Totally bloody lost outside Andong

A few weeks ago Norah and I took the day off and went one town over to Andong on the train. The ideas was to spend some time together before she returned back home to Canada.

Andong train station.

We had been told about the soju museum (alcoholic Korean rice wine) by a few people and figured we'd take the bus about 10 minutes outside of the city to see what it was all about. After 20 minutes of being on the bus, we politely pushed the button so that we could be dropped off at the up coming stop. However, as we pinged the button, the bus driver abruptly slammed on the breaks and dumped us on the side of the highway with the greatest sense of urgency I have ever seen. I think he was hoping that if we got off quickly he wouldn't have to try and decipher our English.

Norah and I exchanged panicked looks... now what? We were on the side of a highway somewhere outside of Andong...with not a whisper of human activity, well except for a completely silent lumber yard and two very confused waygooks. Realistically even if we could find someone to help... how would they understand us? At this point I was starting to think that some calming soju might be quite bloody nice. We must have stood on the side of the road for a good 10 minutes, just hoping, ever so ridiculously, that a magic taxi man speaking perfect English would just happen to feel like driving around a rural forest area of Andong on a casual Thursday afternoon. Slim chance.

Eventually, after a minor internal panic on my part and the definite brains behind the operation on Norah's part, we managed to walk a while down the highway until we came across a petrol station. The poor petrol attendants were totally flabbergasted when two little foreigners appeared (practically out of nowhere) at their stop, like a pair of mythical creatures crawling out of the woods.
"Ooohhhh heeello" said the aged attendant sitting in the office of the station. The two of us, including a small family may have been his only customers for the day. I must definitely commend Norah for making the best of her google translate, and getting him to order a taxi for us. 10 minutes later we were at the soju museum (putting the highway ordeal behind us).

Norah at the petrol station using google translate to get us un-lost.

Finally got a taxi!

The Soju Museum

It turns out we had passed the soju museum on the bus long before we had actually stopped (oops). If anyone decides to visit it, I suggest that you just direct a taxi from Andong train station and pay up the 5000 won. Its not worth being a cheapskate and being dumped next to a lumber yard hahaha.

Success! At the soju museum

The museum itself was incredibly interesting. The guide, who speaks near perfect English, showed us how the soju is traditionally distilled in big urns with rice, wheat and barley as well as how this has changed to sweet potato and tapioca during the Korean depression to cut costs.

wiki image (They wont let you take photos inside)

The museum also had some interesting pieces of Korean history. For instance, when a child is born, parents prepare a table with an number of objects like money, books and a sword. The future of the child is supposed to depend very heavily on the object that he/she picks up. For instance a child who picks up money, is likely to be wealthy as an adult. I was especially happy with the complimentary shot of traditional Andong soju at the end of the tour. Sitting at 36% pure alcohol, I felt totally buzzed after a single shot. I think you may end up in hospital after a full bottle.

A bottle of traditional Andong Soju we bought.

Drinking from a giant distillery urn at the museum.

Getting lost was stressful - I needed it!

Andong food

After our museum adventure, we headed to downtown Andong for traditional Jjimdak. It is a dish that Andong is famous for with clear sweet potato noodles (Jap che) and spicy chicken. It is one of my favourite Korean dishes. It was delicious.

Andong Jjimdak: Jap che noodles, chicken, cabbage, carrots and potatoes.

We ended off the day going to Mammoth Bakery. I would definitely suggest this to anyone in Yeongju or Andong looking for fantastic baked goods or delicate cakes.
All in all, we got pretty lost but hey, the day ended with good food, booze and cake!