Oh. My family's going to visit SK next year too. But it's going to be by December. Winter! Winter! I'd be sure to check out your blog Mitchydrama for some future tips. ?

Don't mind me, I'm just going to stalk this thread, 'cause I am planning a trip to Korea next year, too! Although mine will be in spring...

For Moonlight By the Clouds, visit JeonJu. Apparently I was there while they were filming but I missed it all!!!!!!! Only my non-k-drama mom saw them, ISH! We split up cos we fought and I was off visiting the Memorial of King TaeJo for free because that day was Independence day, lol. Next day when my mom went past, they charged an entrance fee, HEE!

Anyway, JeonJu is a beautiful place to visit on it's own anyway. Book a hanok room in the Hanok Village, a perfect place whether it's day or night. Stay there for at least three days, and even then it wasn't enough for me.

If you go there, definitely eat Ddeok-galbi, Beansprout Soup (there's a traditional market nearby where the soup is absolutely a delight) adn JeonJu traditional Bibimbap. Once you head to JeonJu, just ask enter any tourist stop and ask the guide for places with good food. JeonJu is perfect because it's in the Jeolla-bokdo, region, where there's mountains, seas and land, which is why their food is so varied and absolutely delicious.

I went in August, during their dog days (seriously, I still question myself why) but September to October should be perfect because that's when Autumn starts arriving.

I also went to Mokpo, YeoJu, GwangJu, Damyang and Seoul.

Ah, if you stay in Seoul first, head over to MyeongDong, where there's the largest tourist centre in all of Korea.

For deathbychocolate, since you're going in the dead of winter, definitely head to any sea for oysters, since they're in season (especially Mokpo and Yeosu).

Michykdrama -

I just want to say I'm totally excited for you because you'll be taking a trip to Korea!

While I've never visited, I know there are many beautiful places to see and yummy food to try! I wouldn't know where to start!

Let me know if you need someone to help you carry your luggage. Heh!

so excited for you! Fall seems like 100% the best choice, the weather and colors should be magnificent, the timing for them is more lengthy and trustworthy than for Spring blooms plus you'll miss the dreaded yellow dust. Woo-hoooo, michykdrama goin' to Korea ?! You'll be able to pick up 2018 Winter Olympics gifts for everyone at home in advance.

Plz pretty plz.. get a lot of pictures of food.. with their names and all.. and post them :)

PS: seol you shoudl be able to catch running man episodes or such no?

Go to namsan also :P .. for the love of kdrama.. no romance happens without the lock put their :P

That's so exciting!! Take lots of pictures, please? ^^ It makes me smile because yesterday another friend said she was going to Korea too. "I just saw the deal for tickets online and... I bought them!" I couldn't believe it, but she's going! Have fun!!

heh I will be in Seoul around that time next year too.
I would take the bus tour in Seoul among others.

ooooh i just found this hyperlapse video of Seoul and I AM REALLY EXCITED NOW!

https://vimeo.com/115892128

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone! I will promise to take lots of photos and share the excitement with all of you Beanies!

Please keep the suggestions coming! :D

That sounds wonderful, Michykdrama!

I just returned back from 5 weeks in Seoul and I am happy to share my list of 'Favorite things to Do in Seoul'....

Hi @Michykdrama, you can check out Korean Englishman's Youtube channel. He goes to Korea a lot and shows his friends around. I don't remember the places they went to but they've all looked like fun so far :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg-p3lQIqmhh7gHpyaOmOiQ

Are you planning to go to Nami Island, aka Winter Sonata island? I went during winter and it's seriously beautiful! I imagine it would be pretty during fall too. And if you do go there, you have to eat at this bbq restaurant that sells the most amazing grilled chicken coated with Korean spicy / honey sauce. I am sorry I don't remember the restaurant's name but I don't think there are too many restaurants there so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Hello! Will definitely look forward to your blog. Will be visiting SK next year too but it'll be around mid-June. I know. Summer but that was the cheapest flight I got.

Anyways, definitely looking forward to it!

Aww lucky you.
I went 2 yrs back - also during autumn- last week of October. The weather was mild and cool.
I was pregnant then so couldnt be overly adventurous
Listing out what i enjoyed and remember
1. Cafes and street arts in Hong dae
2. Gyeongbokgung palace- and dont skip the underground museum- it was very informative and FREE
3. Suwon Hwaseong Fortress - and nearby street has best bibimbap
4. N Seoul tower- do check local calendar and avoid on their public holidays. Bring your own locker to clip on the love lock
5. Myeondong- some streets feels repetitive cause the same brand has multiple outlets here but great place to pick up cosmetics and face/hand/feet mask
6. Cruise ride on Han gang river- it was 30min ride i thk- very enjoyable and relaxing

Theres actually alot we missed out in going but we lacked time as the trip includes 4d3n in Jeju and 3d2n in Busan too.

omg Michykdrama!!! My bff and I are planning a SK trip right around the same time! I'll definitely visit your site for that list! Even tho I'll be reading all the replies here..i like lists. :)

omg thank you to everyone who answered!! :D

Will be working on a list and have it up soon, probably by the next OT!

