Andong, Seowons, and Folk Villages

Luck and planning had us visiting South Korea's 2 UNESCO World Heritage folk villages, Yangdong near Gyeongju and Hahoe near Andong, on consecutive days. Hahoe had the same traditional houses with thatched roofs, collections of jars, and the occasional nod to the modern world, but we did not warn up to it, preferring Yangdong.

Maybe it was the fact that Hahoe was on flat land near a river and Yangdong was in the hills with cherry blossoms all around. Or maybe it was the free Mask Dance performance at Hahoe that was decidedly anti vegetarian; we left after 10 minutes.

Not to mention that Hahoe had a somewhat sleazy entrance scheme. The bus from Andong dropped us off at the ticket booth and then continued to the heart of Hahoe leaving us and every other tourist to buy tickets and then either walk 1km to Hahoe or pay to ride another bus. What? Why not have the ticket booth closer to the village.

In addition to the folk villages, we visited 3 seowon (Confucian Academy) on 3 consecutive days: Oksan near Gyeongju (previous post), and Byeongsan and Dosan Seowon near Andong. Each was excellent in its own way. Perhaps the last one, Dosan Seowon, was best as it had an adjacent museum, and a very knowledgeable and a passionate English speaking tourist information person. Oh, and the Korean 1000 won bank note features the founding sage Yi Hwang on the front, and a view of the academy on the back

Arriving in Andong by train, we checked into the nearby and very friendly Park Tourist Hotel and we sped directly by bus to Hahoe Folk Village....Approaching Hahoe Folk Village on foot.


The mask dance performances before the slaughter.


We got a map from the Visitor Center and proceeded to the "open" buildings.


Like many villages all over the world, there is a sacred old tree at the heart to Hahoe.


Stone Jars.


I inadvertently forgot to switch my camera setting back to NORMAL from LOW_ILLUSTRATION so the next many pics of Hahoe look of course like illustrations. It was a bright sunny day with lots of contrast so maybe these pics are actual an improvement as this mode reduces contrast.








From Hahoe it's a 4km walk to Byeongsan Seowon following the ribbons of a walking course. Nice! First a walk through some agricultural fields, then through some burial mounds.

Shakey video.


And video link here.



Then over the mountain, down through woodlands and along the river to Byeongsan Seowon.








We were somewhat surprised to see several tour groups at Byeongsan Seowon.


The seowon's front pavilion looked like the perfect place to relax and have a chat.








We missed the last bus back to Andong so we hitched a ride back to the main road and caught a bus from there. The next morning we headed out to Dosan Seowon, located on a big man-made lake. Below are two views out to the lake.




Once again I inadvertently left my camera in LOW ILLUSTRATION mode. Sheesh. Dosan Seowan is in very good shape and one can wander through almost all of the buildings of this 500 y.o. Confucian Academy: Classrooms, dormitories, kitchen, and more. We used the free audio guide as well.
















As usual, the building for performing ancestor worship was locked.


After the seowon we headed back to Andong, and after lunch walked to the park along the river where the Cherry Blossom Festival was in full swing bloom. But first we check out a pavilion in city center.








The Taekwwondo Exhibition was one of the coolest things was saw on this trip. Not only did they break some boards in spectacular fashion, their choreographed music video type routines were spot on.












And finally, we "rented" a free tandem bike that was way too small and had a short spin along the river.