continued exploring. Going back to Myeong-dong, I had a slight mishap in finding the entrance to the right subway line, but thanks to the Naver App—that was a big help in getting to places around Seoul—I found the entry right away using my smartphone.
All in all, traveling to a foreign country gives us a chance to know their culture and tradition, and to uncover interesting things that the country has to offer however, due to the pandemic, we need to just stay at home for a while, keep safe, and wait for the time where we can see the world again, covid free!
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