Absolutely Amazingly Awesome Andong

South Korea – Fri 6th Nov 2015 – Rest day in Andong

Weather: 10⁰C min – 17⁰C max, cloudy

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” Small Indulgence / Delightful Life & Sweet Time “ ~ A Twosome Place – Desert Café motto

House of Chiam is a nice cheap B&B, except there is no bed and no breakfast. Still, sitting and sleeping on the floor is character building and strengthens the back. There were no chairs at the great restaurant where I had lunch either; I had to take my shoes off at the door and sit cross-legged like everyone else. For this reason I chose a table near the wall so I had something to lean against. Something that amused me was when the Korean lady at the next table struggled to her feet at the end of her meal, then proceeded to hold her back and perform a series of exercises before she could walk.

After performing my ablutions this morning I jumped on my bike and rolled two Km down the hill to the CBD where breakfast consisted of low-fibre pastry treats and coffee from Mammoth, another one of those tong-and-tray patisseries like Paris Baguette or Breadtop.

With my Canon Ixus mounted on my handlebars to take discreet videos and my Panasonic Lumix on my hip ready to shoot stills, I criss-crossed all the streets of Andong on my bike, finding delights in every street and alleyway. The wonderful thing about touring with a bike is that you can get right into the crevices of a city and make wonderful discoveries like the walled village in the heart of the city full of traditional houses and a cat on one of the pointed roofs. Cat on a hot tin roof?

It was difficult to leave the fabulous Andong Gu Market, with all its tempting street food and fresh fruit and vegetables, all presented so well. The old ladies sit cross-legged on the ground, shelling chillies and garlic, stripping shallots, and peeling yams and that other large tuberous root vegetable that I can’t identify (Pam has since enlightened me – the big white vegetable is daikon radish, used for kimchi, served as crunchy round or rectangular slices, pickled with little or no spice added, and; widely available in Sydney).

From there I headed up the riverside cycle path until I came to the Andong Folk Museum where you can experience Confucian culture and traditional games of Korea. Andong is famous for Confucian culture and the four traditional ceremonies (the ceremonies of coming of age, marriage, funeral and ancestral worship). It was fascinating viewing the lifestyles of the past and important cultural treasures.

Further up the hill I came to a lovely village near the pedestrian bridge across the Andong Dam, where I indulged in a feast at a wonderful classy restaurant. They must be doing it tough though, because they can’t afford chairs and the tables have sawn-off legs. My meal consisted of two delicious bowls of soup (one seaweed and one spicy chillie seafood), the biggest and tastiest grilled mackerel I have ever had, and six side dishes (three different types of kimchi, cucumber, mushroom, and something that looked like potato salad).

When I got back to town I had a coffee and cake at the quaintly named coffee shop called A Twosome Place. The only thing missing was the other half of my two-some who is unfortunately not here to share it with me.

After today I have decided that nobody should ever visit South Korea without spending a few days in the awesome city of Andong. But if you stay at one of these hanoks make sure you bring an inflatable lilo mattress!!!