Art imitates life

ASIDE from K-pop and foods like bibimbap, South Korea is known for its wide variety of K-dramas.
Recently, the Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) extended an invitation to visit the sites where some of the most popular shows were filmed.
I had the pleasure of visiting the filming locations for Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, Love in the Moonlight, Legend of the Blue Sea, and also Goblin: The Lonely and Great God.
From Incheon International Airport, we were taken to Yongsan Station in Seoul to board the Korean Train Express (KTX) to Jeonju, in the North Jeolla province. Even travelling at 300kph, the journey still took two hours and 20 minutes.
Jeonju is a provincial capital that is a mix of both urban and rural. It is an important tourist centre famous for its food, historic buildings, sporting activities, and the annual Jeonju International Film Festival.
It is also famous for the Jeonju Hanok Village, better known as Slow City.
While the rest of city has been industrialised, Hanok Village retains its historical charms and traditions. If you are a history buff who loves architecture, then this place is for you!
It is also one of the many locations where Love in the Moonlight, a period drama about the relationship between a royal prince and a woman disguised as a palace eunuch, was filmed.
We visited the village’s Gyeonggijeon Shrine, and the Jeonju Hyanggyo which is a Confucian school. The lush bamboo grove inside the grounds of the shrine was featured in the series’ pilot episode, while the school’s lecture hall appears as the residence of the female lead Ra-On.
The next day, we woke up at 5.30am to see the sunrise, with the temperature at a chilling -9°C, before setting off to our next destination, Gwanghallu Pavilion.
Built during the Joseon period (1392AD to 1897AD), this pavilion is part of the Gwanghalluwon Garden, which also includes the nearby lake, Ojakgyo Bridge, and man-made islands.
In nearby Buan county, we visited the Buan Cine Theme Park, which is also a large film production complex.
The park served as the main filming location for several popular Korean movies and television series, including Love in the Moonlight.
We later travelled to Bueyo county, to visit Baekje Cultural Land, a historical theme park that recreates the Sabigung Palace complex of the Baekje Kingdom (18BC to 660AD), where the period drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo was filmed.
The first thing that caught my eye was the large, five-storey wooden pagoda of Neungsa Temple. At 38 metres tall, this wooden structure is visible from a great distance.
After dinner, we travelled to Gapyeong county, where we visited the Garden of Morning Calm.
I thought this would be a regular botanical garden, but I was left in awe when I saw it was actually decorated by a sea of colourful LED lights among the branches and blooms.
The botanical garden also houses Seohwayeon Pond. This pond, with its traditional pavilion and nearby tile-roofed house, appears as a lotus pond within the royal palace in Love in the Moonlight.
The next morning, we visited Weolhwawon, a replica of 17th century gardens in Guandong province, China, which served as the filming location for Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo.
We also visited Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, which the royal family used when away from the capital.
The palace’s central building Bongsudang Hall, appears in Love in the Moonlight as the living quarters of the Crown Prince.
The palace is also the location of a tense scene from the show’s third episode, when Ra-On is slapped by the Queen.
We then travelled back to Seoul, where we stopped by Jeongdong-gil (Jeongdong Street), a picturesque cobblestone lane that runs along the stone wall of Deoksugung Palace.
It appeared in Goblin: The Lonely and Great God, during the first episode where the star-crossed lovers, the immortal goblin and his high-school student bride, meet.
On our final day, we visited two locations in the city where the latest K-drama, The Legend of the Blue Sea, a romantic drama starring Lee Min-ho and Jun Ji-hyun, was filmed.
The show, about the romance between a mermaid and a royal prince, involves time travel and magical artifacts, and is based on a classic Joseon legend.
One of the locations is the aquarium Aqua Planet 32, located at 63 Square, one of Seoul’s tallest skyscrapers.
The aquarium houses various underwater flora and fauna, and even has a fantastic mermaid show, set to music and lights. In the series, it is where the two lovers reunite after their long separation.
We also visited Yeouido Hangang Park, where the lovers meet several times. They even watch the annual fireworks festival there, which takes place in the park every October.
As we boarded the plane back to Kuala Lumpur, I felt as though I had hardly seen enough of the country. I definitely want to return soon.
For more details, visit the Visit Korea website (english.visitkorea.or.kr).