On our journey from Sokcho to Gyeongju last Tuesday, we visited the area around Andong; quite inland, almost in the central area of Korea. One of the reasons was to visit a traditional Korean village that is still inhabited.
There are about 150 houses in this villages. You could divide them into two groups: big houses (for noble people, high officials, etc.) and ordinary people.
It's just interesting to get a sense of what a Korean village was actually like in the past. A couple of things were particularly interesting. All the houses rest on a raised kind of platform. At a few places around the platform, there are square openings. Fires are lit in these places which provide underfloor heating. Apparently Koreans have been to the fore (maybe first?) in developing underfloor heating.
Outside each house you see a collection of "hangari": big earthenware containers. Various kinds of food are stored in these containers to keep them fresh. This works up to a year. A favourite food here is "kimshi" - a vegetable with sauce added; quite a strong taste. Kimshi is one of the kinds of food stored in the "hangari".
Another feature of the houses is the precision of all the wooden joints; everything just slots into exact position.
The village dates back to the Josean dynasty which was very heavily influenced by "Confucianism" ethics; hence, in the larger houses, there was a physical separation between the man, the servants, and the woman. Strictly conservative society very much based on strict rules.
In our travels during the week, we came across many groups of children on school tours. We met two such groups during our visit to the Traditional Village. They seemed to look at me as a total foreigner; an alien! Then they began enquiries: "how are you? are you fine? where do you come from? where is Ireland? what age are you? do you like Korea? do you like chicken? nice to meet you!" etc.
I was literally "mobbed"! My picture must be on a multitude of these children's mobile phones!
