For a Korean drama fanatic like me, one of the highlights of traveling to Korea is visiting Korean drama (or as we call it in the Philippines, Koreanovela) sets . Well, I’m a recovering Koreanovela fan. I try to avoid watching them because they make me stay up so late and my eye-bags can only handle so much. I also get attached to the characters and the stories that I find it hard to move on.
The Korean drama set I visited was none other than the 2014 hit series Man from the Stars (also known as My Love from the Star or You Who Came from the Stars). For those not familiar, the show’s main protagonist Do Min-joon (Kim Soo-hyun) is an alien waiting for centuries for a comet to bring him to his home planet. Fate brings him to Cheon Song-yi (Jun Ji-hyun), a beautiful but a bit nutty actress. I promise you, it’s a must-watch!
The set (one of the house sets used in the series) is located at Korea’s exhibition center, KINTEX (2) similar to the Philippines’ SMX Convention Center only so much bigger and wider. According to the print ads, the exhibition will be until August 2015. What are you waiting for? Go to KINTEX now!
KINTEX is more or less an hour away from Seoul. The nearest subway station is Daehwa Station. I stayed at Myeongdong so I had to use 3 subway lines. You can use Korea’s subway app or website for easier navigation. Believe me, it’s very useful. Upon exiting the Daehwa Station, a shuttle picks up fans of the show to bring them to KINTEX 2 for FREE. Otherwise, one can walk in about 20 to 30 minutes, which was what I did. It was a long but rather nice walk. Good thing, Korea is very pedestrian-friendly. However, if you have senior citizen members in your trip, I suggest you wait for the shuttle. It arrives every 15 minutes.
The exhibition opens at 10 AM and the entrance fee, if I remember correctly, is 15,000 won (~$15). Food and beverages can be bought inside but they’re rather pricey. So have a heavy breakfast before going there. The cashier also accepts credit cards.
The exhibition is placed in a big tent outside KINTEX 2. When you enter, you will be welcomed by the portal which will transport you inside. The exhibition is divided into 9 different zones that give you those Aha, I saw this in the series moments like the one below.
I also had my picture taken with the main stars. HAHA. The picture is low-res but it was fun nevertheless.
The attraction that consumed most of my time was the 180-degree camera stop time simulator. You will have to do an active movement or your best jump shot behind 8 (just an estimate LOL) cameras and voila, you’re now in The Matrix. You can do this for free. For you to have an idea, below’s my Do Min-joo moment. Nice noh? You can also have the video file sent to your email for 5,000 won (~$5).
I also had a mini-pictorial inside the exhibition. You can have your picture taken by the staff with a high definition camera inside Min-joon’s library for free. If you opt to have your picture printed, it will cost you 5,000 won. You can also have your pictures taken at the staircase and/or any other restricted location you prefer. For 15,000 won (correct me if I’m wrong, the brochure I got is in Korean, LOL), you will get a CD that contains all the soft copies of your picture and one printed copy of one best photo (with the series’ logo!).
If you don’t mind looking at my face, here’s my photoset inside Do Min-joon’s library. I know I spent a lot, but as a fan, it was super worth it.
