12 people won 'Touch Korea Tour: Gangnam Style' organized by buzz KOREA and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). All 12 winners were invited to Korea (from as far away as Brazil) - to experience Korea - travel expenses and luxury accommodation at 5 Star hotels were fully covered by KTO..
Anybody who is into SNS or who blogs or vlogs can become a part of "Touch Korea" campaign. All one has to do is to sign up for buzz Korea and have fun. buzz KOREA is the official site of Korea Tourism Organization and through this global online communication platform numerous events and promotions are launched all the year round and so was this one: "Touch Korea Tour: Gangnam Style" - that I was part of for almost a whole week. In this post I'll further talk of Paju and especially Hyeri Village.
Paju is very close to DMZ - we were taken at this really nice place in Paju called: Hyeri Art Valley- home to clusters of galleries, artist studios and cafes. The architecture here is very progressive and artsy considering its proximity to such a heavily militarized border area.This place has often been featured in newspapers for having one of the most unique places to stay, to experience arts, crafts and literature - all at a close range.
We kicked off our trip by making a hand-made silver necklace, Korea Tourism Organization and buzz KOREA team chose a very specialized place and for that I’m extremely grateful to both KTO and buzz Korea.
Workshop on making a silver necklace was an awesome experience to say the least.
Our teacher told us how to do it – step by step, the process looked very simple and easy but once we started working on it- gosh, it was so difficult however, super fun!
At least, I’d be very, very respectful of the people in the job – it is a tough one.
Some photos at Ttalgi Workshop at Hyeri are below:
and...finally attching the hook to a pendant..
some pendants....
...the Strawberry or Ttalgi Workshop is across from this animation character Ttalgi...
After making necklace we headed straight to TRICK ART Museum located in Hyeri Village, which I heard is one of the biggest Trick Art Museums thus far.
The trick art museum features paintings that are extremely realistic and seem as if they are in 3D.
By posing next to the painting in a certain way, you can take a picture and look like you’re part of the painting! We have 3 Trick Art museums in Korea, it first opened in Jeju and became an instant success afterwards, a couple of Trick Art Museums opened.
There is one in Mapo-gu so if you are interested then do visit it – it is a fun place!!!
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| Source: google/pic. not allowed! |
We also visited ‘White Block Gallery’ – an Avant Garde place displaying the work of a famous artist who got recognition in America and Europe and much later in Korea, I loved his pen and ink drawing of landscapes and even some of his work highlighting women and anatomy was unique.He is now in his late 70s.
In the last leg we went to Tongildongsan (Paju) to experience KART – this is definitely a MUST visit .
After Korea’s hosting of Formula1 Grand Prix , held in Yeongam-gun (Jeollanam –do) – this mini track of Formula 1 at Paju is a famous attraction. Really had fun to experience F1. It rocks!!
Later we moved to Ggotguee at Paju – it is a specialized restaurant for everything made with CRABS named "CRABIAN"...
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a very elaborate and expensive dinner was served that included: Ganjang gejang (간장게장)). a couple of dozen side dishes and steamed/fried crabs in hot sauce.
Some of the tour members couldn’t eat the main dish Ganjang gejang (간장게장) including myself, I tried it but unfortunately, I couldn’t handle the strong flavor of raw crab marinated in Soya Sauce. I ate steam-fried crab in spicy sauce with bean sprouts and it was excellent.
Finally we moved to the guest house “Jijihyang” in Paju – it was a special themed guest that does NOT have any TV etc.
What they have is: stack of books, original art work signed by the painters adorned walls. It is located in Paju Book City, a cultural industrial complex dedicated to the publishing industry, hosting dozens of publishing companies as well as book stores, book cafes, and art galleries.
Jijihyang means “birthplace of paper,” is an ideal place to stay when visiting the area.
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| Jijihyang's adjacent buildings! | | |
CONTINUED.....
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