Jewel In The Palace in Manila

I'm a certified korean drama fan for two years now. In fact my collection of tv dramas and movies not to mention magazines, stickers and other small knick knacks takes up the space under my bed. But to me one of the best made series I've ever watched was Jewel In The Palace. The screenplay was fantastic and the cinematography just beyond what I've been used to when it comes to tv production. Not to mention the superb acting from all the cast.

You can just imagine my excitement when the station airing the said drama announced that they will be bringing Yang Mi-gyeong who played Lady Han and Jo Jeon Eun who acted as the little Jang-geum to do a meet and greet.



Good thing my work load was light so I was able to ask to leave an hour early yesterday and immediately proceeded to Market, Market an upscale mall 30 minutes away from the office. The place is already packed when I got there with a few friends so were left with no option but to find a good place to stand and still get a view of the stage. All those empty seat you see are reserved for the special guest of the Korean Embassy. It's a good 2 hours before they started the program and the heat from all the people around was becoming unbearable but since I already indured a lot what's another hour right?

The show started with some korean traditional dance and music and a speech by H.E. Hong Jong Ki, Korean Ambassador to the Philippines. We expressed his happiness for the love and support of the Filipino people to Korea through our appreciation of their cultural heritage. And as a token they co-sponsored the visit of the two stars here in the country. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is just a start and that we can expect more korean actors making official visit soon.

Then it was the turn of filipino artist Shamrock, Jonalyn Viray and the official songstress of all korean drama themes in the Philippines, Faith Cuneta to serenade the crowd. The show turned into an instant karaoke with the crowd singing along with them. The only glitch was when Faith tried singing the last stanza of the song "Pangarap Na Bituin" in korean but ended up sounding Japanese instead. I swear my friends and I all looked at each other bewildered at the words coming out of her and we all blurted "Korean ba yun?" (is that korean) but otherwise it was ok.

Finally the moment we've been waiting for preserved for posterity. Yang Mi-gyeong's smile lights up her face and her skin is beautiful. She looks a lot younger than her age (45 years old). Little Jang-geum is now a big girl and and is also blossoming into a pretty lady. I see another Moon Geun-Young in the making here.





After they said their good-bye I felt so drained walking became a torture. We were so drained and tired and what better way to end the night than by having dinner with friends. I swear I felt so dehydrated I drank a pitcher of ice tea, hehehe...