Linda at South Korea: MBC Dramia, a heaven for KDrama fans

I have a confession to make. Before I was a hard core KDrama fans, I don't even know Korea, Seoul or anything about Korea, however I can differentiate the language between Japanese, Chinese and Korean. It all started with My Love From The Star (thanks to my niece), I was home for winter holiday in 2014, she was watching this drama on TV and my eyes glued on Kim Soo Hyun... wow, he's super good looking!!! Even since that day, I became a KDrama addict!!! Right after I got my PhD, I took a Korean Language class from Korean Tourism Organisation, it is free, all you need is study and spend your time... and yes, you have to sit for the exam... :D

So, lets start, as a KDrama addict, on this 4th visit to the Yongin Daejanggeum Park, previously known as MBC Dramia, is like a heaven to me, so beautiful, so majestic, its like I was living in a Joseon era in Korea, in a Korean sageuk drama. After this, am going to refer Yongin Daejanggeum Park as MBC Dramia coz it is easy to type..:D

Summary: Nambu Subway Station - Nambu Bus Terminal - Baekam (백암) - MBC Dramia

I started my journey (with 2 other beautiful ladies friends) as early as 7.30am. We don't do private tour because we love to have our own sweet time so I took a subway from Hoyeon Station to Nambu Station (so basically you can take any subway to Nambu Station, station number 341 on Line 3, orange. It was called Nambu Bus Terminal because it was connected with the Nambu Bus). Refer HERE for the Seoul subway map. Then from Nambu Bus Terminal, find this ticket counter (walk towards the counter, as in the picture) and buy a bus ticket to Baekam (백암). The lady at the ticket counter can speak English, hence ask her which platform. Basic English will do so no worries, go on. I used Korean language coz I learned, intermediate level. The price of the ticket is KRW 5100, single trip (It was a 7.50am bus, so early). So, from Nambu, get on the bus, and for those who doesn't speak Korean, no worries, because, Google Translate is always available to help. Baekam is actually the 4th stop from Nambu, however, I found another blog saying that it was the 3rd stop. Anyway, it took about from 45 to 50 minutes even an hour to reach Baekam. Listen to the announcement in the bus or you can ask the driver for Baekam. Google Translate is really handy. 

Once arrived at Baekam, well, the bus stop is so simple, it is a small district, like village, really, the bus stop is right in front of HANARU Pharmacy (see picture). I took a taxi to go to the MBC Dramia because I didn't want to waste my time waiting for the 105 bus. So I just walked straight as shown in the arrow and lots of taxis were waiting there, the drivers knew that lots of tourists were going to the MBC Dramia. It was a 10 to 15 minutes ride and the price was KRW 10300. 

 This is the route of bus 105 to and from MBC Dramia.

This is the instruction to go to MBC Dramia by bus and taxi.

This is the front part of MBC Dramia (picture on the left). The price of the entrance ticket is KRW 9900 for adult (picture on the right). The price has increased from KRW 6000 to 9900. But no worries, still worth every penny.

The park is huge so I decided to rent this tour cart, it cost KRW 3000 per adult, hence we paid KRW 9000 on that day.That's the map of the park, and, the lady at the ticket counter told us that, actors from Extraordinary You drama were there for shooting.. YEY!!! So, she told us the location of the shooting and we were super excited!!! The cart brought us to both part of the park and finally dropped us at no 6 (refer to map) so we had to walk down and take pictures till the hanbok rental place, by ourselves. That's the purpose of visiting this park, to immerse in the Joseon period while donning the beautiful hanbok.

I highly recommended that all KDrama fans who visited MBC Dramia to rent hanbok when you are here at this park, really worth every KRW on earth, as compared to other places. I was the one on the far right, luckily they have a hanbok for my size..:D, and we were standing at the majestic filming location, the final scene from The Moon Embracing the Sun where KSH and JIW were fighting!!! 

The cost of hanbok rental is KRW 20000, for 5 hours, well, we were there for 5 hours. It was autumn and chilly, but the hanbok really helped. We took off our coat and kept it safe in the cabinet provided by the hanbok rental place. We were given this small pouch to put all our wallets and phones. The tour cart brought us to the hanbok rental place and after we finished fitting the hanbok, I called the cart again and we were taken around the park for a round trip. I saw Lee Jae Wook getting ready for make up at this hanbok rental place. We were not allowed to take pictures with them and we have to be quiet so no fangirling is allowed. So I quietly changed into my hanbok and get on with my life..:(. However, when we reached the hall, the majestic staircase, there LJW was shooting his scene and when he finished, I took a video of him walking out from that hall, I have it here and I will share it in another post..:D. What a day!!!

The lady at the counter ticket told us that the 105 bus will depart from the park entrance gate at 2pm so we have to return the hanbok and be at the gate by 2pm otherwise we have to take a taxi to Baekam. The bus was really on time. The fare was KRW 400 if am not mistaken and along the road, we could see lots of farming activities, really a country side views. Beautiful. 

So, how to go to MBC Dramia, well, you can read from lots of blogs, however, how to get back to Seoul, none of the blog has written anything, any infos. So here I'd like to guide you how to go to Seoul/ Nambu. The 105 bus dropped us at Baekam Bus Station, well, bus stop, it was small, not like big, huge Nambu Bus Terminal. There's a ticket counter in that small house/building, and the man can converse in English. He helped a lot, we bought tickets to Seoul and the bus to Seoul stop right in front of this place. Price was KRW 5100. We slept on the way to Seoul/ Nambu..super tired wearing that heavy hanbok and taking pictures and fangirling for LJW. After reaching Nambu, we went to Myeongdong for dinner or lunch (we didn't eat at the MBC Dramia because we were busy taking pictures but there were 2 cafes for dining). 

He is a Malaysian actor, Mr Arash Mohamad, this is his twitter. The other 2 are my traveling sisters..:D. We met him at Myeongdong, what a small world. So, a memorable trip to MBC Dramia with LJW and beautiful hanbok.