Baorea-- Against All Odds: 안녕하세요!

The year 2004 was probably the time when Korean drama addiction was at its peak in the Philippines. This is why, one of my favorite childhood memories was our family trip in Korea last January 2004 ( I was 10 years old). That tour was my second out of the country trip after Hongkong and I was very excited to see the country that I’ve always adore. I was very thrilled to see the places where my favorite Korean idols go and the famous spots where their dramas are shot. Some of these places are the Lotte World- the amusement park in Stairway to Heaven and Full House, Nami Island from Endless Love Winter Sonata, The Royal Palaces of numerous historical dramas and many more.

The well-known sites are not the only reason why I loved this trip. The trip was very unforgettable because it was my first experience of winter/ snow. I believe many Filipinos also wishes to experience snow since our climate is very hot. As a child, I was envious of the children in other cold countries because they can enjoy the wonders of snow by having snowball fights, making snow mans, creating snow angels and the like. I also had my first ski experience in Korea and it was very fun, yet challenging. It looks easy to do in televisions, but it is actually difficult to balance the ski and smoothly drive into the snow. We went skiing in Mt. Sorak and the temperature was below zero degrees (-15 degrees at most), but I didn’t feel very cold back then because I kept falling while skiing. I also remember when I opened the refrigerator at the hotel to put our ice cream, I thought it was broken because I wasn’t able to feel its chill. I realized that it was because it was colder outside, so I just buried the ice cream in the snow. My childhood friends who were also craving to experience winter, asked me to get them snow “pasalubongs”. As a naïve and foolish kid, what I did was to put balls of snow in a small container and brought it back in the Philippines. Obviously, it melt when I showed them to my friends and we just laughed.

Truly, Korea is such a wonderful place that I would always want to go back to. I hope my friends can also experience going there especially those Kdrama-addicts. They have such wonderful culture and tourist spots that everyone will surely enjoy and love.

Snow Fight at Nami Island