Day 6: Thu 7 Sep - Andon to Seoul

Up at 6am for breakfast at 7am. Not a bad breakfast either; cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit, good coffee, etc, plus the whole Korean breakfast, if you so desired.

We left the hotel at 8:55am (5 minutes early!) for Hahoe Village, an historic village of UNESCO World Heritage (designated in July 2010). It is basically an old Korean village in which the houses (both tile-roofed and straw-roofed) are maintained as original, with modern amenities such as running water, wifi, electricity, sat TV, vending machines, etc, etc. The village is almost totally surrounded by the Nakdong River.

Hahoe Village from the hill behind it

Hahoe Village beach

A bunch of keen mountain bikers

A tourist-type village before Hahoe


Sesame seed plant

The old traditional and new traditional houses

Doesn't look very traditional


Yangjing Residence - the oldest house in Hahoe Village

Yangjin courtyard and buildings

In the Yangjin courtyard

Korean Fir planted by HM the Queen on 21 Apr 1999

Nice shade

A communications tower in disguise

The Goddess Samsin Tree, located in the very centre of the Village

My favourite frog

After two hours we were back in the bus heading for Seoul, with a rest stop about half way where we also had lunch. We only had 30 minutes in which to eat, so scoffed it down and were back on the bus. About half an hour later we joined the parking lot on the freeway; roadworks apparently. So, what was supposed to only take another 90 minutes, took three hours! We subsequently missed our English guided tour of Jong Myo Shrine, the supreme state shrine where the ancestral tablets of deceased kings and queens are enshrined and sacrificial rites are performed for them. The Shrine was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995.  We tagged along with a South Korean group and had to read a little book to get the idea. Not the best but it did give us an excuse to go off and take as many photos as we wanted. Only finished that at 6pm.

Jeongjeon

At Jongmyo Shrine

Jeongjeon - main hall of the Shrine

Jeongjeon 

Wall enclosing the Halls

Back in the bus for the short drive to our very fancy restaurant - the Top Cloud Grill and Cafe. Nice views of the city, even from the bathroom! Whilst the salads and desserts were many and plentiful, the main courses were a bit light on – typical for a fancy restaurant though.  We left the restaurant about 8pm and was checked (Ibis Styles Ambassador Seoul Gangnam, again) in by 9pm. Room 601 - not quite as salubrious as room 1218 especially as the aircon seems to be stuck on 27degC!! Unpacked everything, showered and fell into bed.

Dinner

Sign on the front of our bus

View from the restaurant

My room #601 Ibis Styles Ambassador Seoul Gangnam















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