South Korea, with its unique blend of ancient Chinese influence and modern Western flavors, is rich in national heritage. Followers of Korean movies or the popular drama serials will do themselves a big favor by making their way there, if nothing else just to absorb the sights of the film locations.
I was pleasantly surprised that the ancient palaces and temples bear much resemblances with those in China and Taiwan. Even more so that back in those early days, the Chinese characters were pretty much in use, as evidenced by the many poetic writings left behind by their academics. Take for instance the Gyeongbokgung palace, one could almost be forgiven if he mistakenly imagines that he is actually in China, if not for the subtle differences in the symbols such as the seven-clawed dragon and phoenix carving. 
One of the very fun places to visit for the entire family must certainly be the Teddy Bear Museum on Jeju Island. If you follow the popular Korean drama serials, Gong, a short segment of the show featured this museum, which hosts a beautiful collection of teddy bears. There is even a set of specially-made teddy bears, just because of the show. It’s great fun when you can recognize and relate to the things you see in the serials, and it adds to the draw of Korea’s attractions.
There’s a beary Robin Hood of Sherwood, beary Driving Miss Ellenore, the most expensive bear in the world, as well as the tiniest bear in the world, no bigger than your finger! Some of the showcases feature mechanical bears that move where teddy bear scenes are recreated, such as the streets of Hong Kong, or the Qin Terracotta archeology site. You can even sit down and pretend to have a picnic with a teddy bear family, or catch some fishes with another. Both kids and adults simply love this place. 
In a way, having a teddy bear museum in Korea actually makes a lot of sense. Given the fact that they consider themselves the descendants of the Bear (the Chinese on the other hand believes themselves to be descendants of the Dragon), they have a sculpture of a great bear in the Seoraksan National Park.
The Seoraksan National Park is also host of Sinheungsa Temple, where there is a gigantic idol of the Buddha made of bronze. It was here too that we found a bunch of brick awnings where tourists left their messages on the pieces. One of them contained a writing by a Singaporean, just days before I got there. I could see that the pieces with writings were actually used on the ceilings of the temples! I think that is such a creative and great idea, that we should learn from and adapt for our own tourist spots. 
Together with the palaces, temples, castles, parks, ginseng and food, the National Treasures of Korea are certainly diverse, and almost overwhelming. It is simply not possible to explore every part of fascinating Korea, nor is it even possible to cover all the places I went to in this blog. Don’t take my word for it, but anyone with the slightest bit of interest to see this marvelous country should consider this as their next travel destination.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Korea seems to look prettier than I think it is. So what’s the damage like ah?
October 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Hi Wilfrid, damage depends on personal money management skills
But as an indication, we paid about S$1,500 each for the 7D6N tour package, changed S$800 and brought back spare change of about S$180. Don’t remember using credit cards at all. But that’s us. Some of our fellow-tourmates spent like crazy and brought back crates of stuff.
I think Korea should be prettier in October-November, which is now. The leaves will be yellow and red like in many movies and promotional pictures, but it will be colder. If I can speak the language, I will probably go Free-and-Easy instead, for a slightly longer period, which should be much more fun.