whatapalm: Suncheon Drama Set

The day before Nari came I visited the Suncheon Drama Set, which, it turns out, is only a few blocks from my schools. It was used as a shooting location for some scenes of the SBS drama "Love and Ambition" (사랑과 야망). Despite the rain it was a pleasant trip, and I enjoyed walking through the park for an hour basically alone, as the weather kept folks away. Those interested in visiting should read the write-up on Galbijim and take a look at the SBS site (in Korean). There are a number of clips available on Youtube as well.

It's part of the Suncheon City Tour, but it seems a little off the beaten path. I hadn't heard of it until a week or so ago, when I saw a poster. Anyone interested in going can either do the city tour, or get on city bus 777, which will drop you off near the entrance. Anyway, the set is divided into 3 parts: 1960s Suncheon-eup, 1980s Seoul, and a generic 1970s slum, set on a hill in the back of the facility. One of the biggest differences between the Suncheon-eup set and the Seoul set was the amount of not only English, but English loan words written in Hangeul (Korean script). In Suncheon-eup, all of the signs were either written in Hanja (Chinese characters), or were Sino-Korean or Korean words.

I also want to add, before I post a few pictures, that "eup" translates to town, though in some cases it might be easier to think of it as "county seat." Suncheon eventually became an independent city, and grew in size when other towns were added to it. Before it became Suncheon-si (city), it was Suncheon-eup. Last year I lived in Gangjin-gun (county), Gangjin-eup, the largest town in the county and the county seat. On more than a few occassions, 1960s Suncheon-eup reminded me of 2007 Gangjin-eup.

"Central Theater" in Suncheon-eup.