Andong to Gyeongju
Kim’s House in Andong was a most welcome sight after a tiring multi-legged journey from our hotel in the sticks of Jeju – 14 hours on buses, trains and planes, back through Seoul and down the rails to the city. We arrived in the dark, our Naver app map taking us down miniscule alleys where our backpacks scraped the walls, to arrive at a dimly lit doorway. No-one home…
We tried to fathom out the electronic door lock, jabbing at it like chimps in the stone age. Luckily we were soon saved. “Ahh – you are there, not there”, declared Mr Kim’s wife, sprinting over. She’d been waiting for us at the end of the sensible road and the way we were meant to come. Ping ping ping ping and the door popped open. The explanation for usage was instantly forgotten. Another door. “Same same”. Pings aplenty. We were led, shoes off, into the family’s Hanok house, a very traditional dwelling very like those we’d seen in Seoul, but with a few mod-cons as concession for the weary tourist. Varnished tree-limbs formed the internal roof space, beautiful screens adorned the bedroom area, the bathroom was sealed off via a tiny, paper backed screen-door with butterfly shaped hinges, forcing you to duck dramatically to enter. Mr Kim’s wife was evidently a talented embroiderer as many of her creations were pegged up around the walls. The family were clearly travellers too. A large and eclectic mix of souvenirs from Asia and Europe were also nailed up in a rather bizarre and haphazard fashion, making the whole interior look like a homely homage to the miscellaneous. Still, the welcome was great. “I bring fresh bread”, Mr Kim’s wife promised.
Though seriously fatigued, we ventured out into town, another half-hour’s walk, as a street specialising in the city’s signature food was suggested as a great way to recover. We found it down a steep concrete ramp, a lane leading to 20 or 30 restaurants, all crammed together and all serving just one dish – Jjimdak, a braised chicken concoction with vegetables and japchae glass noodles in a soy-sauce based gravy. We ordered one for two people and some local, cheap Makgeolli, a slightly milky looking rice-wine (a 750ml bottle of it costing less than £1) and a beer. The food arrived on a dish so big it had to be carried in both hands. We’d expected a fair amount of food, but this was something else. A whole chicken, and a big one at that, appeared to have given itself up for our bellies. We hadn’t eaten much all day and that was the only reason we managed to eat about half of it between us. Other tables were doing the same. A young, thin couple next to us seemed to rapidly dispatch the whole lot in the time it had taken us to open the wine and start tucking in. Then they were off, leaving us struggling. We’re by no means novices, but eating what amounts to a chicken stew with chopsticks is no easy feat, especially when the meal is knitted together in a sea of knotted noodles that obstinately defy being picked up. The joy of grabbing noodles and bringing them to your mouth followed by the despair of seeing them slip away at the point of reaching your lips. They must have been a metre long. We came to our senses and used the pair of scissors the meal came with, snipped away and defeated the slippery buggers.
Andong gatehouse
The scary Jjimdak
Chickens love beer here
Helen contemplating her fried squid
Woljeonggyo Bridge, Andong
We discovered Andong over the next few days, visiting a reconstructed Japanese colonial era noble’s house and a mysterious seven-storeyed brick pagoda built in the 8th Century, though the latter was somewhat disappointing for being rather squat and ugly. The Woljeonggyo Bridge, illuminated in the evenings, was very special though, particularly with its many ‘moon-boats’ glowing in the darkness (little electric powered barges with seats inside a crescent moon shape that changes colour as you glide through the water). There are dedicated moon-boat ‘police’ here, a small force of individuals with a siren in a dinghy, who speed off in the direction of any errant boats heading somewhere they shouldn’t, barking loudly through a loudhailer. We also noticed the rather peculiar trait of drinking beer from 500ml Pyrex jugs here. We saw this a few times, most memorably in the ‘Daily Beer’ pub whose logo is a chicken and had a penchant for playing the Nolan Sisters on the jukebox. Watching young Koreans clinking their jugs together & humming away to “I’m in the mood for dancing” is not your everyday occurrence….. (sorry – you’ll be singing this in your head for ages now). But the best of the city, and the reason we’d come in the first place, was an hours’ ride away – the amazing Hahoe (pronounced ‘Ha-H’way’, preferably very loudly and with a pronounced Geordie accent), an ancient and wonderfully preserved Hanok village that’s still lived in and maintained by a small local community.
Imcheongak heritage buildings, Andong
Imcheongak heritage buildings, Andong
Unsurprisingly it’s a big tourist draw (even the Queen came here once), but the day we visited there were surprisingly few. A large group of elderly Korean women aside (whose sole purpose seemed to be to outdo each other in the vocal volume stakes), we were pretty much alone and left to wander the dirt-track streets, marvelling at the houses and gardens. Some had been converted into exclusive guesthouses, some had tiny ceramic workshops or discreet cafes in their courtyards, but in the main the place appeared to look as if it still existed as it always had, sleepy and isolated.
