So I just got back from a school "field tip" of sorts. I told my coteacher a couple months back that I was interested in seeing how Koreans lived before the Korean War. At first he told me that if I didn't mind paying for gas and whatnot, he would take me around and show me some stuff. That was fine, but last week he comes up to me and said that the principal thought it was a great idea, and the school would finance the whole trip. This financing included food, lodging, all the museum fees, alcohol and even a lottery ticket for the Korean powerball.
Friday, bright and early, we left for our two-day trip. James, the "english speaking" Korean at my school, myself and the librarian, Neo, were the only ones that got to go. Clearly, Neo he got his english name because he loves the Matrix. He also just had laser-eye surgery, so he wore aviators the whole time--except when he was sleeping, when he wore what looked like swimming goggles and had the most bizzar snore I have ever heard. I mean seriously, I woke up in the middle of the night, which is a feat in itself, and this guy sounded like a famished kitten lapping milk...weird. Other than that though, he is a real cool guy. Oh, and he really like zombie movies. Enough that that is all we talked about last night.
Anyway, on to the trip. I didn't realize that Korea has such amazing mountains. Unlike the ancient Appalachian mountains, which are extremely worn and no so peaky. Korean mountains are the same elevation above sea level, only the land goes from flat to 5,000+ feet just like that. In North Carolina, even though you are 5,000+ feet above sea level, the next mountain over seems just like a hill, so you never really get to appreciate how high up you are. Not so in Korea. Unfortunately, my coteacher's van has very tinted windows and we were on the highway most of the time so we couldn't pull over, so illustrating this point is a bit more difficult than I would have liked.
This is probably the best image I have to illustrate the above point. It was also extremely foggy, so there was a bit of post-processing involved to get it this clear.
Upon our arrival in the Hahoe village in Andong, we got some traditonal Korean food, which is basically just saying "Korean Food," as it is virtually unchanged. Anyway, this was some sort of spicy chicken with rice noodles and random vegetables, which also is like saying "Korean Food" as every dish is basically some sort of variation of "spicy as hell mixed with veggies and some meat."
This is a pagoda/meditation spot on the walk to one of Korea's oldest "schools" where monks taught about Confucian thought in the early 1500s.
I have no idea how they managed to build such a hill, it's quite a feat if you ask me--almost like building the pyramids.
This tree is a zelkova tree and is more than 600 years old and is named Samsindang. Inside it live the goddess Samsin and it marks the center of Hohoe Village.
Andong is also known for its traditional Korean masks, which are housed in the national museum, there numbers totaling 13. The masks were used for a traditional dance and play.
If you write a wish on a piece of paper and tie it with the others surrounding the tree, it will come true, or so the legend says.
These hand carved statues were placed at the entrance to each village. There purpose was to ward off evil, disease, and anything else unwanted.
This marks the first photo on my blog that wasn't taken be me, more or less, I still had to adjust all of the settings and focus it before handing it to my co-teacher. The librarian next to me, Neo, is a character and the house behind me belonged to some noble, as it has tile shingles instead of a straw roof.
If I could live anywhere in Korea that I have seen, this would be the place...for a couple days anyway, there is nothing there but good scenery and ancient buildings.
This was in the medicine building. I have no clue what it is, but it looked interesting and it appeared to be for sale, although nobody was there to sell it.
The straw roofs have to be replaced every three to four years, but are much cheaper than the alernative.
What is weird is that although this place is like a museum, people actually still live there, so I was creeping over someone's fence in their backyard to take this shot.
This is overlooking Hahoe village from across the river on Buyongae Cliff.
It seems a bit strange that there are these really old buildings, still made of straw, with a mini-van parked in the driveway.
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