The Nakdong river makes a wide loop around Hahoe, almost turning it into an island, and inside that loop a village of tiled-roof mansions and thatched cottages has stood for some six centuries. Hahoe is the ancestral home of the Pungsan Ryu clan, a lineage of scholar-officials during the Joseon dynasty, and its layout follows Korean principles of geomancy, with houses arranged to face the river and the cliffs of Buyongdae across the water. It was added to the World Heritage list in 2010, together with Yangdong village near Gyeongju, as the finest surviving examples of clan villages of the Joseon period.
The village is still lived in, which gives it a different feel from a museum. Families maintain the old houses, some of which offer simple homestay rooms, and the narrow lanes between earthen walls are shaded by old trees. Hahoe is also known for its mask dance drama, a satirical folk play performed with carved wooden masks that mock the aristocracy and clergy. Performances take place regularly in season, and the masks themselves are considered national treasures. The Andong Mask Dance Festival every autumn draws large crowds.
The roads around Andong are a pleasure to ride. The countryside is a patchwork of rice paddies, orchards and wooded hills, with the Nakdong winding through it, and the routes between villages offer gentle curves, light traffic and good surfaces. A short ride from Hahoe, the Confucian academy of Byeongsan Seowon sits on the river under steep cliffs, reached by a narrow road, partly unpaved. North toward Dosan Seowon and the mountains of Bonghwa, the roads become more winding and hilly. Autumn, with its red maples and harvest colours, is the best time to come.
Andong, about twenty kilometres away, is a city of well over a hundred thousand people with all services. Andong is famous for its food: jjimdak, a braised chicken dish with noodles and vegetables, and salted mackerel, a reminder of the days when fish had to travel inland from the coast. Try both in town, then walk the riverbank at Hahoe in the late afternoon, when the light on the cliffs is golden.