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
Hahoe village
That was with the exception of the community centre’s theatre, where daily autumn performances of a famous masked dance takes place and which draws-in the crowds in abundance. Peace and tranquillity set aside, we took our seats in the auditorium and were treated to a bizarre series of loosely connected sketches and vignettes. This was the ‘Hahoe Byeolsingut Tallori’ (Mask Dance Drama of Hahoe), proudly designated as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea by UNESCO and originally performed as part of a wider shamanistic ritual to ensure the wellbeing of the village and a bountiful harvest. The sketches are essentially satirical and make fun of nobility and their pretensions, the devious ways of servants and the precarious nature of a virtuous life in a world full of temptation. Some of the scenes are hilarious and all pretty brazen in their disregard for modern day political correctness. One shows a butcher meeting a bull in a field who charges at him. As revenge he kills the bull with a sledgehammer to its head and cuts off its balls. The scene is childishly comic in that a pantomime bull, complete with wobbling under-parts, lollops around and falls dead, kicking its feet in the air. The intentions of the butcher are a little more sinister, however, as he’s seen trying to convince potential buyers of his severed testicles that their potency will ensure their own success with women. In another scene, a monk comes across a young girl peeing when she thinks no-one’s watching. The monk pretends to scoop up the dirt on which she’s pee’d and gives it a good old sniff. He becomes extremely randy in the process, chases after the girl and carries her off, not too unwillingly either. Even with the limitation of language, like all good performances, the acting can carry the day and this was a great example. We were in stitches and laughing and booing with the rest of them…
Two noblemen fight over the butcher’s balls, Hahoe Masked Dance
The dirty old monk and the cocquettish maiden, Hahoe Masked Dance
Gyeongju was next on our mid-Korean leg and was a complete contrast. The city is a major tourist centre and known as the ‘museum without walls’ due to the proliferation of tombs, temples and tumuli across the town, all dating from Korea’s Silla dynasty which ruled the peninsula in the first millennium. The moniker is well deserved as the centre has many large mounds that look like simple grassy hills to the casual observer, but which are actually elaborate burial tumuli where many of the kings still reside. Some have been excavated and a number of fascinating museums offering explanations on construction methods dot the town. All the tombs are left accessible so you can stroll around the bases and marvel at the mysteries inside. Woe betide anyone tempted to climb on any of them however – getting caught lands you a 2 year prison sentence and an eternity of shame….
It was busy here. Whilst waiting to check into our hostel digs, we bussed out to the temple of Bulguksa, an 8th Century masterpiece of Buddhist art an hour or so out of the city. It was raining, as it appears to do a lot at this time of year here, but that wasn’t deterring a horde of Korean schoolkids getting giddy and running amok around the temple complex. We focussed and made a gargantuan effort to marvel at the beauty of the place despite the chaos. As in many Buddhist shrines there are pretty prayer lanterns strung up on corridor ceilings, but here specially constructed gantries house thousands more – all brightly coloured in fluorescent greens, oranges, yellows and pinks. The effect is fantastic, though their purpose in illuminating the world of ignorance through the Buddha’s wisdom did not appear to be working out so well. A distinct lack of serenity pervaded these particular hallowed spaces….
Bulguksa Temple
Bulguksa Temple
Bulguksa Temple
Bulguksa Temple
Bulguksa Temple
Bulguksa Temple
The majority of our time here was spent either seeing more temple complexes, Hanok villages and beautifully illuminated Silla-era bridges or frequenting the many craft beer joints the city seems to have sprouted in recent years. In contrast to other countries, where we’ve made an effort to remain alcohol free on many days, we seem to be getting out of the habit in South Korea. It’s difficult to restrain yourself when the food and the booze is so damn good. I’m salivating now remembering the spectacularly fab Laphroaig-based cocktails we eagerly quaffed in the Bar Boon (a boon it was indeed). Interestingly we met a bloke from Wakefield in one road-side bar, a teacher now based in Singapore, marvelling at the wonderful quality and the cheap prices (though compared to Singapore anywhere’s cheap). Alas for Helen at least, the constant stream of wonderful food came to an abrupt end at one restaurant where the dish she’d ordered turned out to be very cold raw prawns. Her face was a little picture and probably not helped by me plucking their heads off and munching on the juicy bodies……
Gyeongju burial mound
Gyeongju
The Teletubbies take a fag break
Woljeonggyo Bridge, Gyeongju
Woljeonggyo Bridge, Gyeongju
Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, Gyeongju
Whiskey cocktails at the Bar Boon
We loved Andong. Though it gets a few Western tourists, they’re small in number so the town feels that much more real and authentic (and extremely welcoming). Unfortunately Mrs Kim did not manage to find us the fresh bread she’d so eagerly enticed us with, but made it up by buying us a box full of doughnuts and offering a lengthy and quite profound apology. Gyeongju was less appealing due to the much greater tourist draw, but made up for it by its fascinating history and lovely beer. It will be interesting to see how it fares at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in a few days time – much of the city is being tarted up for the occasion and a big influx of workers and police are already making it groan at the seams a little. Look out for the mad orange man-baby and Xi Jinping having a chat amongst the tombs.
We’re discovering that South Korea is a very diverse place and is immensely enjoyable. Hopefully our final stops in Busan and the busy port town of Tongyeong will round it off nicely……
Simon (24th October 2025)
Well I certainly had a laugh at your journey this time, but understand the disgust at Helen’s cold prawns. Glad you at least got your fill of booze after abstaining on your last journey. Keep going love mum❤️
Yes we’ve reverted to ‘holiday mode’ for a few weeks. Will have to stop that soon or we’ll be coming home skint….
I’d read somewhere the Nolan sisters were popular again due to a cover version for a film in S Korea, I hope you joined in, words and dance moves. Were you a Teletubbies fan also?, love the reference. Loved the update, take care 😊
I’d like to think the Nolan’s were popular all the time, little pop icons that they were. Maybe there’ll be a K-Pop remake. Nothing would surprise me here. Yes, we all love the Teletubbies don’t we? We’re starting to look a bit like them with all the beer we’re consuming at the moment…..
Sounds like youre having too much of a good time in south korea, 😅
very different to the tough going youve had, looks lovely and youre both looking well. Its a life that certainly suits you. X
Ha ha- it suits in many ways, but not the wallet or the waist-line unfortunately. Actually, prices are surprising reasonable here for most things, though craft beer is around UK prices. For the quality though, the food here is really cheap. We could happily live here it’s so ace…..