Yangdong is a village that still lives like the old Korea of the Joseon dynasty. It lies in a valley north of Gyeongju, in a bowl of low wooded hills, and it is home to some of the finest surviving traditional houses in the country, hundreds of tiled-roof and thatched homes spread over the slopes. Two great clans have dominated it for centuries, the Wolseong Son and the Yeogang Yi, and their families built the large tile-roofed mansions on the high ground with the thatched houses of the tenants below. The neat layout follows the principles of feng shui: the main houses face south with a hill behind and a stream in front. UNESCO listed Yangdong along with Hahoe in 2010 as the Historic Villages of Korea.
The Confucian academies, the seowon, were private schools where scholars studied and honoured sages. Donggangseowon, near the same part of Gyeongju, honours a Neo-Confucian scholar of the Joseon period, and the pavilions and quiet courtyards are a good example of the style. Together with the village, they show how the learned clans passed their time and their power in the countryside.
The riding is pleasant and quiet. Roads around Gyeongju are wide and well surfaced, and when you leave the city towards the villages they narrow into lanes between rice fields and orchards. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with blossoms, then colourful foliage, and a clear light. Summer is hot and humid, and winter can be very cold. The Seokguram grotto, on the ride list, sits high on Mount Toham, east of Gyeongju, and its approach road climbs through pine forest with a few tight bends.
Fuel is on the main roads, and the city of Pohang, an industrial port to the north-east, has more stations and a large steel works, which gives a very different feel to the region. Yeonil is a smaller town in between. The village has a few simple restaurants and tea houses, and you may find rice cooked in an earthenware pot with local vegetables.
The village is lived in, so keep quiet, do not look into private courtyards, and park outside the lane.