is a place about 3 to 4 hours outside of Seoul, depending on traffic (and boy, is there traffic here)… It’s a cool place, famous for its doenjong jiggae (soybean soup, a Korean favorite), jimduk (spicy chicken), and soju. I went with my student EQ and his two friends.

We actually left at 11 P.M. and arrived at 3 A.M. We slept in the parking lot under the stars for a couple of hours before setting out on our journey.

Our purpose for getting there so early was to catch the sun rise over a lake, which is a popular lake (for crazy people who like to get up early and take pictures of sunrises over lakes.) I forget its name.

Next we went to go eat some of Andong’s famous Doenjong Jiggae and encountered some strange, traditional phallic statues and an actor who said he would appear in a show later that day.

It was about noon by the time we got to Ha Hwe village, a traditional village where many people still live off the land and stay in old straw houses. It has become a huge tourist attraction as well.

After an exhausting tour through Ha Hwe, we decided to chill at the temple where Confucious studied when he was a young man.  All in all, it was a very cathartic day.