Beautiful Places In Korea

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I will start with Jeju Island, which is pretty much known as the main island Korean folk like to honeymoon on. I think it's so beautiful it rivals Hawaii in the States. I'll post some pictures I love. Feel free to add some photos for other places in Korea that look gorgeous. Many Korean dramas are partially filmed there, like the one I just finished, My Girl (2005), or others I loved like Loving You (2002) with the deceased Park Yong Ha or Tamra, The Island (2009); Tamra was the old name for Jeju.

Here is some music from Tamra's OST to listen to while you enjoy gazing at the pictures. So beautiful!

  

A scene in When A Man Loves (2013) took place at this red lighthouse.

A scene in the K-drama All In (2002) took place on this walkway.

Some female divers get ready to catch some abalone. Jeju originally survived only by these ladies and their hard work sea harvesting. That is what Tamra, The Island is about: how strong these women were.

Sunset on Jeju -- this is an actual screen capture from Tamra, The Island.

Octopus hanging out to dry.

A little behind the scenes video of the making of Winter Sonata (2002) where you see the dried octopus hanging on a line near actors Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji Woo as they kid around with one another while the director tries to tell them how to shoot the scene (doesn't look like they are listening to him much, rather they are clowning around, but I adore this bit of a blooper reel because it shows how comfy those two were with each other). For the longest time I didn't know what the octopus were in this scene, I thought they were strange plastic bags. LOLOL!!!!

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Our dear Horseface in Tamra, The Island. She played the lead diver. In this shot they are looking at the first white man they've ever seen. The poor guy was terrified!

The whole drama was filmed on Jeju Island. These were the kinds of outfits the women divers wore centuries ago. They didn't have the luxury of insulated suits like the women divers do today!

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A lovely long distance shot of actor Joo-hwan Im walking in the Jeju wilderness in Tamra, The Island. (This show is my not-so-secret guilty pleasure, which I watch again when I'm in between shows).

A few weeks ago I read on DF that this actor had serious heart surgery, which has curtailed his career. Too bad, he was so excellent in this show.

 

He's the one inside crying. (This video is blocked in Japan).

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Next on the list is gorgeous Geoje Island in South Korea. This is where the final 30 minutes of the classic Winter Sonata is filmed, an ending I still consider the most beautifully and poignantly filmed ending in K-drama history. This place is pure paradise. When Winter Sonata was still on Netflix in that sublime print my friend stopped by my house for a visit. She was struck by the visuals. "What ARE you watching?" and she made me play those end scenes several times so she could ooh and ahh at them. "I want to go there!" she said. LOL. If you want people you know to at least consider watching K-dramas simply play the last 30 minutes of Winter Sonata and they'll immediately agree to watch one, as my friend did. She was also the friend who watched Tamra, The Island with me for the first time and she oohed and ahh'd over that one too. The K-dramas with lovely cinematography of South Korea's islands are some of my favorites.

Here is Geoje Island starting with the property where they filmed the end of Winter Sonata and a little bit of lovely instrumental music from the drama to listen to as you enjoy looking at the pictures.

  

 

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Next we have small isolated Cheongsando Island, where the director of Spring Waltz chose to film the childhood episodes of his main couple. So utterly beautiful! Director Yoon's ultra-romantic view of life is quite evident in these episodes, as well as the Austrian location shoots.

You can see some of the Cheongsando Island shots in the opening of Spring Waltz. I particularly loved the crane shot. It was a huge deal for director Yoon to move this 40 foot crane from Seoul to the island, but he's a perfectionist so that's what he did to get the shots he wanted.

 

The house where the main couple ended up living in after marriage. Out of all the four seasons dramas Spring Waltz has the happiest ending for the couple.

 

 

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I haven't forgotten this beautiful thread.

I made up a montage of beautiful images of Nami Island, where many crucially important scenes took place in Winter Sonata. It's a much smaller island than any of the others shown on this thread, but it gets lots of tourists, especially couples in love, who remember key scenes from one of the biggest blockbuster K-dramas ever made, and go there to re-enact those scenes; there is a bicycle rental place on the island and you could spend the whole day just bicycling the island and reliving Winter Sonata memories.  

