Last weekend I went to Andong, capital of Jim Tak (a spicy steamed chicken dish), soju and traditional mask dancing. I was going to go alone as I had to Gyeongju, but when I mentioned my plans to my level 4 class last month, three of the students in my class wanted to go along with me. One of them couldn't go because he has a girlfriend and she wouldn't have approved (people are pretty conservative here), but the other two are single and were eager to go along with me. I hesitated at first because I didn't know how it would go, if things would be awkward and whether I would be good company since I haven't been the peppiest these past few months, but it turned out to be an amazing trip!
Neo offered to take us in his car and so met me and Peter in front of YBM at 9am on Saturday morning. It was my idea to go on Saturday morning and we paid for my mistake very dearly. The trip is normally about 3 hours long, but because of the atrocious traffic, it took us about 7 1/2 hours! It was crazy! We still had fun and they made incredible efforts to speak in English. They did quite well and I really appreciated their efforts. We chatted along the way, stopping at reststops along the way to go to the bathroom and have a bite to eat (fried potatoes, tobboki, semi-dried squid and odeng).
One thing I've been wanting to mention about Korean restrooms is the fact that in womens' bathrooms you can often find what they call a privacy bell. It's a little machine on the door of each stall that you press if you don't want anyone to hear you pee or poop. Sometimes, the bell sounds like the toilet flushing, sometimes it's music, but either way it's an opportunity for women to be modest. It's quite cute actually!
We agreed along the way to go to the Soju museum. We were pressed for time, however and didn't know whether we would get to Andong in time to visit the museum. We called ahead and found out that it was closing 30 minutes later than indicated in Lonely Planet. The last hour on the road was traffic-free, so Neo sped along and we managed to get to the museum 15 minutes before closing time. The museum is also a food museum and demonstrated traditional dishes that were and are still eaten for special occasions. There wasn't all that much to see, but we were able to see how the distillation process was done. Soju is a vodka-like alcohol made from potatoes or sweet potatoes. The percentage of alcohol ranges from 20% to 40%. The distillation process was brought over from Persia and Arabia and on through China before reaching the Korean peninsula.
Andong soju is very popular in Korea and is the strongest local alcohol. The museum allows us to do a tasting and the woman there kept the museum open later just for us. She was very helpful and friendly and gave us tips on where to stay for the night. The soju was strong and not too bad. I guess I've gotten used to the taste. Soju is definitely an acquired taste and is the drink that is most consumed in Korea. Not my favorite, though. Andong soju has a more earthy taste than other sojus and you could almost taste the ground. I guess it's because of the distillation process. In 1989, they stopped using the old distillation process and updated it, but Neo thought that was a bad idea because that's a selling point for Andong soju, the traditional process. Anyway, I think they are still doing well and Andong soju definitely still attracts its fair share of customers.
After the Soju museum we went to find a motel. The business section of the city is full of love motels, places where people go to have affairs for a few hours. Most of the motels didn't want us because we would be staying a full night and I guess it wouldn't have provided them with enough cashflow. We finally did find a place and it was the coolest thing ever! I've never actually seen a round bed before, not in real life, but they had one in the rooms! It was so funny. What a cheesy yet luxurious place; and for only 40,000won!
After securing rooms, we were starving and really looking for the local delicacy, Jim Tak. We went to Andong Market and within it were dozens of Jim Tak restaurants. The one that had been recommended to us was full so we ducked into another place and ordered. Like many other dishes in Korea, Jim Tak cannot be ordered for only one person because they serve you a whole chicken.
Korea is not very friendly towards individuals, so I often have to settle for simple dishes because I can't order the larger dishes. But luckily, I went with the boys so there was no problem! It was delicious!
After dinner we wandered around downtown and decided to have a drink at a posh little bar called TOMO. It was nice and we chatted for a while before going to a noraebang (singing room). This place was amazing! It was brand new and there was a wonderful couch with a large flat screen.
This place was called multi-karaoke so people could not only sing, but could also watch movies or play video games. The guys were incredibly impressed and said that they had never seen a place like that in Seoul. Andong is very surprising. We stayed there for about an hour and then went back to our respective rooms and konked out.
The next day we met around 11am and decided to go to Sebiwon first. Sebiwon is a huge Buddha carved out of a rock face.
