36 Hours in Hadong — A 36-Hour Journey Through Hadong
Nestled between Jirisan and the Seomjin River, with a broad plain cradled in its arms, Hadong holds old stories in every corner. There are the old roads that once carried the sea’s bounty inland, wild tea fields spread across mountain slopes, the fields of Pyeongsa-ri that drift between fact and fiction, the dazzling white sandbars along the river, and pine trees whose strange forms catch the eye. We set out on a 36-hour journey through Hadong to find the deep-rooted stories of this bountiful land.
Words Pyo Youngso
Photos Lee Gyuyeol
Nolluwa Cooperative www.nolluwa.co.kr
Nolluwa Cooperative is a resident-run travel agency, organized as a cooperative and launched in 2018 to connect local people with travelers. Its vision is to pursue sustainability for both travel and the local community, drawing on regional resources such as nature, people, and tradition. Its themed trips fall into four broad categories—experiences, field explorations, humanities, and activities—and range from tea and traditional liquor tastings to tea-farm pilgrimages, Seomjin River explorations, literature and art tours, and a zip-line experience on Geumosan. Its signature program is ‘Seomjin River Moon Greeting,’ held on the sandbar at Pyeongsa-ri around the full moon each month, which was recently named one of the Korea Tourism Organization’s 100 Best Night Tours. For this article, we joined a field-exploration trip for Changwon Free School, planned and run by Nolluwa.
Day 1 / Hiking the Old Roads of Jirisan
14:30 Seosan Daesa Trail
Begin your Hadong trip on a 4.2-kilometer mountain path linking two villages in Hwagae-myeon, Sinheung and Uisin. Today it is called the Seosan Daesa Trail, named for the Buddhist master Seosan Daesa (1520–1604), who took his vows at Wontongam Hermitage in Uisin Village during the mid-Joseon period and is said to have walked this path. People still used it as recently as 40 years ago, but it was neglected for a time after an asphalt road was built alongside it, and it was restored as an old Jirisan trail seven years ago. It was once also known as the ‘Salt Road,’ since peddlers carried salt inland along it from the Hwagae Market in Hadong. The trail begins with a flight of steps between the Wangseong branch school of Hwagae Elementary School and Sinheung Bridge. Along the way you can see Uija Rock (Chair Rock), associated with the legend that Seosan Daesa used magic to turn the Uisinsa temple bell into a chair to protect it from Japanese soldiers. Whenever the trail nears the stream, the temperature drops sharply and cools the sweat from your skin. The cool sound of running water throughout the walk is enough to make you forget the noise of the outside world for a while, and you can also step down to the water and cool off with your feet in the stream. After about two hours of climbing up and down along the mountainside, the old road ends as you enter Bear Village, a Jirisan Asiatic black bear ecology education center in Uisin Village. With luck, a Jirisan bear may offer a listless greeting from beyond the fence.
Sinheung Village to Uisin Village, 4.2 km, 2 hours
17:00 Kongsarang Chaiyagi
Kongsarang Chaiyagi (Bean Love Tea Story), at the start of Hadong’s Sipri Cherry Blossom Road, is a restaurant that locals enthusiastically recommend. Its tofu is made with 100 percent Korean-grown soybeans, and its clean, nutty flavor keeps you reaching for more. To taste the tofu at its best, go for the dubu baekban (tofu set meal); the kkotgae doenjang jjigae (crab and soybean paste stew), generously packed with plump crab and rich in flavor, is also excellent. The abundant side dishes and the sancho kimchi (kimchi made with Korean pepper leaves), hard to find elsewhere, are also a treat. It is 13.5 kilometers (a 25-minute drive) from Uisin Village, where the Seosan Daesa Trail ends.
Address: 626-1 Tap-ri, Hwagae-myeon, Hadong-gun
Tofu set meal 9,000 won, crab doenjang stew 10,000 won
20:00 Neoreun Madang Pension
Head about seven kilometers deeper into Akyang-myeon from the Pyeongsa-ri plain toward Jirisan, and you reach Neoreun Madang Pension (Wide Yard Pension), set on the southern slopes of the mountain. At 350 meters above sea level, everything feels different, from the village and scenery below to the very air. The guest rooms are split between the second floor of the main building and a separate annex, and guests can also use the swimming pool, barbecue facilities, and a traditional cauldron hearth. As the name suggests, the owners’ devoted touch and affection are evident all over the spacious yard.
Day 2 / An Easy Tea Ceremony in the Wild Tea Fields
09:30 Hyerim Farm
Hadong is the first place in Korea where tea plants were cultivated. If you are looking for the roots of Korean tea culture, it would probably be the area around Ssanggyesa Temple in Hwagae-myeon, designated as the birthplace of tea cultivation. Hyerim Farm is here too. These wild tea fields spread across such steep mountainsides (300 meters above sea level) that an agricultural monorail has been installed to carry harvested leaves and supplies from the fields with ease.
