I must admit when I first arrived at Yangdong I was distinctly unimpressed. Bus 203 dropped me off in a rather muddy car park and I was left looking through the drizzle at some tour groups walking around a cluster of wooden houses on a small hill.

I walked around these houses for a couple of minutes and wondered if this was all there was to see. Fortunately a friendly local gave me a map of the village and I realised it was actually much larger, so off I trotted over the hill to investigate further. I enjoyed looking into some of the houses that were open and visiting the ‘Folk Treasures’ Seobaekdang was my favourite. All in all it was a pleasant place to stroll around and relax but there was not a huge amount to do.

This was the second "folk village" I have visited from the World Heritage list and I was left with a similar feeling that I had after calling into Holasovice, it is nice that there are some representations of low key rural life on the list (even if this particular village was more for the rural elite) however they are not the most impressive places to visit.

I visited Yangdong on a morning sojourn from Gyongju and it was a nice trip. There is now a direct bus that runs up there from the city centre every 90 minutes. It seems that the village is transforming into more of a tourist destination and at times can feel a little too restored.

I doubt I would have made a trip here if it wasn't for its place on the list, but it did let me see something of traditional life in rural Korea.

[Site 3: Experience 3]