While looking at the lovely images you can play the beautiful My Memory, sung by Ryu, the main love theme of the drama. Some of you with small screens might have to scroll to take it all in.

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More exquisitely beautiful places in South Korea.

As you scan down the pictures play this beautiful piece called Love, from the 2005 Korean film April Snow. It's perfect music for just driving along and looking at lovely landscapes.

LOVE - MP3 from April Snow

Sambuyeon Falls

Namhansanseong Fortress

Sareung

Gobungun

Anapji Pond

Geunjeongjeon Palace

Jongmyo Shrine

Wanggungri

Cheonjiyeon Falls

Tokkiseom

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What's amazing to me is how beautiful your pictures of Korea are, and the lack of people  in them. (I do love mountains) Korea has 84,000 sq mi with a population of 75,000,000 and Montana has 147,040 sq mi with a population of 1,023,576 - My wife and I are hoping to visit Korea next year   

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The important thing is to get out of Seoul if you want to see Korea's real beauties.

That's why I loved Bae Yong Joon's 2010 book A Journey In Search of Korea's Beauties, which he wrote after going off the beaten path to see the often neglected sites of South Korea. You can get it on Amazon and it's worth every penny. I've read it over and over again and never tire of it.

Someone on the DF news site wrote he thought Bae Yong Joon is "arrogant", just because in Winter Sonata there was a scene where he rubbed snow in Choi Ji Woo's face! Well she was rubbing snow in his face too, they were playing around in it, a scene common to many K-dramas. How do people come up with this nonsense? If this person read his book he would see how very humble he is.

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Some more beautiful places. It's such a gorgeous country when you get out into the rural areas.

Here is a piece to enjoy while drinking in the lovely pictures with your eyes. It's from Chuno and called Circus Road, though why it's called that I have no idea. There was no circus in Chuno. lol. Anyway it's a beautiful haunting musical piece and I love it. It seems to match up with these pictures.

Circus Road MP3 - from the Chuno Soundtrack

Changgyeonggung - built in 1483 by King Sejong

Gochang Dolmen site - Korea's Stonehenge

Hapcheon daraknon - terraced rice paddies

Dolsan Bridge

Andong Hahoe Village - long a birthplace for scholars and nobles of the Ryu family.

Ojakgyo bridge - site of an old Korean fable about two lovers who are separated by the Milky Way only to be reunited when magpies build a bridge

 

Biyango - tiny island 15 minutes by boat from Jeju island

Hamdeok - village on Jeju

Hyeupjae Beach

Miryang Maneosa - thousands of floatstones were said to form from dead fishes that were turned into stone. Traditionally women went to pray there if they were infertile.

Seongsan Lichungbong - South Korea's most famous sunrise peak on Jeju. The volcanic crater is estimated to be 5000 years old.

Changdeokgung - 2nd oldest grand palace in South Korea.

Halla Mountain - the highest mountain in South Korea, on Jeju.

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Suncheon Bay

Nuri Peace Park

Boseong

Metasequoia Road, Damyang

Large Golden Buddha Statue, Haedong Temple, Busan

Bamboo forest Juknokwon, Damyang

Juknokwon, Damyang

Naganeupseong Folk Village

Garden Of The Morning Calm, Gyeonggi-do

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When I bought my house in 2012 the first thing I did to christen the house was buy a magnolia tree and plant it in my front yard, surrounded by morning glories. This morning I woke up and walked the dogs and three gorgeous big blossoms had sprouted on the tree, with the headiest fragrance that was strong even as you went out the front door. Beautiful! Gardens are great for the soul.

So here are more pictures of The Garden Of The Morning Calm in Korea. To go with them here is an MP3 for the appropriate song My Eden (Garden of Eden) from Gu Family Book. "There's a song for every dream." Sung by Isabel.

My Eden - MP3 - from Gu Family Book