Travel: Suncheon Film Village

For my readers out there who watch Korean dramas, the new serial Love and Ambition (사랑과 야망) by SBS, is filmed in our fair city of Suncheon.

For the drama, the Suncheon 'Film Village' (순천 드라마 촬영장) was built with partial sponsorship from Suncheon's local governance. Since it's just two spits away from where I live in Wangji (왕지), we decided to pay the place a visit on Saturday.

Film village: An entire village built from scratch as a film set. Not all buildings in the village are functional, as most of them are facades of plywood and styrofoam.

If you were sharp enough, you could check out the filming schedule, pay the entrance fee of 3,000 Won (USD$3) per person, and possibly spot some of your favorite Korean movie stars working on the set.

It was a fun day out. Since I was puppy-sitting Gizmo while Rob was away for the weekend. What better way to raise girlie eyebrows than to take cute pictures, make silly sounds with the puppy, and having him sniff skirts isn't it?

I mean, who doesn't do it these days right? :P

Back on the village... It was an insightful tour.

Since the story line is set in the 1960's, many of the shops and houses supposedly depict what it was like in that era. If the houses are anything like what they had in real-life, then gosh ~ the living spaces they had to deal with were pretty darn small!

Being a foreigner visiting the set, I must say that they've paid pretty good attention to detail.

Then again, it's not all perfect, since I do have my doubts about a signboard that says "담배 ~ Cigarettes" outside a supposed 60's convenience store.

Seriously, what are the chances of any village folk, in a nation of predominantly rice farmers, know what a white man looks like back in the days, let alone speak the language?

Check out these bottles I spotted in the medicine shop.

People back then actually believe in drinking that stuff? "Life Revival Water" (literal translation of 活命水) sounds kinda shoddy don't you think? It almost reeks of packaged sewer water!

I can just imagine the advertising back then... "Not planning to die anytime soon? Have a Life Riviving Water!"

All in all, it was an awesome day out. Excellent weather, and great company. For more pictures, click 'HERE'.

More on a travel post about our trip on Sunday should be up by 15th February. Tomorrow, there will be a special post about Valentine's... stay tuned!