Lunar New Year Travels

The Garden of Morning Calm

We kicked off our Luna New Year holiday by doing what we do best: watching a movie.

The Huntresses

This time it was an action/sageuk (historical)/comedy called The Huntresses staring Ha Ji-won (The King 2 Hearts, Secret Garden). The movie was very typical for a Korean film in this genre but overall enjoyable.

We decided to spend our first day of vacation exploring Gapyeong County. It is east of Seoul and took us about two-hours to get there by train (yuck). Since we were short on time, when we arrived we skipped out on the inner-city tour bus and took a taxi to the Nami Island ferry first.

Nami Island is a very famous tourist attraction because of the drama Winter Sonata. Actually, I haven’t watched this drama…I’ve seen the first few episodes but it really just wasn’t my thing. But, Winter Sonata is a classic and one of the first dramas to start the hallyu wave so we had to go and check this place out.

As seems to be the case whenever we go anywhere…it was raining.

Nami Island ticket

There was no fluffy, picturesque snow. Just misty, hair-frizzing air and sheets of slick ice. I suppose it made things look pretty in its own way. But being cold and wet is never fun so that was a bit disappointing.

Anyway, to get to Nami Island, you have to take a short ferry ride. You buy your tickets (“Visa”) beforehand and then hop on the little boat and travel for about five minutes.

The Island is pretty small and you can see everything in about an hour. We just kind of walked around in what we hoped was a circle and stopped to admire sights as we came across them.

Big trees!

Rows of trees are one of the most famous attractions of Nami Island. Even in winter they still looked pretty neat.

More trees...

There are other random nice sights too, such as this sheet of ice little alley and the frozen fountain.

Then, of course, there are the Winter Sonata sights for fans of the drama.

Finally, some other nice things to see from the Island (including the grave of General Nami):

After taking the ferry back to the mainland we got on the inner-city our bus that travels around to all the main sights in Gapyeong and headed to our next stop: Petite France.

This is a little French-inspired area that has some scenic sights and shows. It’s also been used as a filming location for dramas (My Love From the Stars, Secret Garden) and variety programs (Running Man).

The buildings and design of the place was really neat but I think it would look a lot prettier in spring (so we may go back again).

EDIT (02/08/14): My Love From The Stars (You Who Came From The Stars/My Love From Another Star/별에서 온 그대)(Kim Soo Hyun, Jun Ji Hyun)recently filmed some significant scenes here. I'm so happy we visited but sad we missed them filming here by mere days boo.

My Love From The Stars episode 15

The scene in the drama is was so beautiful...next time we go, we'll have to check it out at night. See, I was right there huhuhu T-T

Little did I know...

Of course we hunted down the filming sight from Secret Garden, too (because that’s what we do…). It was a bit hard to find but we finally did.

Scene from Secret Garden

Once we finished exploring Petite France, we got back on the bus and headed to our final location: The Garden of Morning Calm.

Although this would technically be a good place to visit in spring/summer, the garden has this winter light festival going on that’s super pretty so we decided to go ahead and check it out while we were in the area.

The Garden of Morning Calm

We arrived before dark so we had to wait for the lights and decided to check it out first. Little did we know that there is actually two drama filming sights there for an old favorite show of ours, You’re Beautiful.

First sight: The Flower House

Scene from You're Beautiful

Second sight: The church

Scene from You're Beautiful

We walked around the whole exhibit and there were a few other nice things to see, too. Most of the plants were in “winter” (ie dead) mode but it didn’t look too bad. Finally, at close to 6PM the lights turned on and we were able to enjoy the main event.

Everything was so pretty! There were so many lights set up in all different colors.

Of course, when the lights came on people started popping out of nowhere. Per the usual special event in South Korea, it was pretty crowded but we took our time and enjoyed the view.

After we were finished, we had to get back on the bus. This was a bit frustrating because it only comes in hour-intervals and we missed one by like 5-minutes so we had to sit in the cold and wait for an hour to catch the last bus. It was, of course, packed and only the beginning of our long journey home. In the end, it was worth having gone but not the best way to end the evening.

Since Friday is technically the official day of the holiday, we choose to not do anything and relax. The weather outside was, of course, nice and we probably should of done something because Saturday came with more yucky weather and rain.

Scene from Reply 1997 and I Hear Your Voice

We didn’t have a whole lot planned but Jenee and I did go into Seoul and were greeted by over-cast skies and more misty air. Our first plan on the agenda was to visit the Seoul District Courthouse because it’s a filming sight for the drama I Hear Your Voice (and Reply 1997, among others). We found it easily enough with some help from Google and Naver Maps (since there weren’t any English directions out there that I could find) but of course this lead to a hilarious scenario of two girls walking all around the huuuuge Courthouse trying to figure out what to do because the whole thing is gated off and the only way you can get in is to walk by some security guards.

…we didn’t know if we were allowed to go in. And I don’t mean inside the courthouse…just inside the outside of the courthouse.

We were just about to (cringe) go ask when a Korean guy started to walking towards the entrance and so we followed behind him and looked nervously at the security guards who didn’t do much more than give us confused looks back. I swear the whole time I was walking I thought they were going to come running after us and kick us out or something.

I don’t know if it was because the place was practically deserted or if it was because it’s a government building but I felt really nervous while there, so we quickly took some pictures and bailed. I’m guessing since no one tackled me and confiscated my camera it was okay.

So…if you are helplessly searching the net for how to get to the Seoul District Courthouse and can’t find directions here’s how you can get there:

Seocho Station (green line) exit 8. Walk straight past the first BIG intersection. Cross the street and turn left. Walk straight until you get to the courthouse. You can also get there from the Seoul National University of Education Station (also green line) exit 6 (cross the street and walk up the hill to your right).

Other buildings in the area include the Supreme Court and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.

Once finished with out self-guided “government building” tour we got back on the subway and went to Myeongdong. We’ve actually been there before…Myeongdong is a huge shopping district in Seoul and one of the things it is known for having is KPop goods.  We checked out a few stores and got some CDs (here is me with my stash…)

Because shopping works up such an appetite we decided to head to Itaewon next. This area is frequently referred to as the “ghetto” but it’s also full of foreigners so it has a variety of foreign food. We planned on checking it out and then getting something to eat but since the weather was still so bad we just opted for food and chose the Taco Bell across the street from the station (classy, I know).

Seoul Color Park

Finally, it was late enough that we could head to our last destination: Seoul Color Park.

Scene from City Hunter at Seoul Color Park

This is located in an area we’ve visited a few times and just never realized exactly where it was. Right under Mapo bridge is this little modern art thing that looks pretty cool and is another drama filming sight from City Hunter (you may recall we’ve visited quite a few from this drama already here and here…)

We waited for the lights to come on and then took some silly pictures. Luckily, the place was deserted so there wasn’t anyone around to laugh at us.

And that concluded our rather uneventful trip into Seoul! Happy Lunar New Year everyone!