The body was carved first and then with another rock, they carved out the head and then added it to the body. Next to the Buddha was a small temple and we went over to see. There were many tiny Buddhas placed behind a glass case with names written on each Buddha.
It was really cool and the monk there was super helpful. He explained that people had made wishes for enlightenment to people they cared for. It was quite spiritual. I had some questions about the bowing process and he demonstrated for me on a bench! It was amazing!
It has given me hope in strangers in Korea. Even the guys were impressed with how nice everyone was in Andong. Even the taxi drivers were nice (a rare occurence in Seoul)! What a treat!
After Sebiwon, we finally went over to the main attraction: Hahoe village, a traditional village where the home of mask dancing is. First we stopped for lunch and had GanGoDungOh, broiled salted Mackerel. It was very good, but I agree with the guys, the rest of the food was nothing to write home about.
We headed over to the village right after lunch and happened upon a graveyard of gargoyle/totems carved out of wood. The first time I saw them was in Buan, last September. At that time, we were driving and I couldn't bring myself to ask Son Mi's father to stop the car. They were pushed into the muddy shoreline and if I remember correctly, they were used to ward off evil spirits.
In Andong, the guys and I took lots of pictures and I was shocked to see some of them with penises attached to them. Korean society is very conservative and sex is never discussed in public. Here they had penis fountains. It was crazy! There are still so many things about Korea that are a mystery to me.
We then headed over to the mask dance. It was super crowded and it was very difficult to take pictures of the dancers/actors without having peoples' heads in the way. I did my best though. I bought a little booklet explaining what each story was about and that was really helpful. Here is how things panned out.
From the booklet:
Dance #1: Mudong Madang
Lady Kakshmi appears on the shoulders of another performer asking people to make offerings for their blessing and wealth. She is the personified long goddess, so can therefore not touch the ground. By welcoming Kakshmi, the villagers please the goddess and pray for peace and an abundant harvest.
Dance #2: Chuji Madang
A male and female Chuji (lion) appear, dancing and playfully fighting. The female wins, promising the village high productivity and an abundant harvest for the year. The mask doesn't look at all like lions, but instead shows the creativity of people who had never seen any real lions. Lions are supreme creatures in Buddhism.
Dance #3: Paekchong Madang
The butcher enters with his bag and tools and when he sees a bull come in, he dances with it and then kills it, cutting out his heart and testicles.
The act satirizes the authoritative attitudes of the ruling class toward sexual life, removing the sexual taboo. When the spectators laugh, the butcher has won over their sympathy.
Dance #4: Halmi Madang
An old widow appears. She had been widowed only three days after her wedding at the age of fourteen. She sits down and weaves a bit before dancing and bemoaning her ill-fortune, all the while asking for donations. The mask reveals the poverty and the face of a woman of the world as well as the conflicts between social classes and the pain of life for the common people. The open mouth on the mask indicates her readyness to take in food and pour out lamentations.
Young Pune dances and looking around to make sure no one is watching, squats and releives herself. Chung, a wandering monk, happens upon her and is arroused by the site.
He runs away with her on his back and is seen by Ch'oraengi, the busybody.
Dance #6: Yangban and Sonbi Madang
An aristocrat (Yangban) and a scholar (Sonbi) appear, each trying to outshine the other in his knowledge and status. The are mocked by the busybody, Ch'oraengi, and lose face. The butcher appears and offers to sell them the bull testicles. At first, they hesitate, but when the butcher informs them that it will increase their sexual energies, they fight to buy them. The old widow arrives and laughs at their behavior, thereby reconciling their differences. Ch'oraengi joins them and they all dance together. This act encourages the ruling class to reconsider its real place in society, while the commoners let off a little stem, alleviating conflict between classes.
All in all, I loved the show, but Koreans tend to talk a lot during shows and that was a bit off-putting. There were many kids complaining to their parents that it was boring, but I enjoyed the live druming and dancing. Peter liked how they used their shoulders when dancing. Traditionally, only men perform in these dances and such was the case on Saturday too.
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| Neo, me and Peter trying Andong soju |
After the Soju museum we went to find a motel. The business section of the city is full of love motels, places where people go to have affairs for a few hours. Most of the motels didn't want us because we would be staying a full night and I guess it wouldn't have provided them with enough cashflow. We finally did find a place and it was the coolest thing ever! I've never actually seen a round bed before, not in real life, but they had one in the rooms! It was so funny. What a cheesy yet luxurious place; and for only 40,000won!
