I’m back with another Fangirl Friday post, and this time I am integrating it with another travel post on the Korean Folk Village. This time, I’ll share a bit of our “brush” with historical Korean dramas when we stumbled on some of their filming sites in the Village.
The first sageuk, or historical drama, that I watched from start to finish was Dae Janggeum, or “Jewel in the Palace”. It was followed by several others, although I confess to having given up on some of them for the simple reason that most of them are sooooo long, and I can’t seem to stick to hour-long dramas that run for over 50 episodes.
Yes, that’s my short attention span at work again.
Visiting filming locations was never really high up in my list of things to do when visiting a place. But we did go to Nami Island on my first visit to South Korea, and we all know that is where the classic Winter Sonata was filmed. (Read about that in this post.) Then there was that time we passed by a site in Gwanghamun Square where a pivotal scene in the action-drama Iris was shot. (I talked about it here.)
Now back to the Korean Folk Village. The moment you go to the ticket booth, you will immediately see an entire wall indicating that some famous dramas have been filmed in this place, most of them sageuks.
And, yes, beside the Inner Three Passage Gate is that large poster showing, who else?, but Do Min-joon and Cheon Song-yi of You Who Came From The Stars.
You’d have no trouble spotting the filming spots because there are indicators or signs set up. Like this one. This is where some offering scenes featuring Janggeum and Court Lady Han were filmed.
Remember in my first Korean Folk Village post, where I talked about that Nobleman’s House? It had the Outer Annex, which had a gazebo and a small pond. Well, this was also a spot where some films and dramas were filmed.
From the signpost, I spotted Jo Jung-seok. #fangirls
There was another area of the Village that was purposely set for filming of historical dramas. Dramas are still filmed here to this day, and if visitors are lucky, they’d be able to catch a glimpse of it. Unfortunately, there was none on schedule when we were there. D’aawwww~
So we walked up the path… and were welcomed by Yong Tae-yong or Prince Lee Gak in sweats and holding a head of Chinese cabbage (Park Yoo-chun, Rooftop Prince). Beside him is Kim Yoon-hee wearing her female garb (Payk Min-young, Sungkyunkwan Scandal).
There were also large boards of the posters of the dramas. And some more notes that we cannot really read because they were written in Korean.
Check out this one of The Moon Embracing The Sun.
Oh, and there are character standees, too! Like this one of Lee Hwon (Kim Soo-hyun).
And say hello to Lee Jun-ki and Shin Min-ah of Arang and the Magistrate!
And I just had to take a photo beside this one of The Three Musketeers.
Because Jung Yong-hwa! Lee Jin-wook! Seo Hyun-jin! Jung Hae-in!
Because it’s dope and I’m still hoping for a second season!
If you walk further up, there are buildings and structures where some dramas were filmed, with replicas and stuff that were actually used for filming. There was even one with an LCD screen that shows scenes of dramas and movies that were filmed in that exact same room. Cool eh?
I was struck with the high level of authenticity. Again, I admire their attention to detail, and also their initiative in creating and maintaining these places for their location shoots. Because when we watch those sageuks, they really do feel like they were in another time.
Ok, so here’s a question: if you are not a kdrama fan, would it be a waste of time to visit this place?
I think not. Lorie known absolutely ZILCH about Korean dramas, let alone historical ones. She does not even have any idea who the actors are. But she gamely took photos with the standees (we took turns). Haha! I give her major propz for that. And my gratitude for letting me indulge the kdrama fan in me. Yaaay for open-minded travel buddies!
Now, if you ask me if I want to “retrace” some kdrama filming sites, I would say yes. But I am eyeing all those coffee shops and restaurants featured in the dramas. Yep. That means FOOD. And coffee. Lots of it. Which also means I need more than just a few days if I’m gonna do that, since I have a one-cup-of-coffee-a-day-minimum rule. *le sigh*
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