Kaleidoscope Wonders

It’s season break for my favorite American TV shows. A perfect reason to rediscover my fondness over K-Drama.

Before the age of mobile internet, your first-born Filipino millennial (*ahem* myself included) had to rush home from school to watch Meteor Garden (okay, that’s Taiwanese), and stay a little late for Endless Love, Full House, Jewel in the Palance, Princess Hours, and a lot more.  Now, with faster internet speeds, free streaming sites and mobile applications, catching up on more k-drama has been easier.

After watching Descendants of the Sun starring the classic and timeless Song Hye Kyo and the most adorable Song Joong Ki, I have rejoined this generation’s addiction to Korean story lines and Hallyu stars. Not only are the plots adorable enough to make you smile the whole 60-minute episode, they also showcase beautiful destinations in and outside ROK.

I have come to a whole new appreciation of the beauty of South Korea and how its screenwriters effectively promote their culture and tourism. I like that some series would shoot on similar locations, making fans of the place and not just the characters. No wonder, South Korea is a dream destination for most, if not all, k-drama fans.

Now, outside ROK, three beautifully written series featured some breathtaking scenery in Canada, Greece, and Spain. These three were all a hit and have convinced me to add their filming locations to my travel dreams.

1. Legend of the Blue Sea in Spain

Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji-hyun’s story involved a lot of magical and mysterious elements. Mermaids, connected lives from and across time, hypnosis. It was fitting to have filmed the first few episodes in an equally enchanted location.

Spain is one of the few countries in the world to embrace an old soul’s identity. And while I was only thinking of Barcelona and Madrid when dreaming of Spain, The Legend of the Blue Sea has definitely vintaged up my travel goals.

Here are some screen grabs from the series’ episode 2 that I streamed via KissAsian.com.

Dubbed as the “end of the world,” this tower overlooks the North Atlantic Coast of Spain. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ancient Romans said to have a lot of shipwrecks in this area which earned it the name, “end of the world.”

From this show’s shots, the ocean looked terrifying indeed, but it is as captivating, too.

2. Goblin in Québec, Canada

I think the creative team behind Goblin was genius to choose Quebec during autumn as the filming location for where the Goblin and his bride would begin to connect. It’s autumn in a vibrant city. It is, like the whole Goblin story, a sad sad but beautiful love affair. Here are screen grabs from the mobile app, Viu.

3. Descendants of the Sun in Greece

I’ve always wanted to visit Greece so with DOTS as an extra inspiration, I might just craft my itinerary around the misadventures of the SongSong couple. Now, this might take a little bit more research because their creative team also recreated some of the places when they got back in Korea. Nonetheless, here are my saved screenshots from the super handy Viu app.

From blue waters and beautiful ruins, DOTS also made sure to feature the sand dunes, desert parts of Greece. Points of interests in Si Jin and Mo-yeon scenes were Arachova, Myrina and Gomati. In the finale special, the director explained why they chose Greece as the location–the sun is really huge and bright in this part of the world, giving justice to their title–Descendants of the Sun.

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