Last weekend I got to travel by myself for the first time to Andong, a city in the east central part of Korea. It's famous for the Hahoe (pronounced Ha-hweh) folk village and mask dance. I had planned on leaving Friday night on the last bus there (11pm), but when I got to the bus depot, there were no more seats to Andong, so I got the first bus out the next morning at 6am (managing to do this, by the way, when the bus clerk didn't speak any English). I managed to find a hotel to stay in near the bus depot, and caught the bus on Saturday morning no problem. The trip was only 3 hours, so I got into downtown Andong rather early. I found a cheap hotel to stay in near the bus terminal first, and unloaded my overnight bag. Then I went back to the bus depot to get my ticket for the bus on Sunday, just to make sure I didn't have the same problem again.
I explored a little of downtown Andong and found a tourist information booth, which had the time schedule for the bus to the local tourist destinations, of which there were quite a few. The first place I went, and my main reason for going, was the Hahoe Folk Village ( 하회마을).
Hahoe (pronounced Ha-hweah) is an ancient village that has never been attacked because of it's unique location - it is surrounded by a river on three sides and mountains on the fourth. The buildings are a mix of thatched servants quarters
and upper class homes.
It's beautifully tranquil, and the mountains and homes together makes you feel like you've been transported back in time (if you ignore the odd satellite dish attached to the thatching). I wandered around the village for a few hours, looking at the different architectural styles of the houses, and going to the different national treasure sites (I believe this village houses about 19 of them). National treasures here are mostly buildings owned and lived in by historical Korean officials and heroes.
In my wanderings I came across a small playground, where kids were playing on what we would call a see-saw, except instead of sitting on it, they stand and try to get each other to jump higher, almost like a trampoline.
This village is particularly known for the Hahoe Mask Dance, which is an ancient traditional dance with a lot of cultural significance that has been lost in the touristization (is that a real word?) of it.
I missed the first part of the dance because I didn't know where it was being held, but I got to see most of the first three acts. I got a short video of it that I'll try to upload later (since this post is already a week later than I would have liked).
I headed back into town, intending to visit some of the other places in the area, but I was too tired. So I grabbed dinner at the Mr. Pizza, and wandered around the downtown area. I found a small park with some of the old-style pagodas that were lit up.
I went back the next morning to visit the cliff across the river from the village to get a better view of it,
and got to see a few of the people that lived there actually working on making the masks
as well as other ancient style crafts like calligraphy.
After leaving the village again, I came back to the hotel and got my bags, ready to head home. I decided to stop at a museum I had seen the night before, which was interesting in that it didn't have any physical artifacts, but had interactive videos, games, sounds, etc, all linked to the history and traditions of Andong. It was a very restful and enjoyable weekend, especially since I was alone and was able to do what I wanted, when and where I wanted to.
I explored a little of downtown Andong and found a tourist information booth, which had the time schedule for the bus to the local tourist destinations, of which there were quite a few. The first place I went, and my main reason for going, was the Hahoe Folk Village ( 하회마을).
Hahoe (pronounced Ha-hweah) is an ancient village that has never been attacked because of it's unique location - it is surrounded by a river on three sides and mountains on the fourth. The buildings are a mix of thatched servants quarters
and upper class homes.
It's beautifully tranquil, and the mountains and homes together makes you feel like you've been transported back in time (if you ignore the odd satellite dish attached to the thatching). I wandered around the village for a few hours, looking at the different architectural styles of the houses, and going to the different national treasure sites (I believe this village houses about 19 of them). National treasures here are mostly buildings owned and lived in by historical Korean officials and heroes.
In my wanderings I came across a small playground, where kids were playing on what we would call a see-saw, except instead of sitting on it, they stand and try to get each other to jump higher, almost like a trampoline.
This village is particularly known for the Hahoe Mask Dance, which is an ancient traditional dance with a lot of cultural significance that has been lost in the touristization (is that a real word?) of it.
I missed the first part of the dance because I didn't know where it was being held, but I got to see most of the first three acts. I got a short video of it that I'll try to upload later (since this post is already a week later than I would have liked).
I headed back into town, intending to visit some of the other places in the area, but I was too tired. So I grabbed dinner at the Mr. Pizza, and wandered around the downtown area. I found a small park with some of the old-style pagodas that were lit up.
I went back the next morning to visit the cliff across the river from the village to get a better view of it,
and got to see a few of the people that lived there actually working on making the masks
as well as other ancient style crafts like calligraphy.
After leaving the village again, I came back to the hotel and got my bags, ready to head home. I decided to stop at a museum I had seen the night before, which was interesting in that it didn't have any physical artifacts, but had interactive videos, games, sounds, etc, all linked to the history and traditions of Andong. It was a very restful and enjoyable weekend, especially since I was alone and was able to do what I wanted, when and where I wanted to.
