Dreams do come true! Thanks to my Korean teacher, our family had the pleasure of visiting the
Myeongjae Old Mansion in Nonsan. This is the mansion of a Korean scholar who lived from 1629 ~ 1714AD. This mansion was built by his students as a gift to the humble professor who believed in equal rights to all people when there was a marked difference in the life of the common people and the educated officials in Korea. I have always wanted to try to stay in a traditional Korean hanok, understanding the construction, experiencing the culture and enjoying the environment. I was looking into the hanoks at Bukchon in Seoul when this irresistible offer came by! Here, I had an opportunity to experience an authentic 300 year old mansion, for a night, enjoy a traditional tea ceremony in the outdoors next to the ginseng plantation overlooking the mansion itself and the kimchi pots and get a guided tour about the various aspects of the construction of the hanok itself and the philosophies of the scholar it belonged too. It was a dream come true!
We were taken to the Myeongjae mansion along with a camera crew who interviewed us about our experiences at the mansion. It was quite an experience! We were taken to Nonsan by KTX from Yongsan station and we took the taxi for a 10 minute ride to the mansion, all the while being clicked :) I felt like a princess ;)
We were greeted with quite a view right when we get off the taxi. Beautiful setting of the mansion- with the mountain behind and an artificial pond in the front of the house- was typical of the traditional Korean houses. But this mansion did not have a boundary wall surrounding it like a typical Korean official's house would have. It was done as a sign to welcome all visitors, in accordance to the scholar's philosophy.
![The beautiful pond in front of the mansion.]() |
| The picturesque pond in front of the mansion where meditation and relaxation would be easy, dont you think? |
![Doenjang pots in the beautiful Myeongjae mansion]() |
| The mansion along with the Doenjang (fermented soya bean paste) pots. I was lucky, I even got to taste the paste! |
The Korean traditional mansion had separate areas for the men and women and had separate rooms for the 3 generations of men and women. The men's room was in the front, with separate rooms for the grandfather, father and the son with detachable door/windows. The women's quarters was behind with views to check on the kimchi and doenjang pots and with rooms for the grandmother, mom and daughter in law. The child's room faced the women's quarters so that the mom could care for the child.
![Womens quarters in the Myeongjae mansion]() |
The women's area at the mansion with storage areas in the top which kept the food airy and fresher for a few more days. The positioning of the quarters was such that it was easy for the women of the house to keep an eye on all the workers around the house.
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