2018 Olympic Winter Games are going to be held in Pyeongchang. So where is Pyeongchang? 

Many of you may heard of Seoul. It’s the capital and also most populated city of  South Korea. It takes 2h30m from Seoul to Pyeongchang by car and 1h20m by train. Pyeongchang is a county is Gangwon Province. Because of its beautiful natural scenery, many Koreans visit for vacation. In winter, it is reputable for record snowfall making it the city of winter sports. 

Pyeongchang is located 700m above sea level which is optimal altitude for the wellbeing of humans. It is surrounded by endless mountains and valleys.  Pyeongchang offers exciting outdoor activities all year around. Many attractions, resorts and festivals to visit and experience.

 

 

 

But in Korea, pensions are very popular among travelers. People choose pensions, because usually they are located in good place with nice view. And guests can enjoy barbecue outside.

Pensions are very different in size, facility and the number of people.  And guests will experience a warm family atmosphere reminiscent of home. The owner welcomes and takes care of guests during entire period of stay. 

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In almost every pension's room has fully-equipped kitchen, bedding, toiletries, refrigerator, TV and free Wifi. Some pensions serve breakfast. So when you make reservation, look for services, facilities and packages of pensions. 

★ If you have questions for pensions, please leave comment below. We will try to response as soon as possible.  

 

If you visit Pyeongchang, you will notice that there are so many buckwheat(Memil) and Korean beef(Hanu) restaurant. That is because, it's very famous and delicious. So you can't leave without tasting them.

The most important event of the Olympic is the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony and it will be held at the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium in Pyeongchang, Gangwondo. It is modeled on the oriental variant of Yin-yang & five elements of the universe. 

All competition venues of Olympic Winter Games are divided into two sections : the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster and the Gangneung Costal Cluster. 

 

 

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Games such as skiing, snowboarding, luge, and skeleton are played in the Pyeongchang Mountain Cluster. 

1. Alpensia Biathlon Centr
2. Alpensia Cross-Country Cente
3. Alpensia Ski Jumping Cente
4. Olympic Sliding Centr
5. Phoenix Snow Par
6. Jeongseon Alpine Centr
7. Yongpyong Alpine Centre

 

On the Gangneung Costal clusters, the games on the ice are played.

        1. Kwandong Hockey Centre

        2. Gangneung curling centre

        3. Gangneung Hockey Centre

        4. Gangneung Ice Arena

        5. Gangneung Oval

 

There are several ways to prepare for the chaotic traffic situation during the Olympics. Because the Traffic Control section is designated, a free shuttle bus will operate for normal vehicles that do not enter the vicinity of the stadium. Additional KTX and intercity buses will run during olympic season. 

Hoengsung Hanu is the best Korean Beeef in terms of taste and quality.

 

 

 

Not only Hoengseong Hanu's logo is unique and great, but it has many meanings.

 

 

You can find out everything about hanu at Hanu Promotion Center. The center has a lot of information about how Hoengseong Hanu became a premium brand and a recipe for Korean beef.

 

 

 

Because the festival is held in autumn, visitors can look around and buy various Hoensung's special products at the farmer's market.

The Season of gimjang(kimchi-making for the winter) is coming and therefore you can find many booths that sell salted Korean cabbage for kimchi.

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy a variety of tastes, including steak, grilled short rib patties , Hoengsung Hanu Bread, beef by-product and more at the food booths.

 

 

Hanu is sold at a low price in the event hall. At the Self-service restaurant you can grill and eat Hanu.

 

 

Hoengseong is also the home of tasty milk. There is also a very famous milk company.

 

 

There's also an event that picks the best cow. There are certain people who touch the cow with their bare hands when there's a warning sign not to. Please don't touch the cow because it is stressful and can cause disease.

 

 

If you cross the bridge at the festival, you will find amusement parks, a place for foot bath and other various experiences.