As we climb a winding mountain path alongside the tea fields, Ku Haejin, the owner of Hyerim Farm, points out every living thing along the way in detail, from bright red bodhi tree berries and mountain cherries to bracken, Chinese pepper trees, and sancho trees. Born in Hadong, he grew up watching his parents farm tea and the Ssanggyesa figure known as ‘Old Man Cheongpa,’ and that early influence led him into tea growing. Hyerim Farm’s tea is grown by natural farming methods, and the leaves are picked by hand and pan-roasted one at a time. Ku’s philosophy is simple: ‘You receive as much as you give.’ That is also why he spreads enzyme fertilizers he makes himself, from acacia flowers, bamboo shoots, seaweed, mugwort, and water dropwort, on the soil where the tea plants grow. The tea session held in a pavilion at the top of the fields, overlooking Hwagae-myeon, likewise chooses a way for more people to enjoy good tea more easily, in place of the complicated, strict formalities of a traditional tea ceremony.
The green tea, processed for this purpose, has slightly larger leaves than ordinary green tea. You simply put the leaves in a common coffee dripper and pour hot water over them. The resulting tea is subtle and clear in taste. “I believe good tea comes only from making it with a good heart. Naturally, I hope the people who drink it become clear-minded and healthy too.” One sip of the tea Ku hands you, and you will find yourself nodding at his words.
Address: 12-18 Chasibaeji-gil, Hwagae-myeon, Hadong-gun
11:00 Jeonggeum Tea Fields
The Chabat Cheonnyeon-gil (Thousand-Year Tea Field Road), which runs 2.7 kilometers from the birthplace of tea cultivation, ends at the Jeonggeum Tea Fields. Climb the gentle slope to the pavilion at the top, and a wave of green stretches out beneath your feet. Created and managed directly by Hadong County, the 120,000-square-meter tea fields spread across an open slope, with Hwagae Stream, the surrounding villages, and the main ridge of Jirisan in view, along with Baegunsan and Hwangjangsan. It is one of Hadong’s best tea field viewpoints and photo spots. On the day we visited with the Changwon Free School field trip, the haegeum player Kim Jihui gave a surprise performance, and the plaintive sound of the haegeum drifting through the air on the cool mountain breeze instantly cooled the muggy midday heat. It is lovely to climb to the pavilion and take in the scenery, but if you can, walk down into the tea rows and take a commemorative photo.
Address: 11 Jeonggeumdaebi-gil, Hwagae-myeon, Hadong-gun
Finding Hadong’s Hidden Pines
14:00 Pine Tree Tour
The area around Sangsin Village, considered one of the oldest villages in Hadong, is famous for three things. One is the low stone walls that wrap around the village’s houses and fields; another is Josshi Gogа, the old Jo clan house at the village entrance. The last is the Sibiln Cheonsong, the eleven pines. Keep walking past the village along the Sangsin Village cultural trail, and at some point an enormous pine tree comes into view. Until you get close, it certainly looks like a single tree, but step into its shade and eleven pine trunks of different sizes and shapes reveal themselves. The trees are between 250 and 300 years old, and they are designated as the guardian trees of Nojeon Village, where they stand.
Four kilometers from here, in Daechuk Village, stands a pine that is even more famous. It is Munamsong (the Munam Pine, Natural Monument No. 491), rooted atop a huge boulder halfway up Mt. Ami behind the village. Stand beneath Munamjeong Pavilion across the way and look up, and you are immediately overwhelmed by the sheer vitality of a tree carrying some 600 years. Its roots have forced their way into the cracks of the rock while wrapping around the boulder itself.
Climb the slope and stand behind the trunk, and the tree’s dignified form draws another gasp of admiration. Beyond it spread the rich fields of Agyang and ridge after ridge of mountains, and it is easy to see why poets and men of letters loved this place.
The pine tour of Agyang-myeon ends in the fields of Pyeongsari. Two pines standing side by side in the middle of the plain have become the symbol of the area under the name ‘Bubusong’ (Married Couple Pines). Because the fields are the setting of the novel ‘Toji,’ they are also called the ‘Seohui’ and ‘Gilsang’ trees, after the novel’s protagonists. The rice seedlings have been planted for only a week. While the water-filled fields change their look day by day, the two trees will keep watch over them like scarecrows.
Sipilcheonsong (Sipilcheon Pine): 276 Maegye-ri, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
Munamsong (Munam Pine): 91 Daechuk-gil, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
Bubusong (Married Couple Pines): 44 Pyeongsari-gil, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
What ‘Toji’ Left in Pyeongsari
16:00 Choi Champan’s House
Even people who have never been to Hadong find the name ‘Pyeongsari’ familiar, purely thanks to Park Kyong-ni’s novel ‘Toji.’ For outsiders who come all the way to this place, where broad fields are all there is, because of the novel or the television drama of the same name, Hadong County in 2001 reconstructed Choi Champan’s House, the fictional home in the story. With 14 buildings and 99 kan (rooms) in all, including the detached annex, the men’s quarters and the inner quarters, the compound has the scale fitting a ‘mansokkun,’ a landowner rich enough to reap 10,000 seok of rice. It has also served as a set for many dramas and films, including a production shot in 2004. This is no half-hearted tourist attraction: the care put into building it and maintaining it shows, so it is easy to glimpse how people lived then and to gauge the standing of a ‘champan,’ a rank roughly equivalent to a vice minister today. The honorary Champan who watches over the men’s quarters makes the imaginary journey between reality and literature feel all the more real.