Im really uber excited about my trip now!!!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Oh yes school is getting crazier, final exam is just weeks away and I'm still trapped in neverending cycle of drama and can't find a way to get out of this.

Yes. School has a habit of doing that. Do you have any breaks coming up?

I have no idea but it works in South America (though so incredibly slow).

I don't know why I laughed a lot when I read your question!

I think it was mainly because, if I was ever in the same situation, the VERY VERY important question would be quite similar! Ah! Life of a kdrama lover/ addict :P

Never fear; it is available :-) . Of course we do get the "not available in your region" slap in the face once in a while, but there are plenty of other shows to fall back on, and I think all the major ones are licensed here too. Quick test: the first three shows featured on the website, Legend of the Blue Sea, Shopping King Louie and W, all work.

About speed, of course it all depends on your data plan, but please beanies, give us some credit; cable companies these days are offering 100MB, and upgrading us to 200MB unasked (but that's another story :-p)

Hola Mindy, Viki is indeed available in Spain. As well as other websites like dramanice.to, tosarang.net for raw, and doramax264.com for subs. I used to have a veeeeery slow connection and streaming was not an option.

Hope you find Spain enjoyable!

I travel quite a bit to Spain from US and I use VPN to watch my content including Viki. It does cost a tiny bit though if you want a reliable connection.

Snail ended.. and the subs for all 21 are out on hdfree and dramaland

I'm watching PWY too and done watching it raw until epi 37 which is the first time ever I'm watching Chinese drama raw. ;)

Same on Goblin! It seems very different tonally from her other dramas. I'm interested to see what the drama itself is like.

I'm so glad you like When a Snail Falls in Love! Is Princess Weiyoung a similar level of production? Is there CGI? Is the CGI good? I've been looking at it but my drama schedule is so tight I haven't watched any yet, oops. :P Is it worth a try?

I am also excited for Goblin!! Mostly because they filmed scenes for 4 or 5 episodes 2 hours from where I live!! They even talked about it in the local news! I was so shocked when I saw the trailer and recognized some of the places!!

It was a bit funny. They had to explain in the news why it was such a big deal and how big the production was. They called Gong Yoo le «Brad Pitt» coréen (The Korean "Brad Pitt")... lol ok...

If only I had known, I would I've gone to check it out but you know university does not accept "I had to see Gong Yoo" as a valid reason to miss midterms...unfortunately.

just watched raw ep for goblin and man oh man was it good, the cinematography was great, the acting and characterization were great, it felt like a fantasy drama, very cinematic and idk what iwas expecting for gong yoo and go euns dynamic and chemistry tbh i was a bit pessimistic when it came to their chemistry but after watching the drama i have to say those two have such a natural chemistry and it radiates. the first ep was heavy on the feels and dong wook was wonderful as the reaper.

Looking forward on Goblin too! Haven't watched any since Moonlight ended. Anyways, see you on the Goblin thread.

I like Snail, too! I wind up watching it while waiting for Viki to finish subbing shows I want to watch (like the latest eps of WF, ahem -- last night ep 6 was only 35% or so completed for English subs). First World problems, right? ?

Yes! I was a little miffed that JKR threw in this whole new major concept that had no precedent in the original series. But she seems quite a likely candidate for that.

bbstl -

For the OSTs on iTunes, sometimes the alternate English titles work. For Jealousy Incarnate, try the alternate drama title Don't Dare To Dream and see if that works.

Regarding the autopopulated box situation, I don't know what happened but it stopped working for me a while back regardless of what device I'm using.

For this drama I got the OST thanks to Ayame over on the Soompi Forums. Maybe people might to the same for different shows on their respective threads. If you meant the official OST that you can buy, then I have no clue but would also be interested.

https://forums.soompi.com/en/topic/388527-drama-2016-1-of-anything-1%EC%9D%98-%EC%96%B4%EB%96%A4%EA%B2%83-%E2%9C%B4-fan-meeting-clips-%E2%9C%B4/?page=149#comment-20207954

Here is the direct link to the playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWi-O73jua-xlftS2VSVahQUYlrQ93R00&disable_polymer=true

Have you tried searching for one of the song titles or artists instead? I sometimes do that, then you can find one of the songs that way and connect to the album's page from there. Hope you find it (:

@korfan
Yay for another JI's fan. *virtual hug*

I loved Tree with deep roots. But (no spoiler, just a warning.) You may want to quit watching the next to last episode. I wish I would have.

(Nah. Not really. But almost.)