After securing rooms, we were starving and really looking for the local delicacy, Jim Tak. We went to Andong Market and within it were dozens of Jim Tak restaurants. The one that had been recommended to us was full so we ducked into another place and ordered. Like many other dishes in Korea, Jim Tak cannot be ordered for only one person because they serve you a whole chicken.
Korea is not very friendly towards individuals, so I often have to settle for simple dishes because I can't order the larger dishes. But luckily, I went with the boys so there was no problem! It was delicious!
 |
| Awesome Andong Jim Tak |
After dinner we wandered around downtown and decided to have a drink at a posh little bar called TOMO. It was nice and we chatted for a while before going to a noraebang (singing room). This place was amazing! It was brand new and there was a wonderful couch with a large flat screen.
This place was called multi-karaoke so people could not only sing, but could also watch movies or play video games. The guys were incredibly impressed and said that they had never seen a place like that in Seoul. Andong is very surprising. We stayed there for about an hour and then went back to our respective rooms and konked out.
The next day we met around 11am and decided to go to Sebiwon first. Sebiwon is a huge Buddha carved out of a rock face.
 |
| Sebiwon |
The body was carved first and then with another rock, they carved out the head and then added it to the body. Next to the Buddha was a small temple and we went over to see. There were many tiny Buddhas placed behind a glass case with names written on each Buddha.
It was really cool and the monk there was super helpful. He explained that people had made wishes for enlightenment to people they cared for. It was quite spiritual. I had some questions about the bowing process and he demonstrated for me on a bench! It was amazing!
It has given me hope in strangers in Korea. Even the guys were impressed with how nice everyone was in Andong. Even the taxi drivers were nice (a rare occurence in Seoul)! What a treat!
After Sebiwon, we finally went over to the main attraction: Hahoe village, a traditional village where the home of mask dancing is. First we stopped for lunch and had GanGoDungOh, broiled salted Mackerel. It was very good, but I agree with the guys, the rest of the food was nothing to write home about.
We headed over to the village right after lunch and happened upon a graveyard of gargoyle/totems carved out of wood. The first time I saw them was in Buan, last September. At that time, we were driving and I couldn't bring myself to ask Son Mi's father to stop the car. They were pushed into the muddy shoreline and if I remember correctly, they were used to ward off evil spirits.
In Andong, the guys and I took lots of pictures and I was shocked to see some of them with penises attached to them. Korean society is very conservative and sex is never discussed in public. Here they had penis fountains. It was crazy! There are still so many things about Korea that are a mystery to me.
We then headed over to the mask dance. It was super crowded and it was very difficult to take pictures of the dancers/actors without having peoples' heads in the way. I did my best though. I bought a little booklet explaining what each story was about and that was really helpful. Here is how things panned out.
 |
| Imae: The Fool |
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| The musicians |
Dance #1: Mudong Madang
Lady Kakshmi appears on the shoulders of another performer asking people to make offerings for their blessing and wealth. She is the personified long goddess, so can therefore not touch the ground. By welcoming Kakshmi, the villagers please the goddess and pray for peace and an abundant harvest.
 |
| Kakshmi |
Dance #2: Chuji Madang
A male and female Chuji (lion) appear, dancing and playfully fighting. The female wins, promising the village high productivity and an abundant harvest for the year. The mask doesn't look at all like lions, but instead shows the creativity of people who had never seen any real lions. Lions are supreme creatures in Buddhism.
 |
| Chuji |
Dance #3: Paekchong Madang
The butcher enters with his bag and tools and when he sees a bull come in, he dances with it and then kills it, cutting out his heart and testicles.
 |
| The bull sprayed real water at the audience! |
He asks the spectators to buy either one.
 |
| The butcher |
The act satirizes the authoritative attitudes of the ruling class toward sexual life, removing the sexual taboo. When the spectators laugh, the butcher has won over their sympathy.
