Andong da dong dong dong

After the penis park, we went to Andong, which took a while to get to but was totally worthwhile. Andong is famous for historical stuff and also for Soju & cows. We got right into it our first night with an exceptional Andong beef dinner and several rounds of Soju. The next day was pretty quiet, except for a trip to Lotteria for burgers with Thousand Sauce and a screening of “Journey to the Center of the Earth” starring Brendan Frasier (as a scientist). Yes, we watched the entire movie. Yes, we were that hungover.

The coolest thing we saw in Andong was the Hahoe Folk Village, which I called “the HEY-O village” all day. HEY-O sort of talk-yelled, like how Pacino would do. The village is made of traditional hanok houses like in olden times. The locals are descendents of the Yu clan who built it in the 16th century and they still farm and make traditional crafts and do folk mask dance. But also have huge plasma-screen TVs and really nice cars. We actually went to a performance of the mask dancing which featured grating horn music and old men shuffle-stepping around a pavillion in scary-ish wooden masks. Incidentally, Koreans love a drag show.  I know I'm really selling it here, but you have to understand our expectations were pretty high. Giant photos of these mask-performances are featured in every train and bus station on the Eastern seaboard; we thought the experience would be transporting, a jewel in Korea's cultural crown, but the whole thing was pretty lame-zone. 

Historical deets, for the nerds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hahoe_Folk_Village

Oh, also at the HEY-O village, we were interviewed for Korean radio. I must say, the questions were pretty leading, like “which of the houses did you enjoy the most?” and “what most impressed you about the village?” This lady claimed to be a journalist (confirmed by her business card), but seemed more like a spokesperson for the Korean Board of Tourism. We did our part, 'oooing and ahhing' the villlage and the day. Remarkable, educational, interesting, beautiful, blahzay blah blah. We're on KBS, but haven't had the patience or the steady internet connection to find the interviews. Whatevs, we're famous.