Also, Korea is relationship- central. I have never felt more single in my life. My friends and I took a shot for every couple we saw at the Han river, HA! We were skunk drunk in like 30 mins! And you will know theyre a couple, coz they either got couple rings, sweaters, shoes… or the girl is doing the goddamned aegyo voice.
- Korea’s conservativism is laughable. Sure, people do not full on kiss in public. But the busiest places on my street are the dvd bang (about $7 for a 2 hour movie. Leather couches, so nothing penetrates. Hangers to hold you clothes while doing the business. Towels and tissues to clean up. The whole set up) and love motels ($10-20 per night). And people are really not that innocent. It is time for them to stop doing those awkward open eye kisses in dramas, where girls do not know how to respond because 97% of the girls are not like that.
- Group blind dates / one on one blind dates are the most awkwardly delightful things ever! I have a Korean friend who goes on two a week…. And he is still single ( -__-). I have been in some too, and they are SOOOO AWKWARD, instead of dreading them, I totally love them now. It is incredible!
- PUPPY CAFES! PUPPY CAFES! PUPPY CAFES! KITTEN CAFES! KITTEN CAFES! KITTEN CAFES! This is where the bulk of my monthly budget goes.

Thanks for the inside comments. I've often wondered about this drinking culture, especially when they show so many scenes of women drinking a lot with their coworkers.

Ok, I get that the drinking is a cultural thing. But I'm truly curious:
-- aren't women (or men too) afraid of passing out and not being more alert for their safety? Or is it pretty safe in Korea?
-- aren't the people worried about the possible health consequences of drinking too much ?
I'm not saying that they shouldn't drink , but I'm just curious if they do worry about the above.

What if one doesn't like the taste of alcohol or has medical issue preventing him/her from drinking, is it acceptable to refuse an alcoholic drink, without looking disrespectful?

Awesome write up on life in Korea. I really enjoyed the tid-bits of knowledge about life on the ground there and how it compares to our perception from dramas. Thanks!

One thing though.

As a guy who really really loves the aegyo and general cute aesthetic common among East Asian cultures, I find your comment regarding the fascination with cute aesthetic and aegyo and an implied link to pedophilia disconcerting.

Granted, I'm no scientist nor psychologist.

But, anecdotally, I know I'm not attracted to children.

A cute little girl acting adorable makes me want to hug her and protect her like a father.

I am, however, attracted to women of age who act in cute manner, embrace an adorable or youthful aesthetic, and have a childish side to them.

I don't know what to make of that, but maybe that's for a smarter man than me.

Anyway, thanks for the comment!

Very interesting read, thank you!

FOR ANYONE CURIOUS ABOUT HEAVY DRINKING CULTURE. Just because it's a part of their culture does not mean that they aren't possibly alcoholic. Just because it's a cultural difference does not mean you can't find it wrong. I'm from a culture with pretty much the exact same drinking culture as South Korea (from what I've seen and heard). I wasn't in the least bit shocked by anything regarding the consumption of alcohol in kdramas and paid no attention to it until I saw other international fans pointing such things out. The amount of alcohol required for people here to get drunk is usually extremely high, because they build a sort of intolerance and, just as with drugs, they require more and more and it takes longer and longer until they feel the buzz, until their actual alochol level in the blood rise. There was a study on this and studies have also shown that a really big number of ordinary people are actually alcoholic because they drink so much. Not only does it damage their health, but they're literally addicted without realizing, without anyone realizing, because it's considered normal. A general rule of thumb from our medical community (that is conveniently forgotten by most people) is that women shouldn't drink more than 7 "objects" a week, men 14. And medically it's far worse to drink all of those in one night than spread out over the week.

All that probably applies to South Korean culture as well, as human biology is basically the same on these points.
Things about my own country's heavy drinking culture that I don't know if fits the South Korean one:

People will drink until they drop, with the purpose of getting drunk and from a very early age (legally allowed to drink by 16, buy drink by 18 and lots of parents allow their children from age 12 and up to taste alchohol at home). They'll also drink not just on fridays or saturdays, but weekdays as well. In my high school class it was normal for kids to show up hungover/literally still drunk on a thursday.

It can also be damaging socially as it means a lot of people have a hard time connecting with people they haven't gone out to drink with and if you don't drink at all or that much, you will not only be pretty left out of a lot of social things, but also experience a lot of pressure to drink at parties and join in drinking events/go out drinking.

All this to say, please don't blindly adopt their drinking culture if/when any of you go to South Korea. It is damaging to your health and just because they consider it normal does not mean that it's a good idea. Again, this is coming from someone with a similar culture, I'm not judging SK or my own countrymen, I'm just concerned and also felt it might be enlightening to those who don't know what such a drinking culture is like. I wouldn't expect anyone visiting my country to adopt our drinking culture, though I sadly think people might feel pressured...

I didn't understand the appeal of Eric until this season of 3 Meals. I love 3 Meals with Seo Jin bc I thought Seo Jin was great in Grandpas Over Flowers.

Since this season of 3 Meals started, I have watched Eric's Discovery of Romance (LOVE IT) and Another Oh Hae Young (AMAZING!).

I get the appeal of Eric now. Boy. Do I!

Oh brilliant, i have been looking for a site that is documenting the recepies.. can i get a link to your blog? ( 3 meals)