Grandpa over flowers/ 花样爷爷/꽃보다 할배

It's official,  I am hallyu (Korean wave) fan now. Not only towards their music and tv serials. Even their variety shows are much more interesting. 

I used to love (am still loving) Taiwanese variety shows for their wackiness.  Hosts who dun mince their words, ridiculous games and the travelogues are those that appeals to me.

But the Koreans bring it up to another level. 1st with running man where I am still diligently trying to watch every episode.  Then to the various talk shows I found on YouTube featuring the stars who I Google after watching running man.  Then to the music show on One channel which is slot in between shows to showcase many unknown singers. It wider my horizons on the Korean entertainment industry.

I read in I weekly the other day on this travelogue named Grandpa over flowers or 꽃보다 할배 or 花样爷爷。 The name is similar to the Korean F4 tv serial. The show seems to be interesting according to the write up.

Featuring 4 할아버지 (grandpas) namely Lee Soon Jae, Shin Gu, Park Geun Hyung and Baek II Sub with an average age of 76, it records their adventures as backpackers in Europe and Taiwan.  With them, is a younger actor (Lee Seo Jin) who doubled up as tour guide/ translator/ driver / bell boy/ financial controller/ nanny. I recognized 2 of the older grandpas from the tv serials but not the other 2. The younger actor is also unknown to me. Later then I realized he is the lead actor of "Lovers" where I watched many years back.

4 grandpas and their "servant"

It was hilarious at 1st to see the grandpas travelling through Europe and of course showcase the well known stubbornness of Korean Alpha male and the deep teachings of Confucius (孔子).

But as the show goes on, I cannot help but felt touched by the good spirits of the 할아버지. Overcoming their initial uneasiness of backpacking in a foreign country,  they seems to enjoyed the trip as the show proceed. You also get to see them keeping a lookout for 1 another and also the endless teasing. Its a different kind of travelogue.

During interviews,  they keep mentioning that this might be their last chance of seeing these places with the oldest of them all being 80 yrs old. They sought to get the best out of any difficult situations they faced. You have to give them credit for the efforts they put in.

The other worth mentioning is the younger actor ( though not that young at 43 but still the youngest). He was initially tricked into this show by misleading him that he will be going on the trip with 2 female pop stars. Imagine his shock when he realised he will be travelling with 4 grandpas. Epic.

Nonetheless, he did a good job in his roles. While people will usually had the luxury to plan prior to their trip, he can only plan along the way while taking into consideration of the grandpas' requests and comfort while trying to work within the budget. Not an easy feat I must say.

I will be keeping a lookout for their part 2 trip next year and meanwhile ponder whether I should watch the female version of this series.