This weekend I paid a return visit to the Andong Folk Village which I hadnt visited since March of last year. Normally I do these trips independently with friends but this time I joined a bus tour. This was organized by Daegu Compass a monthly expat magazine and included other craft activities such as mask making and archery for an all inclusive price with lunch for 29,000w ($26)

We first went to a country house near the folk village where we made our masks. Andong is famous for the mask dance and has a large week long festival around this in October. I'm not the best person at crafts but made an attempt to be creative with my mask. Ironically my kids had to make masks during summer camp and now I was doing the same thing

Next we went to a BBQ restaurant for lunch. The outdoor BBQ was on a large fire with a self made hot plate on top. The owners used a shovel to turn the meat. The horizon was also filled with many large pots they had on their field outside

After lunch we went to another crafts house for our next activities. First we were asked to put on traditional andong folk hats. Then the guide explained how we were to do our artwork.

There were computer screens at each station and we were to draw a simple flower in black ink. There were eight brush strokes and we were to follow the computer simulation for each stroke. Again mine turned out quite bad

Next was the archery demonstration. I'd last done this when I went to Mongolia Province in China last year. First he explained how the bow was made, then the correct way to hold the bow, and finally how to fire. We practiced outside in a firing range

After that we headed to the folk village which is the main attraction of the city. The folk village dates back several centuries and is a Unesco listed site as people from the original families still live there and work the land. Queen Elizabeth has even visited and there is a small musuem of her visit.

The village is circled on three sides by a river and normally people will come by land from Andong city thru the land route. We however had come from the other side across the river. There is a large cliff and first we had to hike over it for an amazing panorama view of the village

There is a small log ferry that shuttles people across the river. This is what we were to be taking to cross the river and we could see the ferry carrying people across.

As we climbed down from the cliff we walked across the sandy shores to the ferry. I wasnt sure if we'd all fit in one trip by we managed even though some water was started to seep thru.

Although I'd been to the folk village before it was more interesting this time with the fall colours. Also since it was the end of season we could see the land had been worked and the village more lived in.

Last year when we came in March it was the start of spring and perhaps the locals had moved away for the winter so it didnt look as lived and worked in as it did now.

There was a variety of colour of leaves and the village was quite busy with many groups of tourists and families visiting.

Some of the houses had thatched straw roofs while others had regular clay tiles. It was also interesting looking at the design on some of the walls of the patterns made with some of the different building materials.

An interesting sight hidden in the middle of the village is the fertility tree of life. I remember last time we came it was like a maze trying to navigate the bending streets trying to find this.

After I seperated from my friends I found it so I dont think any of them did. Its several centuries old and is a giant outstretched tree like the tree of life in the Avatar movie. Many people tie messages and prayers hoping to be rewarded with their wishes

It was then time to head back for our return journey home. We reached the sandy banks and crowded back into the ferry for our trip back to the other side.

You can read about my last visit to Andong here, which also includes pictures of the Queen Elizabeth museum of her visit to the village

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1301232923/tpod.html