Dae Jang Geum

I felt invisible strings tugging me towards a world of fantasy and fun as I got closer to the entrance of Lotte World’s Adventure Indoor Park in Seoul, South Korea.

The 11.54ha Lotte World, which opened in 1989, was built at the cost of $600bil won (around RM2.3bil) and features a one-stop leisure centre which offers sightseeing, shopping, accommodation etc.

There are more than 15 kinds of rides here. I was eyeing the Giant Loop, but time did not allow, so all 15 people in our group decided to just jump into a hot air balloon basket to have a bird’s eye view of the whole place.

Have loopy fun on the Giant Loop.

The following day was quite exciting because we were to visit the Korean Film Council’s (Kofic) studio complex, located 45km out of Seoul, in Namyangju. A government-affiliated body, Kofic was founded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to improve the quality of Korean films and to promote the Korean film industry.

As our bus approached the studio, which is located on a snow-capped mountain, I found the idiom: “As white as snow”, popping into my mind as I gazed at the whiteness all around me.

At the site, we were taken to a beautiful studio set of a traditional Korean village and also the one that replicated the Panmunjom, or Joint Security Area, where South and North Korea are parted.

There were blinding flashes everywhere as everyone tried to capture the moment on camera, silently thanking the Korea Foundation for Asia Cultural Exchange (Koface) for organising the trip for us.

Eventually, our camera batteries ran out of energy and so did we.

PDA guides keep visitors enthralled.

Next morning, we were bursting with energy again in anticipation of even more excitement. Our bubbly tour guide and interpreter Sharon Park led the way to the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, where we experienced a blast from the past by looking at all sorts of artefacts and art pieces.

Museums can sometimes be boring but this one was delightful and enlightening especially with the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) guide you can rent to give you information on the place. Triggered by sensors, the PDA informs the user about each exhibit he or she is looking at.

We were then brought to the famous Daejanggeum Park, where I found myself quickly transformed into the beautiful historical figure, Suh Jang-geum. Just about everyone knows Suh’s story, thanks to the hit TV series Daejanggeum or Jewel In The Palace.

Suh was the first and only woman to have served as head physician to a king, during the male-dominated Joseon Dynasty.

For the privilege of dressing up like her, I paid $5,000 Won (around RM19) and had to shed the coats that were insulating me from the freezing weather. For a second, I stood virtually unprotected in the -5°C temperature before I was helped into a traditional Korean outfit.

While I was busy role-playing in the cold, the others were enjoying themselves snapping photos with life-size, cardboard cut-outs of Jang-geum (played by actress Lee Young-ae) and her love interest Ming Jung-ho (played by actor Hee Ji-Jin).

Dressed as Suh Jang-geum.

The mood was decidedly more solemn the next day when we visited the Korea War Museum, an impressive granite structure surrounded by old airplanes, tanks and canons. Inside, you will find an ode to the dead and towering tablets etched with the names of fallen soldiers in the Korean War.

The museum has six display rooms, all coming together to depict 5,000 years of foreign invasion, from before the Three Kingdoms period through to the Korean War.

The most moving and perhaps most widely photographed monument is the statue of two brothers (one from the North and one from the South) meeting on the battlefield – a poignant reminder of the plight of more than 10 million Korean families who were separated by the war.

Things were more cheerful at the Geongbok Palace which was rebuilt after it was destroyed during the Japanese invasion.

Geongbok means “Shining Happiness”, and was built as the primary palace of King Taejo, founder of the Chosun Kingdom, in 1395 during the fourth year of his reign.

The map near the front entrance shows the arrangement of the complex during the latter reign of King Kojong, and this includes the major halls, pavilions, offices, storerooms, gates and bridges within the 419,000 sq m grounds.

The palace and all the “gates” in it left us dumbfounded. The carvings were intricate and delicate, but what took my breath away was the Gyeonghoeru, the “floating” pavilion where official banquets used to be held and foreign envoys were entertained.

No travel would be complete without a spot of shopping!

You can literally shop till you drop in Doota! because it only closes at 5am.

We did our fair share, all right, going to several shopping locations such as in Insa-dong, a place lined with art and antique galleries.

We also went to Doota!, a multi-storey shopping complex which closes at the very late hour of 5am, Monday to Saturday, so that visitors can shop till they drop, literally!

It was an adrenaline rush for the guys when we visited Seoul’s Techno-mart, an electronic haven with over 264,000 sq m of the latest gadgets, computers, laptops and computer games.

All that shopping – and, oh yes, cultural experiences – made for a very contented group of reporters as the plane took us home.

Source: The Star Mar 2006