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Layone performs at a K-Pop concert held on Balboni Field at Camp Humphreys during KATUSA & U.S. Soldier Friendship. U.S. Army Photo by Cpl. Estevan Hidalgo.
Experiencing K-Culture While Living in Korea
Experiencing K-Culture While Living in Korea
By Alison Rock
K-Culture or Hallyu, directly translated to mean the “Korean Wave”, is a cultural phenomenon where Korean pop culture and traditional Korean culture are spreading across the globe, shining a beautiful light on all that Korea has to offer. K-pop music has definitely helped accelerate the wave with the help of many artists like Psy when his song “Gangnam Style” went viral and became the first YouTube video to get a billion views. A few other groups like BTS, Black Pink, and Twice, just to name a few, have topped the charts in America spreading Hallyu. In addition, K-dramas have gained a worldwide following with shows like Squid Games or Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Not to mention K-movies like Parasite which was the first non-English film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Entertainment has definitely helped create curiosity as to what K-Culture is all about, but K-culture is ubiquitous if you’re living in Korea, so how do you embrace it?
The captivating hanoks of Jeonju. Captured by NHD_Photo.
The answer is TRAVEL! It is so easy to get around in Korea, so jump in your car, get on the subway, take a train, or participate in a bus tour. A wonderful resource is the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. If you go to their website you can find a plethora of information from the history of Korea to must-see tourist attractions and upcoming festivals.
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Senses of K-Culture Tour sponsored by Arirang and the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The tour took us to Jeonju, a city known for its Hanoks, an iconic Korean style of architecture with wooden walls and black tiled roofs. This cute little village has over 800 traditional houses and so many other sites to see, like the Confucian temple or the Catholic church. Walking through the streets allows you to embrace the feeling of Korean life but if you’re more hands-on you can find all sorts of activities. You can visit the Jeonju Traditional Hanji Center and participate in Korean paper-making using mulberry tree fibers. When we were there, we learned how to make traditional clay pottery at the Jeonju Hanbyeok Cultural Center.
From Jeonju we traveled to Naju to experience the tradition of natural fabric dyeing. If you visit the Naju Natural Dyeing Culture Center,you can explore a wide range of traditional Korean crafts. The center houses a fabulous museum that shows the history of fabric dyeing, displays clothing worn by kings and commoners on their wedding day, and so much more. In the museum shop you can purchase beautiful handmade clothing, purses, fabrics, crafts, and magnificent works of art. If you want to complete your own projects from home, you can purchase dye in every color under the sun made from natural ingredients. My son and I dyed tote bags from “jjok”. This is the name for the indigo plant in Korean. The plant grows wild around the culture center. Once picked, the leaves are boiled creating a bright green dye that magically turns blue when exposed to oxygen. The indigo-dyed fabric has a beautiful blue color that is noncarcinogenic, so this is more environmentally friendly than chemical dyes. Some of the plant’s properties are also passed onto the fabric. For example, the indigo plant has a special component that repels moths, thus moths typically stay away from indigo-dyed fabric.
Another great way to experience K-Culture is to get out and take a walk. Korean people love the outdoors, and you never know who you will meet while strolling through the forest. If you travel to Naju and need a place to stay for the night or if your military unit wants to take a retreat, check out the National Naju Forest Center. It is situated in the ecologically rich Geumseongsan Mountains. Here you can relax, unwind, and escape the stress of city life in the healing forest. You can walk for hours through the mountains or stop and relax in one of the many forest alcoves and just take in the clean mountain air. The hotel rooms here are very traditional. They are clean and you can experience Korean living where you sit on the floor and sleep on matts. The surroundings are so peaceful that all you can hear is the buzz of cicadas while you admire the beautiful unobstructed views of the forest. One night here is all you need to melt away urban stress.
Food is another way to experience K-Culture. When traveling in Korea, there is often local food specific to your destination or region, so the best way to experience K-Culture is to try local dishes. If your travels lead you to Naju, please try a restaurant called White House serving Naju Gomtang Hayanjip. They were established in 1910 and is one of the oldest restaurants in Korea serving a local dish called Naju Gomtang. This is the best soup I have had in my ten years of living in Korea. It’s not a spicy soup, although you can add pepper or kimchi to it if you’d like. It’s a clear beef broth soup that is loaded with sliced beef, rice, egg, and leek. It’s a really rich filling broth but it has a crisp clean refreshing flavor as the fat is skimmed off the soup during the slow simmering process. This restaurant starts making their broth at two o’clock in the morning and sells between 1,000 and 2,500 bowls of soup per day. When we were there, every table was full and as soon as one finished another would sit down. It’s worth the wait, this is Korean comfort food at its best.
There are so many different ways to experience K-culture. You can explore K-beauty trends, one of my favorite things to do. Go to the palace and try on hanboks with your friends. Enjoy a Korean restaurant with your family and see which of the famous side dishes are your favorite. There is just so much to do, but the important thing is to get out and experience it firsthand. For ideas on how to experience K-Culture check out these amazing resources. Enjoy your stay in Korea and ride the K-Culture wave.
Resources
Jeonju Traditional Hanji Center
[NAVER Map]
Traditional Korean Paper Culture Center
전북 전주시 완산구 팔달로 157-3 한지문화센터
Jeonju Hanbyeok Cultural Center
[NAVER Map]
Jeonju Hanbyeok Culture Center
전북 전주시 완산구 전주천동로 20
Naju Natural Dyeing Culture Center
[NAVER Map]
Natural Dyeing Culture Center
전남 나주시 다시면 백호로 379
National Naju Forest Center
[NAVER Map]
National Naju SoopCheWon
전남 나주시 금성산길 116 국립나주숲체원
White House
[NAVER Map]
Naju Beef Bone Soup Hayan Restaurant
광주 광산구 월곡산정로 89 나주곰탕 하얀집
Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: www.mcst.go.kr
Arirangworld: https://m.arirang.com/live
Simply KPop: https://www.instagram.com/a_simplykpop/?hl=en
Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism Templestay Program: https://www.templestay.com/
Visit Korea: https://English.VisitKorea.or.kr
Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation: https://pief.or.kr/kor/main.do
South of Seoul Blog: https://www.southofseoul.net/
Discover Seoul: Yongsan and Humphreys Tours: http://www.discoverseoultours.com/21
Osan Information, Tickets, & Travel: https://51fss.com/information-tickets-travel/
HANA Express Travel with Daegu FMWR: https://daegu.armymwr.com/programs/hana-travel
About the Author
Born in California Alison Rock is a trained culinarian, actor in Korea, K-influencer, painter, and most importantly a wife and mom to two teenage boys. She enjoys travel and has resided in Korea for ten years.
*The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
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