This is is going to be the third year of F1 Korean Grand Prix which is held annually. It is going to be held at the International Circuit located at Yeongam City. Yeongam is actually really far from the capital city. The closest big city from Yeongam is Gwangju Metropolitan City, city of light.
The race will be held on October 14 2012 after the qualification race on the day before. Now, we all know that the race will not take a lot of time. Therefore, while visiting the city for watching the race, you can use some of your time to visit some travel spots.
I did a some research and one tourism spot that I really noticed was Boseong Green Tea Field. It is actually pretty far from the circuit like maybe 1 hour and a half by bus but I heard a lot of good things about this place. If you want to go to somewhere near, it is better to go to Mokpo. It is a city that has port. There is a national maritime museum and also Yudalsan Mountain.
There is this one place that attracts me while doing research about tourism spots in Yeongam. There is a national park called Wolchulsan National Park. I read the description and it looks very nice place to visit. It is said that there are temples and a statue of Buddha that is recognized as national treasure.
So, if you are in Korea or planning to Korea on the date of the race and have interest in this race, come visit. On the website they say it is only going to be until 2016, so don't miss your chance.
As a K-Performance supporter and also as it was Korea In Motion Festival Period, I got a very rare chance to watch a performance called B-Boy Kung plus to learn a little bit of K-Pop dance. I actually had already guessed what the dance would be, and yes it was Gangnam Style by Psy.
Gangnam Style has taken the world. It has spread like virus. Everyone knows Gangnam Style and its very famous horse dance. I actually have already learnt the dance, so no surprises, yet it was still pretty interesting. At the very end, we split onto two teams and had a little horse dance battle. Of course my team won and we got a pair of socks.
Now the main dish: B-Boy Kung. If I had to make this short, I would summarize everything in one word: Amazing. It was really beyond my expectation. B-Boy Kung is a street dance performance. Also, there is a story that in my point of view as an audience is pretty well constructed. It was really easy understandable even without words.
The story is about a group of dancers called Gorilla that lost their place to practice and hang out. Also, there is this very rich guy who I think bought that place. With the power of money, he also succeed to take one of the members of the group. He, the dancer, then becomes the rich guys member. The story goes on until finally they meet at one dance competition which prize is USD 500,000.
The scene that I liked the most wast when the main character was in dilemma between his dance group or his job. He did really good acting and his popping skill is undoubted. There was also a scene where several dancers wearing black clothes and white masks on. It was really scary because the room was dark and glowed everything white. The story and the dance was really good.
The place, oh I love the place. It is very small room with the quota of not too many audience. It really gives us a private feel and closer view of the performance. I would say that the place is the best one among the performance room I have ever been. It is located at Samjin Jaeyak (삼진제약) Building B1 floor. If you know Hongik University, go to its main gate and turn left until you find B-Boy Kung posters.
Overall, it was a very exciting, interesting, enjoyable one hour and a half. I was really lucky to be able to watch the performance. Also, the KOINMO team took some videos and made it really neat. Check it out!
Thanks KTO! And for you who desperately want to watch this performance, hurry up! you could get cheaper ticket as it is still KOINMO festival!
First of all, let me define KOINMO. Korea In Motion (KOINMO) is a festival held during September which purpose is to let local and international tourists to enjoy performances in Korea at the fullest. How is this possible? Price cut! During KOINMO festival, you can get 50% or more discounted ticket which they call RUSH TICKET. You can purchase this rush ticket at KTO ticket booth right in front of Korea Tourism Organization Headquarters from 11AM - 7PM.
Before the festival start, K-Performance Supporters did flash mob to introduce and attract people. We did it in three different places on different time. The first one was in Insadong but I could not attend it. I went to the second flash mob which was in Hongdae. The last one was in the opening ceremony of the festival in Chonggye Plaza. The dance was actually pretty easy and simple. KTO made the song by themselves.
Lee Charm (CEO of KTO) with ZE:A
at KOINMO Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony was kind of cool. The weather was really supportive. We were spoiled by the performance of BiBap (비밥), musical Hwarang (화랑), Fanta Stick (판타스틱), and ZE:A. ZE:A was mentioned as the ambassador of KOINMO Festival.
I would say BiBap is more to a beat boxing performance along with some b-boy dance rather than a performance with a story. The food (bibimbap) itself is just a way to create the reason of the beatboxing. Musical Hwarang was a bit boring at the first time, but they really hit it off as the show went by. They basically just sing and did some dance, and maybe some martial arts. Girls must love them. Fanta Stick was pretty interesting. They played these traditional instruments and sang Arirang. I do not know the reason why, but I really enjoyed listening to Arirang. They also did some drum performance which pretty entertaining. ZE:A ... sure they were the highlight of the night!
Go get your ticket and enjoy performances in Korea, NOW!