Address: 66-7 Pyeongsari-gil, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
17:00 Pyeongsari Sandy Beach
Morae-garam (Sand River), Morae-nae (Sand Stream), Dasagang (River of Much Sand)… Long before the legend that swarms of toads croaked to drive off Japanese pirates who invaded through the river mouth during the reign of King U of Goryeo, the old names of the Seomjin River all boasted of the fine sand along its banks. The sandy beach in front of Pyeongsari Park is a place where you can walk barefoot on soft sand and dip your feet in the Seomjin, which flows 600 ri (about 240 km) through Jeollanam-do, Jeollabuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do. From a distance it looks like a river that does not flow, but up close the current glitters as it catches the light. Following the winding terrain of the mountains, the Seomjin is neither wide nor fast, and the surrounding scenery has the same unhurried, gentle air. Around the time the full moon rises each month, this beach becomes the stage for the ‘Seomjin River Pyeongsari Moon Greeting’ (Dalmajung) hosted by Nolluwa. It is an event full of analog charm, with lanterns, paper boats and poetry readings. The June edition, which added a performance of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ by pianist Jiyong and a Ganggangsullae circle dance, drew as many as 400 people despite the pandemic.
Address: 97-3 Pyeongsa-ri, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
19:00 Jaeksal Halmae Bapsang (Grandma’s Table), Maegye Village
The community hall of Maegye Village in Agyang-myeon is a space for residents and also a communal restaurant the village runs itself. The seasoned wild greens the village women’s association cooks from vegetables grown right there have zero food miles. Fresh ingredients and skilled hands keep the refills coming. It is also a chance to experience a truly local meal and get closer to the people who live here. Because it is not a regular restaurant, it is usually available only through village-linked programs. Be sure to check with the village before you visit.
Address: 24-3 Maegye 1-gil, Agyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
Maegye Village, whose name means ‘plum blossom valley,’ is working under village head Kang Hunchae to create a model answer for the ‘village community.’ Longtime residents and people who have moved back to farm mingle harmoniously, and the villagers take part voluntarily in a range of revitalization projects. A village restaurant and a village hotel are reportedly planned as well.
Day 3 / Korean-Style Coffee Is Drunk from a Bowl
09:30 Yangtangguk Coffee Culture Village
In the late nineteenth century, when coffee began to spread in Korea, ‘yangtangguk’ was one of the names for it, along with ‘gabi’ and ‘gabae.’ It means ‘Western soup.’ Yangtangguk Coffee Culture Village was created to build a coffee culture of Korea’s own. Its facilities, including the Yangtangguk cafe building, an education hall, a roasting workshop, an outdoor stage and pensions, sit clustered together in the embrace of the foothills of Mt. Jiri. The signature menu item here is bowl coffee (sabal coffee), which is brewed in an unusual way. The village developed a steeping method in which a set amount of hot water is poured straight onto finely ground coffee, left to steep for about 20 seconds and then filtered through a dripper. The resulting coffee is poured not into a Western-style cup but into a bowl, as ordinary people did in the Korean Empire, hence ‘bowl coffee.’ Anyone used to Japanese-style hand drip, with its meticulous attention to water temperature, the thickness of the stream and the number of pours, may be taken aback. Try joining one of the experience programs offered here. After a sip of bowl coffee, simply brewed from fresh beans you roasted yourself, you may come to think that what you always believed was the ‘standard’ was nothing more than a fixed idea.
Address: 155 Gongdeurimjae-gil, Jeongnyang-myeon, Hadong-gun
Side Trip 1: Starway Hadong
An observation deck that takes in the Seomjin River winding past Hadong and the roughly 830,000 pyeong of the Pyeongsari plain in a single view opened last year. Located just below Gososeong Fortress, Starway Hadong is a hot spot you should not skip if you visit Hadong. Besides a star-shaped skywalk that lets you enjoy the thrill along with the view, it has a tiered deck with beanbag sofas, a cafe and a restaurant.
Side Trip 2: Yeoyeo Sikdang (Yeoyeo Restaurant)
Yeoyeo Sikdang, where you can taste Seomjin River jaecheop (freshwater marsh clams), is popular with tourists and locals alike. The milky jaecheop-guk (clam soup) has a wonderfully refreshing broth, and the ten or so side dishes served with it, including braised fish, seasoned cockles and assorted seasoned greens, are all delicious. You can also enjoy jaecheop as a spicy raw salad, over rice or in savory pancakes.
Address: 92 Gyeongseo-daero, Hadong-eup, Hadong-gun
Jaecheop-guk baekban (clam soup set meal) 10,000 won