Piggyback- Korean style

My apologies for not writing often and for those who are totally not interested in TWSSG…my apologies too.

Life has been pretty hectic for the last 2 months, and watching TWSSG is definitely time consuming… Anyway, thought I’d write something non-TWSSG instead before I bored the rest of people to death. Not sure whether I’ll have the time to write about Episode 16 and 17 as Episode 18 and 19, which air this week promise to be very exciting and sad….

Anyway, what was I going to write about? Oh yes…piggyback- Korean style.

Of course, the Koreans don’t have a particular style of doing piggyback and they aren’t the only people who do this and yet…we almost always associate it with Koreans. Hubby will say it’s rubbish and there’s no such thing as piggyback Korean style. But we know better right? *wink*

About 2 months ago, I fell off a ladder. No, I wasn’t oggling at a handsome Korean man or any man for that matter. I was going after a packet of instant kimchi noodle, which had fallen off the kitchen cupboard that I was clearing.

I landed hard on my right foot and my knee crumpled. Anyway, the long and short of it was…. I couldn’t walk to the nearest clinic, which was just across the road from my place. House call by a doctor cost an arm and a leg of at least S$200 (and I had already lost a leg with this fall). So my gallant hubby offered to piggyback me downstairs, and then we could get into our car and drive across.

When I told my cousins and family this story…the first question they all asked was… Did he do it (piggyback) the Korean way? Hehe! See?

Piggyback = Koreans
Seriously, piggybacks seemed to be the norm if I am to believe all the dramas and movies I’ve seen so far. In fact, I think this piggyback business should go into the the 50 Things You Can Learn from a Korean Drama. And if you haven’t read this post yet, you really should. Lot of wisdom in it. ^^

So who gets piggyback and who offers the piggyback? Anyone it seems…and the strange thing is….sometimes you scratch your head and wondered.. “Why?”

“My Name is Kim Sam Soon’

In the drama, ‘My Name is Kim Sam Soon’, Jin Heon aka Sam Shik (Hyun Bin) carried the very drunk Sam Soon (Kim Soon Ah) back home. Errr…. so why doesn’t he get a taxi? Or perhaps he was looking forward to be being hit on the head with a soft toy? (being hit on the head seems to be the norm for Koreans too…but that’s another story)

Kim Soon Ah is now filming the movie, ‘Girl Scout’ together with Na Moon Hee (Hyun Bin’s mother in ‘My Name Is Kim Sam Soon’)

‘Stairways to Heaven‘

If there’s one thing I learnt about Korean tragic love drama….it’s that if there’s a dying woman…she will almost always end up at the seaside with her boyfriend/ husband, who will be doing this very romantic gesture of hiving her piggyback whilst they walk along the beach. Errr….isn’t that really uncomfortable for the dying woman? And what is he going to tell the police about the dead body by the beach? Ok, ok…it’s not a very romantic picture.. erase it from your mind…^^

Kwon Sang Woo will be making a comeback to the TV screen in December in the drama, ‘Bad Love’ with Lee Yo Won (last seen in ‘Surgeon Bong Dal Hee’) and Kim Seung Soo (‘Full House’). Of course, everyone is also waiting with bated breath for his movie, ‘Destiny’ with Song Seung Heon. Think Choi Ji Woo is taking a break after slightly disappointing ‘Air City’.

‘Ireland’

To prove that men don’t only just carry women, the Korean dramas show us that they are equally capable of carrying men as well. Now in this scene, Kang Gook (Hyun Bin) is sick and running a fever. And Jae Bok (Kim Min Joon) decided to help him. They step outside the hotel and do they call a taxi? No….he piggybacked him home, with Lee Na Young walking dutifully behind with all the barang barang. If the poor guy wasn’t very sick before, he would be by the time he got home. Tiffany shakes her head in disbelieve.

I’ve not watched this drama but I have the ost and I really like the songs in there.

Hyun Bin is taking a break after ‘Snow Queen’, which errrr… I’m going to give it a miss. And Kim Min Joon is in ‘In Soo is pretty’ airing on KBS now, same time slot as ‘Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi’.

‘Coffee Prince Shop No 1’
For proof of further equality, we not only have a man carrying another man, it seems woman can also give a man a piggyback.

Now Yoon Eun Hye is 163cm, weighs 50kg. Gong Yoo is 174cm and weighs 74kg. I heard she had a hard time filming this. But again, why did Eun Chan (Yoon Eun Hye) have to carry Han Kyul (Gong Yoo) back? Isn’t it more logical to call for help? Hehe! but the reference to the pig part was funny.

Yoon Eun Hye is taking a break now after the immensely popular drama, ‘Coffee Prince Shop No 1’. Gong Yoo should be going into the army soon. I know Adeline is crying her heart out about this. ^^

‘Damo’
I suppose they all learn these piggyback thingy from young…you got to train them up right? So in ‘Damo’, we have the young Hwangbo Yoon carrying the slave, Chae Ok as he runs through the forest. Ok, not to joke about this, this is a great drama and this was one of the heart breaking scene in the drama. *sob! Sob!* The child actors are really, really great.

The adult Hwangbo Yoon (Lee Seo Jin) is now in another period drama, ‘Lee San’. It’s going to be 60 episodes, so we’re going to be seeing him for quite a few months. Ha Ji Won (the adult Chae Ok) was last seen in the movie ‘Miracle on 1st Street’ and her drama, ‘Hwang Jinyi’ will be airing in Singapore next month. Heard she was in town last week but strangely, no news anywhere in the media.

‘Thank you’

I think the most natural act is actually carrying a child and but it’s rather odd that we don’t see many of this pairing. If you have not watched ‘Thank You’, you really should as well because it’s a great heart warming drama and the whole cast acted so well. And yes, the ost is also great.

Jang Hyuk will be starring in a new drama, ‘Robbers’ with Lee Da Hae in December. If you want to read about my experiences as an extra on his new movie, ‘Dance of the Dragon’, go to one of my post here. I think Shin Sung Rok has gone back to theatre, which is his first love.

‘Full House’
And of course, the elderly must be left out. After all, we must be fair to all right? So watch Song Hye Gyo film the part where she had to carry Young Jae’s (Rain) grandmother back into the house here. Hehe! Like I said…the Koreans really do seemed to like this piggybacky thingy.

Song Hye Gyo is also taking a break now after her latest movie, ‘Hwan Jinyi’. And Rain? I think still trying to sort out his English album after filming his Hollywood movie, ‘Speed Racer’.

And finally, I think this is really uniquely Korean… being part of the traditional Korean wedding ceremony. Of course the Chinese used to do it too…but not anymore…. so I find it totally fascinating.

These photos were sent to me by Taro and was taken during the recent wedding ceremony held at the new KTO office in Singapore. Thanks Taro.

This is a couple in real life. Don’t think look great? ^^

Btw, just a note about this piggyback business. It’s really not as comfortable and great as it seems. Ok, maybe if you’re a small kid and takes great pleasure in being above everyone else. But seriously, I’d rather have a man hold my hand than have this fear that he might just drop me at any minute.

And this is speaking from experience.

But I’m still grateful to hubby. ^^