Dance #4: Halmi Madang
An old widow appears. She had been widowed only three days after her wedding at the age of fourteen. She sits down and weaves a bit before dancing and bemoaning her ill-fortune, all the while asking for donations. The mask reveals the poverty and the face of a woman of the world as well as the conflicts between social classes and the pain of life for the common people. The open mouth on the mask indicates her readyness to take in food and pour out lamentations.
 |
| The widow |
Dance #5: P'agyesung Madang
Young Pune dances and looking around to make sure no one is watching, squats and releives herself. Chung, a wandering monk, happens upon her and is arroused by the site.
 |
| Chung |
He runs away with her on his back and is seen by Ch'oraengi, the busybody.
This act criticizes religious corruption of that time period. (I bought the Chung mask for myself afterwards). |
| Ch'oraengi |
Dance #6: Yangban and Sonbi Madang
 |
| Sonbi |
An aristocrat (Yangban) and a scholar (Sonbi) appear, each trying to outshine the other in his knowledge and status. The are mocked by the busybody, Ch'oraengi, and lose face. The butcher appears and offers to sell them the bull testicles. At first, they hesitate, but when the butcher informs them that it will increase their sexual energies, they fight to buy them. The old widow arrives and laughs at their behavior, thereby reconciling their differences. Ch'oraengi joins them and they all dance together. This act encourages the ruling class to reconsider its real place in society, while the commoners let off a little stem, alleviating conflict between classes.
All in all, I loved the show, but Koreans tend to talk a lot during shows and that was a bit off-putting. There were many kids complaining to their parents that it was boring, but I enjoyed the live druming and dancing. Peter liked how they used their shoulders when dancing. Traditionally, only men perform in these dances and such was the case on Saturday too.
After the show, we wandered around the village and happened upon many a beautiful sight. Old buildings that had partially crumbled into ruin, a view of the river winding around the village, incredible trees sprouting in every shape and form. It was a very peaceful, if windy area. The sky was clear and calm and everyone was having a good time.
We decided to spend our second night in the village and so went about trying to find a minbak that wasn't too expensive. We tried about four places before we found something. It was a very old house with an almost equally old owner, an adorable withered grandmother who very obviously lived alone. It was kind of sad that she lived alone, but she was very sweet.
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| Our minbak with our very own grandmother! |
We rented two rooms, each room 30,000won. What I found most amazing was that each room was fitted with a TV! Who would have thought! The doors were incredibly small and when I stood inside my room, my head nearly reached the ceiling. Traditionally, Korean homes were heated from the floor boards and in this house, both modern and traditional heating systems were used. Both, however, were heating from the floor boards. The boys had a traditional room in the sense that wood was burned under the room and therefore heated the room that way. It's really quite cool and their room was warmer than mine. In modern times, they use a boiler system with water to heat apartments. This system makes much more sense than how we heat apartments in the west. As heat rises, your feet are never cold in the winter and since I sleep on a mat, I remain quite warm in the winter. This house also used mats. The toilet was basically an outhouse with a modern seat placed on top. It smelled like a regular outhouse though!
After securing rooms, we went into town to buy some alcohol and then returned to the village where we had dinner at a restaurant. It was quite nice because we had our own room to eat in. It was 100% private in that we could screen ourselves into our room with papyrus doors and that was really cool. It was quite cold by that time and we walked our way back to the minbak where we went to the boys rooms and had some bokbunja (a Korean liquor made from wild raspberries; sweet but delicious). We went to bed and planned to leave at 7am the next morning.
That was the end of our trip and it was wonderful. There had been no awkward moments and we got along really well. The boys really took amazing strides to speak in English the whole weekend and they are really sweet and went along with everything I wanted to do. I didn't have to compromise a thing and that's quite rare when you travel with others.
The only thing that I would have wished to have done would have been to see the Mask Museum, but we ran out of time. Perhaps, if I return to Korea one day, I will get a chance to travel around and see some more things, but until that day arrives, I have to remember the good and the beauty I have seen up 'til now and cherish those memories to the best of my abilities.
Next month I plan to visit Seokcho, a coastal town where I want to eat raw fish as well as visit one of the most famous mountains in Korea, Soraksan. I look forward to that next adventure, but until then, I will keep these memories close to my heart as the clock counts down the months until I leave Korea.
2 comments:
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
I am living in Seoul and I would like to book the Love motel shown on your blog (The pink circle bed) in Andong for the next weekend. Could you give me please the name and/or phone number.
Email: laurent.catala@hotmail.fr
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