A young woman of Auraji waits for her lover, a raftsman who left for Hanyang to seek his fortune — but the hour he was meant to return comes and goes, and still he does not come. She stamps her feet in anguish.
That heartbreaking parting became one of the defining stories behind Jeongseon Arirang, and it lives on in the musical "Ariarary," which has drawn tears from audiences across Asia and the West alike.
In Auraji, in Jeongseon-gun's Yeryang-myeon, there is a melancholy and romantic cafe. It is called Arirang Cafe.
The name might conjure images of a rustic village tearoom serving ssanghwacha with a floating egg yolk, but this place floats something else entirely — the full cultural richness of Jeongseon.
Arirang Cafe weaves together local ingredients and the culture of Jeongseon Arirang, offering tourists who visit Auraji a space to taste the region's flavors and experience its heritage.
Run by the Auraji Education Cooperative, the cafe serves handcrafted traditional fermented teas and herbal health teas made from local ingredients — wild crabapple, Korean wild peach and omija berries — alongside coffee.
Local specialties on the menu include "Auraji 80 Bitgal Yeoulcham," Jeongseon Arirang pizza, Auraji assorted jeon pancakes, sulppang rice bread and gamjatteok potato rice cakes.
Arirang Cafe is open Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Situated along the banks of the Auraji River, the cafe lets visitors take in the surrounding natural scenery while enjoying local food and tea.
Auraji, where the cafe stands, is the confluence of the Songcheon and Goljicheon streams — its name meaning "the place where two waters come together."
Widely regarded as the birthplace of Jeongseon Arirang, the site is steeped in the legend of a young man and woman from Auraji whose story forms the romantic chapter of the Jeongseon Arirang tradition.
Around Auraji, a series of bridges — a moon bridge, a suspension bridge, stepping stones and a stone bridge — have been laid out, letting visitors explore the landscape where river and mountain meet up close.
Particularly in autumn, the hillsides and riverbanks shift with the season, offering tourists a changing array of scenery with each visit.
Arirang Cafe also pursues educational programs for local children and community development activities, and is preparing an "Auraji Ecological Arts School" that connects the culture of Jeongseon Arirang and the natural environment of Auraji with the arts.
Shin Won-seon, head of Jeongseon-gun's tourism division, said the cafe "captures the natural environment of Auraji and the cultural value of Jeongseon Arirang through the region's food and tea," adding that the county would "continue to develop content linked to tourism resources so that visitors to Auraji can experience the area's nature, culture and flavors."
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