It’s time for the second trip with WOW Korea~ One month really flies by very fast. This time we went to three different cities in the North Gyeongsang Province in Korea: Andong, Yeongju and Mungyeong. I did not know what to expect from the trip because honestly I have never heard of these cities but I was really excited to explore the unknown 😀 For this post, I will be sharing what we did on our first day that we spent in Andong!

Hahoe Folk Village (하회마을)

Hahoe Village is a Korean Cultural village located in Andong and it is also an UNESCO World Heritage site! The village was known as the birthplace of renowned scholars of the Joseon Period and it became even more famous after Queen Elizabeth visited in 1999. The village is surrounded by beautiful sceneries including the sight of Nakdong River and a row of cherry blossom trees that blooms in April.

Andong is well known for its mask culture and so in Hahoe Village, you can visit their Hahoe Mask Museum (하회동 탈 박물관) to learn more about masks culture around the world. It was pretty amazing that they had masks even from Indonesia (Barong) and Thailand.

The good thing about the museum was that they had English explanations to their display which I did not expect to see in a museum in a small traditional village. Another cool this is that we got to try out some of the masks and collect different mask stamps as souvenir for free! Admission to the museum costs 2,000KRW if you are above 18 and 1,500KRW if you are a youth below 18 years old, pretty reasonable!

After touring the Mask Museum, we got the opportunity to make and design our own masks using clay and a template mask that they provide. The cost of the activity is 5000KRW and it includes all the materials you need! The clay that they use is really unique! It is sticky and soft with a very weird texture. They are heavy in colour but it does not stain your hands. It does stain the paper mask though. It can also be mixed to create new colours. It was really amusing to just play with the clay on its own!

Overall, I really enjoyed the mask making experience and I strongly recommend you trying it for yourself especially if you are bringing any kids along! Even for adults, the experience was very fun too!

If you’re hungry in Hahoe Folk Village, they have some restaurants that you can try too! We had a nice Korean meal that served fried Mackerel fish as the main dish with of course lots of Korean side dishes to go with it. It was very delicious!

To get to the village from Andong Bus Terminal, take bus 46 to the stop called “Hahoe Village (하회마을)”. The bus runs between 06:20-18:20. It will take around 50 minutes to get from the Bus terminal to the village. From the Bus stop, you will then need to take an internal shuttle bus to get to the village. You can get more information from this website.

Andong Jjimdak Street in Andong Market

This food street can be found inside of Andong Market. The alley is specifically known to be packed with jjimdak stores and most of them sell the dish at a similar price range. Jjimdak is known to be the food to eat when in Andong. It is a soy sauce braised chicken dish that is spicy yet slightly sweet. It is commonly eaten with rice but there is also glass noodle and potatoes inside the dish.

Amongst the many stores in the street selling Jjimdak, we had ours in a restaurant called Millenium Andong Jjimdak (밀레니엄 안동 찜닭). It was really really good!

One dish is really huge so it is best to share it with 2 or 3 other people. It can also be pretty spicy so it may not be too suitable for kids. But this dish is definitely a must have if you are in Andong!

To get to Andong Market, cross the road after exiting from Andong Station and go straight until to make a right turn at Daeanno (대안로). Cross the road again and walk straight to arrive at Andong Traditional Market (안동구시장). Here’s the name card of the restaurant I ate in if you want it:

Andong Mask Dance Festival (안동국제탈춤페스티벌)

We were in Andong at the right time because it was their Mask Dance Festival Season. In fact, we arrived just in time for the festival’s opening ceremony so that was where we were on our night in Andong.

In the festival, you can enjoy the many performances of Korea’s traditional mask dances including the byeolsingut talnori dance, which has been designated an Important Intangible Cultural Asset of Korea. While the admission to the festival grounds itself is free, you will need to pay 7000KRW to watch the mask dance performance in their indoor theatre.

This festival is one of the largest international cultural festivals in Korea and many international dance groups also come to the festival to perform and represent their countries. There was an Indonesian dance group from Universitas Indonesia that we were so excited to meet when we were there but we did not manage to catch their performance 🙁

This year, this festival runs until this Sunday (9 September 2016) so you still have time to go there if you want to!

Dosanseowon Confucian Academy (도산서원)

Dosan Confucian Academy was established in 1574 by the disciples and others who cherished their memories of the premier Lee Hwang. Fun Fact: Lee Hwang is the man in Korea’s 1000 won notes.

The place did not have much things to do except to take photos and to have a nice walk. I felt like it is not really worth going there if you do not have the time to 🙂

KBS Drama Set in Andong (KBS 드라마 세트 장 안동)

The last destination in Andong was the KBS Drama Set. It’s a beautiful and pretty large park with traditional housing that was used as a drama set. Here’s the map of where it is exactly located at in Andong.

We had a special mission when we were there – to make a short drama scene! Here was what my group did for the mission (그녀는 예쁘다 Episode 1):

Here’s the next part about Yeongju and Mungyeong!