Tuesday, December 27, 2011

2011 November: South Korea: Paju: BCJ Garden

That day’s challenge is to find where 49 days (Pure Love) and City Hunter were filmed.

From Myeongdong, it is around 80 minutes by train to reach Wollong Station.  If you notice, Paju is the address of my next destination but as advised in Trip Advisor, Wollong Station is closer to the garden.  After the station exit doors, on your left, you will see cabs on queue.  I gave to the driver the address I found on the internet.  It took him around 10 minutes to figure out with his GPS on where we are going.

Good thing he has GPS, or else it will make me freak out.  We were driving 30 minutes on the road with the thought of – Is this right? Is this safe? Will I still be able to get back?  There are very few buildings, huge area for fields, far-away mountains, less vehicles around and from very wide highway, we ended with two-lane road.










As I monitor the time, watch his navigator and finally saw the rock with its name, whew!  Yehey, I made it. 




Arrival, there are only few cars outside, no cab waiting for other visitors, and no tourist buses as well – thinking, “is this so far that people are not seeing this place.”  Upon buying the tickets, I immediately asked the lady if it is possible for her to request for a cab when I’m about to leave the place, good thing she was that kind to help me.



Near #6, 7, is the Queen’s Garden – where the Scheduler and the main actress met [49 days, 2011].
Near #10, is the scene where Ji Hoo is playing his violin [Boys Over Flowers, 2009].


[Updated 8/28/2016] With the recently concluded SBS drama Doctors (Park Shin Hye and Kim Rae Won), Hye Jung and Prof. Hong visited BCJ Paju (section near #13, bridge) for their last scene in episode 20 (the wedding proposal). (photo credits: SBS production).




See the difference of the seasons, where the above photos from the drama was nearly shot August.  Below photos of the bridge were taken November 2011.



Near #18, 19, 26 is the floating dock and bench used in scenes that will look like a part of the Blue House [City Hunter, 2011, Episode 10 near 5:30 mark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnRS5UBGXVs) ]

Near #31, 32, the BCJ Castle Gate is used for the heaven scenes where the Scheduler and the Senior Scheduler discussed about the main actress [49 days, 2011] .




Near sections of #30 or #34, tvN: Bride of the Water God (2017) Episode 8 (near first 3-4 minutes). 
When characters of Ha-baek/God of Water (Nam Joo-hyuk), Bi-ryum/Wind God (Gong Myung) and Moo-ra/Water Goddess (Krystal Jung) are talking with the High Priest in Water Country (Realm of Gods).


KBS2's Prime Minister & I (Yoona & Lee Beom-soo) last scene on Episode 20 was also taken on this section.

Thank you to the lady who help me request for a cab to pick me up and send me to the nearest train station. 

Going there is really a challenge specially that I'm doing this alone. You really need to have a lot of determination and courage to take the path I took. For you will never know what to expect inside the garden or you wont know how to react if autumn is more of a lonely feeling than being happy seeing the places you never expect to see in front of you.


[August 2017 update]  I was looking for another commuter option apart from expensive taxi, I found another way from maps.google.com.

From Geumchon Station to Domasan Elementary School walk to BCJ: Bus 067: 8:07, 10:07, 12:07, 14:07, 16:07, 18:07 / Weekdays
From BCJ to Geumchon Station: Bus 061: 9:00, 9:20, 9:40, 11:00, 11:20, 11:40, 13:00, 13:20, 13:40.. / Weekdays





Day
Places to see
Food and Restaurants
Where to Sleep
Day 1
Take out from McDo
Lunch on Tour
Day 2
Paris Baguette
Lunch at Seongeup
Yeha Guesthouse, Jeju
Day 3
Joongang Cathedral
Flight to Gimpo Airport
Four Seasons House
Coffee Prince Restaurant
Green Residence, Myeongdong, Seoul
Day 4
Coffine Gurunaru
Green Residence, Myeongdong, Seoul
Day 5
Angel in Us Coffee
Green Residence, Myeongdong, Seoul