"안녕하세요 - Annyeonghasaeyo". Seoul, South Korea - Day 3 & 4: Skiing at Yong Pyong

This is the 2nd part on my recent Seoul trip. Part 0 (Planning phase) can be found here, and part 1 (day 1 & 2) can be found here. If you have any questions, please feel free to post your question in the comments section, I will try my best to answer.

It's skiing time!!!

As mentioned in the planning phase, our trip is right in the middle of winter, so skiing is an activity which we wanted to try, especially since there is nowhere we can ski in tropical Singapore.

Since we don't speak or read Korean and it will be our first time skiing, we decided to search online for local tour companies who offers skiing tours with English or Chinese speaking guide.

After much searching, we finally decided on a company called Grace Travel. At KRW 500,000 per person, their price don't come cheap. But it did include 2 way transport, basic ski lesson, 1 full-day lift pass, all ski equipment and a gondola tour to Dragon Peak, the filming scene of Winter Sonata.

So, at 730am on the 3rd day, we checkout of Ibis Myeongdong and waited for the tour company's minivan to pick us up outside our hotel. We packed for 2D1N and kept the rest of our luggage with the Concierge. The minivan took us to outside Lotte world where we transferred to another bigger bus which will take us to Yongpyong ski resort.

2 hours later, (Yongpyong is around 150km from Seoul), we arrived at the resort and met with our local guide, Mr Kim. Turns out, he is the owner of a pension where we will also be staying in, and is also our skiing coach.

For the benefit of those who are unfamiliar with the word "pension" in the accommodation context, it is another term for "bed & breakfast" used more commonly in places with continental Europe influence - and rather strangely, Korea and Japan.

The pension he owns lies in a small valley around 10 minutes drive from the resort. According to him, he built the pension together with his father about 5 years ago and has been managing it full time since.

The front lawn of the pension, covered in a think layer of snow

The main building is the residence where Mr Kim stays with his parents and brother. And then there is a small cafe opposite his house where breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner are served. And finally there is the guest accommodation itself, which is the biggest building amongst the 3.

View out from our room

For the golfers to practice their swing during summer, a mini-golf driving range.

There are total of 9 themed rooms, all named after tea leaves. 4 of them are double rooms for couples while the other 5 are for family of 4 or more. You can find more information(and pictures) on the pension on his website here.

The owner's 2 dogs

The small stream, which is currently frozen solid, behind the pension

Panoramic shot of the small stream

After checking in and dropping our luggage in our room, we went to the local ski rental shop to suit and gear up in preparation of the ski session.

The first 4 to 5 hours are spent learning the basics of skiing. One of the most difficult part of learning is how to recover from a fall, since due to the ski boots, our ankles cannot bend and therefore it is difficult to get up. Another part which drain our stamina is sidestepping, which involves walking up the slope with the ski stuck on your boots sideways. like a crab.

Finally, after exhausting almost all our energy , our coach decided that we're ready for the beginner slope. So up we go the slope on the ski lift and did the first proper skiing of our life. All i can say is, the effort we put in earlier in the day is not in vain. We had one of hell of a time going down the slope. I lost count how many times we skied down, but I estimate to be around 8-10 times in 1 hour 30 minutes.

That night, our host brought us to a local Korean BBQ restaurant. Needless to say, after a tiring but enjoyable day, we ate like as if we can finish one cow each. It is here that our host taught us how to eat Korean BBQ the proper way with guests. First, using your left hand, you take the fresh lettuce and wrap the roasted meat in it. Then with your right hand, you toast your host/guest with Soju before drinking it and eating the wrap.

The next morning, we woke up late and proceed to the owner's house for breakfast (because it is the low season, breakfast is served in the house instead of the cafe). It's a simple but tasty breakfast consisting of mini mandarin oranges, cereal, bread, sausages and hard boiled eggs.

If you are thinking of heading to Yong Pyong for skiing or just for a weekend getaway, I strongly recommend contacting Mr Kim and staying at his pension.

By the time we are done with breakfast, it's almost time to head up Dragon's peak. Our Host, picked us up in his SUV and drove us back to Yong Pyong resort to take the cable car up to the peak. As one of the ski slopes starts at Dragon's peak, the cable car is also used for skiiers and snowboarders.

Alighting from the cable car, we are greeted by the cold wind blowing across the peak, but what a sight. A picture is worth a thousands words, so multiple pictures are worth tens of thousands words. Therefore, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The path to Dragon Peak

Me, playing with snow

Panoramic shot at Dragon Peak

Time to leave Dragon Peak, back towards the resort and the bus back to Seoul

By the time we got back to Seoul, it's nearly 7:30 pm. The shuttle bus dropped us back outside Lotte World and we took the subway back to Ibis Seoul Myeongdong.

As we are still rather tired from skiing the previous day, we had a simple and quick dinner nearby out hotel and turn in early for the night.

Next, DMZ and Panmunjom tour