Yangdong Traditional Village

Sunday morning we headed to Yugang traditional village located a short drive from downtown Pohang (between Pohang and Gyeongju). The village is the largest of its kind in Korea and was magnificent. The village is a traditional Choseon Yangban village where you can experience some of Korea's national cultural assets.





Yangdong village

 


Thatched roof houses



At the village we watched folk beating some songpyeon (rice cake), from what I understand its ground down rice, slightly sweetened and sometimes combined with other things such as raisins and pumpkin etc, pretty tasteless otherwise but Koreans LOVE it, especially the plain white version.




Traditional attire for making rice cake

 

We walked about the traditional houses, which were able to withstand the Japanese war and still have people living in them today.





Traditional gate handle





Traditional Korean Horse

 


The winding paths




A view of Korea through the door frame.




The views of Korea



Beautiful Korean Bird in a persimmon tree









Man at work

 


Me in a windy old tree

 Two families have lived in the houses and maintained the area for over 500 years. Within the village are two types of housing structures from the Choseon era, large Hanoks on the hillside for the wealthy and on lower ground, the thatched roof houses of the servants.



The traditional ondol, a fire lit here will heat a home for 3 days!



After a stroll about the village we decided to walk back to Pohang as the weather was so good and it meant we got the pass by the lake, which was truly amazing. So beautiful...

Our day ended with delicious and addictive pretzels from Tom n Toms coffee shop (we feel the need to get one every weekend, they are freshly baked and filled with cheese for goodness sake) and a lil nap at home. We are pretty old these days.

Our upcoming plans:

• A surprise trip for the beaus birthday- I am so excited for this but much planning to be done.
• A Korean Christmas- Celebrated in as traditional Jolley style as possible with some friends.
• New Year in the Philippines. Say. no. more.

HOME!!!