In July 2017 I discovered what it truly mean't to be paid for something you LOVE! I was asked to be a guest Presenter alongside Presenter Ed Petrie on the CBBC TV show 'All Over the Place Asia' which meant I got to spend 10 days in South Korea.
All Over the Place Asia is where you see Ed Petrie and various guest presenters on a bizarre quest across the world to find some unusual, strange and amazing places! As well as South Korea, other visited countries across the series included: Thailand, India, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and China.
I can honestly say it was one of the BEST experiences of my life so far and an absolute dream to achieve this in my early presenting career. Don't ask why I never kept a blog or vlog about this, but seeing as it's been airing on BBC Two for the last 13 Saturday's, I thought now would be a great time to share highlights of what we got up to in 25 - 29 degree weather.
MONDAY 17TH JULY 2017 - KIMCHI & POOPOO LAND
My day kicked off at 6.30am, breakfast at 7.30am...Which may I add wasn't just any ordinary breakfast, a traditional South Korean breakfast has rice, soup, meat, and an array of side dishes including grilled short ribs (galbi), spicy seafood salad, bean sprout rice (kongnamul bab), spicy stewed fish, cold cucumber soup (oi naengguk), seasoned kelp, and radish strip kimchi (moo saengchae)...Believe me, Weetabix just doesn't cut it for me anymore!
Ed Petrie and Tee Cee, Poopooland shoot, South Korea - All Over the Place Asia
The main scene's to film on the day were a 'How to make kimchi' demonstration and a visit to Poopoo land in Seoul, South Korea, a museum dedicated to the science of poo and farts! In this scene I had pretend to be a famous Internet star vlogging about my experience and updating my fans about my day at the poo museum...This would actually make a SICK vlog! (#jussayin) Poopoo land has it's own cafe where your tea is served in a toilet shaped cup, it also has a farting stairs, giant playable body parts including the mouth, oesophagus, stomach and small intestines, urinals, optical illusions and a toilet slide! This was my entire missed chapter of my child hood in one place.
TUESDAY 18TH JULY 2017 – K-POP MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT
As part of the series I had to learn and sing two original songs, today's was 'Seoul vs K-pop' dedicated to the viral hit Gangnam style. The music video shoot included learning a dance routine with K-pop dancers, filming scene's in Gangnam Square, on K-Star Road which is K-pop's walk of fame with lots of PSY memorabilia , Gwanghwamun Square where we saw the famous Statues of King Sejong and the Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Namsan Mountain home of the N SEOUL TOWER and finally the Bukchon Hanok Village. It was a JAM-PACKED day, but there was so much culture and memories to take in, I felt like I was on an adventure the whole time.
Tee Cee, 'Seoul vs K-pop' music video shoot - All Over the Place Asia
Tee Cee in Gangnam Square, 'Seoul vs K-pop' music video shoot - All Over the Place Asia
WEDNESDAY 19TH JULY 2017 – GREAT STONE FACE SCULPTURE PARK
Today we visited South Korea's Great Stone Face Sculpture Park where can you see the world's most famous (and infamous) people recreated in stone.
As you can see I found my media inspiration, Oprah!
Me and Ed were challenged by the park tour guide to find a famous film director and we found Steven Spielberg, We also filmed a spoof game show where Ed transformed into his comedic character 'Geraint' and tested my knowledge on celebrities whilst I had to also try and re-create their face out of play dough.
THURSDAY 20TH JULY 2017 – TAEKWONDOWON MUSIC VIDEO SHOOT
This was the second music video shoot and today's song was a dedication and celebration of the martial art, Taekwondo. Taekwondon in Muju County, South Korea is absolutely breath taking! I can't even begin to describe what I saw here, it's honestly something you would need to see, feel and experience for yourself to get a true depiction of mother nature. We filmed scene's in the outdoor sculpture park (which looked like a scene from Karate Kid), the T1 arena where championships are put on, the national Taekwondo museum where we got to do virtual reality fighting and also got to travel on a monorail.
FRIDAY 21ST JULY 2017 – BORYEONG MUD FESTIVAL
The Boryeong Mud Festival is an annual event which takes place during the summer in Boryeong, a town south of Seoul, South Korea. On this day, I experienced the ULTIMATE missing chapter from my childhood! A mud festival? Who knew such a thing even existed. Me and Ed went head to head to see if we could beat each other in a series of challenges including a gladiator style joust challenge where we tried to knock each off an inflatable...(whatever we were sitting on)...I WON! Did I mention I am VERY competitive. The second challenge was to see who could get down the GIANT mud slide the fastest...Ed won and lastly the mud obstacle course which we had to do twice because the first time we couldn't work out who actually won...But turns out in the end...Ed won! This obstacle course had every impossible total wipeout type activity you could think of with the added bonus of MUD! I had to end up throwing my clothes in the bin and spending hours washing my hair out...But I'd do it AGAIN!
So as you can see, I had a very unconventional experience which gave me memories for life! It's something I will never forget and it really reminded me of the importance of travelling and learning about other people's cultures and traditions. The food was so fresh, tasty and cooked with healthy, authentic love...Wagmama has never been the same! The hospitality and customer service was top notch, everyone kept bowing at me in the hotel (I totally could get used to that) and we had the friendliest fixer called Chun Jung who was convinced that I'd make it as a star in South Korea and recommended I move there.
There is so much more to life than work...The world awaits you!
Tee Cee