I had a really fun last couple of days in South Korea. I headed to the best and largest ski resort in the country, Yongpyong (Pyeongchang) – which hosted the 2018 Winter Olympics – by bullet train and shuttle bus. I don’t regret going but I think it’s fair to say that the resort itself was a disappointment, and only the skiing itself made the whole experience worthwhile. There isn’t much information available in English and the ‘Foreigners’ Information Desk’ had already closed when I arrived at around 6pm.

I tried to check into my room at the Dragon Valley Hotel – which looked lovely! – only to discover that Booking.con had perpetrated a classic bait-and-switch on me. I don’t know why I continue to use them, honestly! It turned out that I was actually staying at the nearby ‘Tower Condominium’, which was just as bleak as it sounds. The apartment I was assigned to initially was very disappointing, especially given the high quality of accommodation in South Korea in general. It was in a poor state of repair and had virtually no mod cons whatsoever, but worst of all… it had no bed! The women at Reception tried to tell me that I’d booked some kind of traditional Korean apartment where people sleep on mats on the floor. [I’ve since discovered that the so-called ‘ondol’ IS a thing in Korea, and can be quite pleasant in conjunction with underfloor heating, but it’s less popular with younger generations.]

I was given a different apartment, which was in a slightly better state and at least had a bed in it! Thankfully, I only had to stay there for one night. During that time, the apartment set-up started to make more sense: it must have been part of the athletes’ village for a large international competition. Surprisingly, it did have a bath, which I used for the first time in a while. On a side note, the resort also had the worst and most expensive fast food I’ve experienced so far this trip. I left most of it and bought an instant soup with beef and seaweed, which was surprisingly tasty!

More difficulties followed in terms of working out what to do and making myself understood, but once I figured out how to get my lift pass and ski rental, it was all uphill (both literally and metaphorically!) from there. I enjoyed a lovely couple of hours’ skiing on the several runs that were open until 10pm. Snow conditions were pretty much perfect. The weather was cold but clear on the first evening, though it deteriorated the next morning as it started to snow more heavily and visibility decreased. Nevertheless, I took an extremely long cable car (about 25 minutes!) up to a mountain peak the next morning and enjoyed both the 2018 Olympic slopes and a lovely 7km blue run back down to the resort. There was still one area that I didn’t have time to reach before my lift pass expired, so it’s fair to say that the slopes are moderately extensive, and some are properly steep! I also met some friendly Koreans on the ski lifts, who wanted to practise their English, chat about my trip, or just talk about celebrities including Gordon Ramsay!

I returned from the ski resort in the afternoon, in time for dinner and drinks with my friend Jin. He took me to a traditional BBQ place and two wonderful bars. We had a fantastic time catching up and – among many other things – he told me about a Korean custom called ‘meeting’ which I wanted to share on this blog. This consists of three or four women, and an equal number of men, agreeing to meet as a group one evening. Each gender usually either knows each other or has mutual friends, who may play a role in making the introductions. The men and women often meet up separately beforehand to discuss their game plans. Once everyone arrives at the restaurant, the evening progresses through a series of orchestrated conversations, drinking games and other ruses – all designed to eventually match up the couples where there’s a mutual attraction. It sounds like a fun way to match people up and I wish we had something similar in the UK!

On my final day in Korea, I had just enough time to visit the Korean War Memorial and associated museum. There’s quite an extensive outdoor museum of military equipment, as well as several monuments and memorials. There’d been several inches of snow overnight, which certainly gave everything a different vibe. I didn’t realise until my visit that over 1,000 British soldiers died defending South Korea, as did many from other countries too. I thought the sculpture in the first photo below was particularly poignant. It marks the time and date that the two Koreas were split. Nearby there is another clock, which will one day (maybe..?) be set to the time the two Koreas are reunited and added to the sculpture.

I had a lovely time in South Korea and found the people very friendly and helpful in general. I returned to hot weather by flying to Guam, which I’m enjoying too. More soon!

Cross-stitch progress update