Head down to Mungyeong for tea, fun

Over the past decade Korea has become a country of festivals. From "The Small Common Octopus Festival" to "The Signs of Pregnancy Festival," it seems there`s a celebration for everything.

And with countless festivities underway throughout the peninsula, it is probably a task in and of itself to choose which ones are worth going to and which ones are better off reading about in the culture section of your local newspaper.

Well, if you and your family are looking to find a quaint getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city over the weekend, heading down south for some tea while taking in the countryside scenery might do you some good.

Quietly nestled on a mountain pass - or saejae in Korean - in the city of Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, the "12th Annual Mungyeong Traditional Tea Bowl (Chassabal) Festival," begins today at the KBS set of "The Great King Sejong."

The 10-day festival, which kicked off yesterday, will see over 25 countries around the world participating as way of international exchange in order to boost the profile of the event from a local bash to a more cosmopolitan affair. Countries such as China, Japan, England, The United States and Canada will offer their own tea culture to the locals while gaining exposure to Korea`s own unique tea customs.

Throughout the festival, visitors will get an in-depth look into the intricate process of ceramicware creation and will also be provided with facilities to create their own earthenware.

The decades old event is divided into three segments - the Official Event, Experimental Event and Supplementary Event.

The Official Event consists of: an international teapot exchange, special exhibitions of local master craftsmen, a history of tea and pottery-making in the region and a festival exhibition of various types of earthenware.

Excited yet? There`s more.The Experimental Event is as the title implies - it involves hands-on activities such as creating your own ceramics, igniting traditional firewood kilns and demonstrations of tea ceremonies.

According to Song Man-sik, the man in charge of it all, festival organizers worked hard to ratify changes to solve common complaints from last year`s festival-goers.

"From the last festival, we have learned there were some problems that created inconveniences for visitors such as limited parking space for vehicles and the similarity of a lot of the festival programs," he said.

Organizers project an estimated 800,000 visitors during the entire run of the festival.

This year`s event was also given a change in venue to inject some freshness into a stale and somewhat languid location of previous editions. This year, the festival has been relocated to the lavishly decorated filming set of the KBS period drama "The Great King Sejong."

In addition to the change of scenery, the venue switch will provide more ease of access for visitors as the newly constructed highway near the festival site connects to the Sangju, Chungwon and central inland highways.

The festival venue is located in the Yongsa valley at the back of the first entrance of the Mungyeong mountain pass and was established in 2000 in order to film historical dramas by the Korea Broadcasting System.

The set possesses some impressive replicas of the era`s architecture.

An estimated 3.2 billion won was invested in order to construct a pair of palaces, meticulously replicated clusters of 42 tile hanok houses, 40 thatched cottages and among other miscellaneous structures - it is one of the largest filming sites in Korea.

Mungyeong also boasts a 10,000 year history in ceramic ware according to the city magistrate and is a key representative of Korean ceramic arts. There are seven ceramic masters here in Korea and of them, three hail from this city.

The region is also known for using a different method to fuel the kilns during the firing process of its ceramic and pottery creations. Elsewhere, kilns are fueled with gasoline, but the earthenware in Mungyeong are created from kilns fueled by a mix of sand, soil and pine trees which is said to produce various colors resulting in a more naturalistic look.

Kim Jeong-ok, one of the ceramic masters and a designated intangible cultural asset pioneered the creation of traditional teapots called "chassabal" when his father told him people who love drinking tea made requests for him to create ceramic bowls for making tea.

"Ceramic ware in Mungyeong are made with the soil of the region using the mangdaeigama furnace which is the size of six to eight rooms," Kim said in describing and comparing the process with other regions.

"They are baked using pine trees and the soil used to fuel the baking room should be protected. It should not be processed and trimmed too much on spinning wheels and enamel ware should be baked until it cracks."

The 66-year-old master has been perfecting his craft for half a century and will be joined by his contemporaries and about 20 other professional potters throughout the 10-day festival to demonstrate the creation of earthenware to visitors.

Further cementing its role as one of the season`s premier events, the Mungyeongsaejae Tea Bowl Festival has been designated as an important addition which promotes cultural awareness to both natives and foreigners by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

For more information about the festival, contact the organizers at (054) 550-6395, 6397 or visit the festival website at www.sabal21.com

Getting there

By car

From Seoul-

Jungbu Highway-Hobeob-Yeongdong Highway-Yeoju-Mungyeongsaejae IC-Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park

From Busan-

Gyeongbu Highway-Gimcheon-Jungbu Expressway-Mungyeongsaejae IC-Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park

From Daejeon-

4th National Road-Okcheon-37th National Road-Boeun-25th National Road-Sangju-si-3rd National Road-Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park

From Daegu-

Gyeongbu Highway-Gimcheon-Jungbu Expressway-Mungyeongsaejae IC-Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park

By Bus

(Tel: 054-553-2231) Seoul-

Dong-Seoul bus terminal-Mungyeong Bus TerminalRunning time 06:00~18:00 (every 30 minutes) Daegu-

Daegu-Bukbu bus terminal-Mungyeong bus terminalRunning time 06:35~20:20 (every 15 minutes) Daejeon-

Daejeon-sioe bus terminal-Mungyeong bus terminalRunning time 06:55~17:40 (every 30 minutes) By Train

(Tel: 054-555-7788 / www.ko reail.go.kr)By Song Woong-ki