Go spend your money in Mungyeong

I spent my first two years in Korea in Mungyeong, a relatively rural area in North Gyeongsang Province. At the time, the combined effects of the then-recent Asian financial crisis and the closing of the local coal mines left it a somewhat depressing area in which to live. In fact, the population was dropping as young folks left in search of better opportunities.

Things have turned around since then. A big reason for that is an increase in tourism after an expressway built about ten years ago cut the travel time from Seoul by almost half, making it a practical day-trip option for travelers from the capital. It doesn’t hurt that Mungyeong has its fair share of cultural and natural sites.

I nice highlight of that is the 11th Traditional Tea Bowl Festival taking place in Mungyeong May 1 to 10 (The Korea Times):

The festival was originally a regional program*, but when it was recognized as one of outstanding festivals here by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it was upgraded into a bigger event with more than 20 countries participating.

Mungyeong is known for its beautiful mountains and trees, and along with clean water and fertile soil, allowing it to become the perfect place to produce ceramic ware and thus bring a festival under the theme “Smell the Aroma of Traditional Tea.”

“The festival will be held at Mungyeongsaejae, the filming location of KBS’ period drama ‘The Great King Sejong (link added by Andy),’ boasting a bigger venue and better programs. It will be an opportunity to learn and appreciate our traditional tea bowls,” Shin Hyun-guk, the mayor of Mungyeong, said at a press conference Thursday at central Seoul.

*I was at the second (or maybe third) festival) and can tell you that is was much more a local than a regional affair. One of the main events was all the men going up the side of a mountain to gather kindling for a local Buddhist nun’s hermitage. I won a vase in a drawing that year, which my lovely daughter destroyed a few weeks after she learned to walk.

While you are there, you can check out the rest of Mungyeong Saejae Park.

If you go tomorrow, you can also check out the Asian leg of the Paragliding World Cup. Mungyeong, is a center of paragliding and hang gliding.

Unless things have changed, tomorrow (being Buddha day) is the one day of the year that the public has access to Bongamsa.

In short, go there and spend your money. You will have a good time and you will make the locals happy.