I left Sokcho and went down south to Andong. There is a village not too far from the city, which is said to be an old, traditional village, and I was curious to see it in person. The bus dropped me off at the starting area, next to the World Mask Museum. At the time I thought it would require a separate ticket in order to get it, and I didn’t ask about it, but later I found out it was included in the ticket to go to the village itself. There was also a free shuttle bus included in that price, that took me to the entrance to the village itself.
At first glance the place immediately felt different from the modern city. The houses were old, some with thatch roofs that were more suitable for houses of the common people, and the bigger houses with the tiled roofs that were used by nobles. While I had a map of the area, I struggled to find myself on it, and as I wasn’t sure exactly where I was, I started to just walk around the village streets without any particular direction.
I walked around the empty streets, and while there were signs there, I was not able to find them on the map. After a few minutes I walked into an alley, turned around, and found myself in front of a big tree encircled by a fence. There was a sign next to it, telling me I reached Samsin Tree, which is over six hundred years old and is believed to be the residence of a goddess called Samsin.
It was the first waypoint I could actually find on the map, and from there I started following the map, looking for the different waypoints. Other than the ancient tree, the map took me around the village to look at different houses, and each house had a sign next to it, telling me who lived in it, and when. As I was walking along, I wondered if this is all there is to it, and that it feels a bit strange that there was barely anyone else walking around. Hahoe village felt more like a museum than an actual village.
Taking another look at the map, I saw there was a bridge marked in there, that leads to a cliff and a couple of pavilions. Feeling curious, I tried to make my way over there, and although I was able to spot both the cliff and the pavilions, I didn’t find any bridge. I wasn’t sure if I’m just misreading the map, if the bridge was supposed to be in another place, or if it was taken down. Eventually I gave up on it, made my way back to the village entrance feeling underwhelmed and a bit disappointed, and waited for the shuttle that would take me back to the bus stop.