In a short time I visited Andong twice, once a on a day
trip and the second time a two days visit. It’s a four hour drive from Geoje. The
easiest way was to put the telephonenumber of the “Mask museum” (054-8412896)
in the navigation system. But in Andong the sign’s are very clear.
The Mask museum is near the entrance of Hahoe Maeul
(village). You can park your car and there is a shuttle bus between the carpark
and the entrance of the village.. The hightlight was the folkvillage Hahoe,
Queen Elizabeth also visited this place, where the people still lives. It’s a
special place because the houses faces the river instead of the south, and the
second reason is that you can find thatched roofs and larger yangban houses from
wood with stone. The surroundings are also worthwile if you like nice
landscapes.
But the place has more to offer . Next to Hahoe you can
find Byeongsan Seowon. You have drive a bit on a dirt road laeding to the
shrine which worship Ryu Seongryong a famous Confusian scholar. Very special
are the pillars which have the orginal shape (bending) of the tree.
On the way to the Bongjeongsa Temple, we paida visit to the Hanji
paper factory. You can still see how they make the paper and they sell
a really huge selection with special colored and patterned paper.
The Bongjeongsa Temple is Korea’s oldest wooden structure and the biggest
temple in Andong.
At the end of the day, around 4 p.m. it’s nice to go to
Andong’s Folk Museum. They have a nice display of the life in early age. After
closing time you can still visit the buildings, or have a walk along the river
and cross the wooden bridge, Wolyeong Bridge. In the evening it’s worth to try
the famous chicken dish, Andong Jjimdak. The best place is at the traditional
market. We stayed at a so called “love hotel”, Goryeo Hotel, but with us, just
families were checking in. The hotel is situated excellent near the centre of
the town. From the hotel you can easily walk into the new and the traditional
center of Andong. They don’t serve breakfast but there are many coffee shops
which opens early, recommended is “Mammoth” in the center. For the next day we
saved the Dosan Confucian School and the Icheon-dong Maayeoraeipsang or the
Stone Buddha or Amitaba Buddha along road number 5 to the north. This sounds
easy, but we took some wrong arms of road 5. But look for signs for the village
Icheong-dong and you will find it.
There are a lot more things to visit, but life is all about
making a choice!
