Travelling in Korea - Andong City Mural Art village

There have been some old slum towns in Korea that were formed in the 60s and 70s. As the country's economy grows, the government decided to redevelop them and many of these old towns were torn down.

However, some of these villages have tried to survive by renovating and redesigning themselves. Here you can see one of the villages that painted murals on their walls.

This town is located in Andong City, Gyeongsangbuk-do and called Andong Byuckhwa Maul (안동 벽화 마을) which means Andong mural village.

We first headed to Andong Station from Seoul. It takes almost 3 hours by train. Remember, the KTX doesn't stop at Andong. Therefore, you have to take the Mugunghwa Ho train.

When you arrive in Andong, you have to cross this street infront of the station.

After you cross the street, you have to turn right and keep walking.

When you see this gate, you have to turn right and walk for about 10 minutes.

When you see this byway, you are finally at Andong Mural Art Village.

There is a map at the entrance of the town. Don't worry about a ticket. It's free.

This is the first mural you will see at Andong Mural Town. It's an image of a typical Korean family.

A man delivering Chinese food on the wall. All the pictures here are quite humorous.

Azalea flowers. They are called "Jin Dal Rae" in Korean.

A mural on a wall that was painted by elementary school kids.

This art on the wall kinda looks childish and messy but quite cool too.

Yellow dandelion flowers. They are pronounced "Min dlrea" in Korean.

Former Korean president Roh Moo Hyun

Yay, sunflower murals. The painting is actually quite bigger than it appears on your computer.

There is a dog peeing at a telephone pole. This is quite funny.

Cute squirrels eating fruits. This town is very colorful compared to other Korean towns.

A butterfly, ladybug and flowers. This mural is very pretty.

Pink frogs on the wall.

This art village is quite colorful and very impressive. Of course, it is free too. However, one thing that was weird is that there are almost no one in this town. It was like 2:00 pm when we got here and we saw ZERO person in this art village. It was very quiet and it kinda felt like a ghost town.

It might be hard to find this place because there are no bus stops around the village and people don't speak English well around here. I don't recommend this place if you are a foreigner. 

However, if you really want to visit here, take a cab and say Andong Byuck Hwa Mauel (안동 벽화 마을) to the cab driver.

Trip to Korea - Andong Hahoe Folk Village travel guide

Last saturday, we travelled to a city called Andong. It is a traditional village from the Joseon Dynasty and located in Gyeongsangbuk-do in South Korea. The village is listed by the South Korea with UNESCO as a World Heritage site with Yangdong Folk Village in 2010.

First, we had to get on the train in Seoul. You can take the train either at Seoul Station or Cheongryang-ri Station. We arrived at Cheongryang-ri Station at 9:00 AM.

We finally arrived at Andong Station. It took almost 3 hours to get to Andong by train. The station is quite smaller than the train stations in Seoul.

After you cross the street and turn left, there are pink buses lined up. You have to check the schedule of the bus that goes to the Andong Hahoe Folk Village.

When you get on the bus, make sure that you get this coupon. You have to transfer to another bus later and you don't have to pay again if you have this free ticket.

This is the place where you will transfer to another bus. If you didn't get the free pass coupon above, you have to buy another ticket.

This is the bus stop.

This is the bus that will finally take you to the Andong Hahoe Folk Village.

After you get off the bus, the first thing you will see is the Andong Hahoe Mask Dance theater.

There are dancing clowns wearing Hahoe masks.

This famous Andong Hahoe Dance Drama dates back to Joseon Dynasty.

There is a male clown dressed as a woman. The Hahoe mask dance is very famous in Korea but it is quite boring. I recommend you to skip it if you don't like looking at a boring musical especially when it is in a language that you don't understand.

We decided to leave the theater and go into the village. There are these Korean traditional totem pole at the entrance.

A tile-roofed house called Giwajip (기와집)

Hundreds years ago, tile-roofed houses are where rich people used to live.

You can see a thatched house made of mud. In Korea, these houses are called Chogajip (초가집). Compared to tile-roofed houses, common and poor people usually lived in these thatched houses.

There is a souvenir store in the Andong Hahoe Folk Village. You can buy the famous Korean Hahoe mask here.

A traditional Korean house called Hanok (한옥).

There was a beautiful chogajip (초가집) in the Andong Hahoe village.

There are some narrow paths between Hanok houses. It makes you feel like you are really in the Joseon Dynasty.

There is a huge tree in the middle of Hahoe Village. It says it is over 600 years old. During the Joseon Dynasty, this tree was believed to be holy and shamans used to exorcise the town of an evil spirit.

There was a big gate in the middle of the village so we decided to go into the house. I must belong to a rich guy long time ago.

This huge Hanok house definitely belonged to a rich guy hundreds years ago.

Inside the Hanok house. It was almost empty. No furniture here. I noticed that there are not many residents in this town.

Andong Hahoe Village is surrounded by a river. That is why this village was undamaged during the Japanese invasion in 1592.

The big cooking pots called Agungi.

Pine trees near the Hahoe Village.

After all, Andong Hahoe Village is a pretty boring place. I went there with eight people and most of them said they were disappointed. The town is pretty small and there are not many things to look around except the same old houses. This place is also too far from Seoul. If you are in Seoul, I recommend you to go to Namsan Hanok village in the Pil-dong area on the skirt of Namsan instead of here.