…maybe not but I did get a taster of how it feels to have a camera shoved in you face whilst someone tells you how best to stand so they can get a good photograph.

I was at the Daegaya Experience Festival in Goryeong. I thought the festival was about the ancient kingdom of Daegaya and that I was there to learn about the life and culture of the people who lived in the area (which has since been renamed Goryeong), have a go at some of the experiences, dress up in traditional dress and generally have fun. But it seemed that the westerners were in fact the star attraction!

At every turn there was a camera in my face and as soon as Kat, Emily and I decided to use the old style swords to have a sword fight or dressed in traditional costume the paparazzi converged on us barking orders: “look over here,” “no here,” “look up,” “do that again,” “one more time!” There were photographers everywhere all eager to get the best shot, but they were so busy taking our pictures it was almost impossible to get someone to take a photo for us!

Half way through the day the middle of the site was cleared for a historical reenactment drama. Even then the incessant photographs didn’t stop. As we found ourselves a spot to watch the reenactment one of the actors asked to have photo taken with us, then a woman came over and asked if she could take our photo with her son – I guess at least there were asking rather than just taking photos of us, which is  what often happens.

Despite the paparazzi we had a lot of fun walking around, trying out the different experiences and collecting stamps to prove we’d done it. At the end of the day we took our book full of stamps and retrieved our certificate to prove we had achieved the full Daegaya experience – although the certificate is written entirely in Korean so I have no idea what it says!

Daegaya Experience Festival – With our certificates after completing the experiences.
Spot the deliberate mistake.

Once our certificates were safely in our hands we retreated to comfort of the bus away from the paps and our A list celebrity status. From there forth I would have to be satisfied with the Z-list celebrity status I have walking around Kumdan where I only attract the occasional stare.

* Posted by j150vsc on 07/05/2007.