 

You may have seen large and white colored mass at the farmland. It's called bale silage. It's well-packaged straws to feed the cows in the winter. There is ongoing events to decorate bale silage. Some people draw pretty pictures, and some people write down their hopes.

 

In the past, a prize for winning a championship of ssireum (Korean wrestling) was a cow. Because cow was a precious asset. There was a ssireum match between elementary school students at the festival. They were young but showed very serious match play.

 

 

A cotori is a ring that penetrates through the nostrils of the cow. If you hang a cotori on the porch, it'll bring good luck. Buy one and wish you best of luck.

 

Luckily, it was a nice whether to go to the festival with blue sky. Fall foliage is beautiful this time of the year in Gang Won Do and it is best place to visit in the autumn.

Many people may know it as the Bongpyeong Buckwheat Flower Festival. 

The festival is held to commemorate Korean writer Lee Hyo-seok and his popular novel "When Buckwheat Flower Blooms."

 

 

 

 

Photo zone was relocated this year and has been renovated. Ticket prices are 2,000 won. You can walk around and you can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the snowy-white fields of buckwheat flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The previous buckwheat field is still allowed for visitors to walk around. It is better to concentrate on the buckwheat flower without interference of sculptures. But you have to be careful when walking around, because you might perish buckwheat flowers.

 

 

 

With upcoming 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Bongpyeong is changing in many ways. There is a new collection of signboards, new sculptures, and a growing number of tourist attractions. Interest of visitors will be very appreciated in the success of 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

 

 

Where's the fun without food at the festival !! There is something special about buckwheat(Memil in Korean) dishes in Bongpyeong.  

 

 

If you are interested in getting to know more of Bongpyeong, the Bongpyeong Market opens on days with '2' and '7' with the interval of five days. 

 

During the festival, you can enjoy various attractions such as the traditional folk culture of Korea, the writing contest of Lee Hyoseok, the night of Lee Hyoseok Literature and Culture Arts Program.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The festival is held at the Herbnara of Bongpyeong Myeon, Pyeongchang Gun, Gangwon Do.

What would be different in the autumn of Herbnara from spring when it is filled with colorful flowers.

In the autumn, many Koreans visit mountains to see autumn foliage. But also it's nice to visit Herbana to feel the autumn.

 

 

 

Fall leaves remind you of the autumn, but there is also Halloween to celebrate with big orange pumpkins.There are Halloween decorations everywhere in the Herbnara and you can rent costume free of charge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn is also the season of harvest.  Scarecrow standing in the fields makes you laugh.

 

 

 

 

During the festival, check schedule for the " Garden Music Concert," Autumn Herb Experience, and folk performances and participate.

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy Autumn Travel to Pyeongchang, Gangwon Do, where autumn foliage is most beautiful in Korea!

 

 

 

Opened as one of the 2001 Closed-down School Studio Program, it is an open studio with sculptures, ceramics, paintings and calligraphy.

Easily speaking, closed-down school was renovated to be used as art gallery for public to appreciate the sculptures and paintings.

When you walk into Mooee Art Center, you will find a sculpture park where various sculptures are displayed in wide outdoor area. It's surrounded by trees, so it creates a natural artistic space.

 

 

 

 

Because the art gallery is renovated closed-down school, when you step inside you will see the narrow hallway on both sides. Multiple artworks are displayed in the hallways on the way to each exhibition hall and experience room. Sculpture Room where sculptor Oh Sang Wook's prop sculptures are exhibited/ Mooee Ceramic Room where dietary life dreaming to go back to the nature is exhibited/ Western Painting Room where painter Kyung Woon Chung Young Seo' paintings of buckwheat flowers are exhibited/ Caligraphy Exhibition Room where family mootto and famous saying is written in Soha Type. 

 

 

 

 

After watching the exhibition hall, you will meet Art Shop at the end of the hall. Postcards with phrases from Gasan Lee Hyo Seok's novel and many product made of buckwheat and ceramic dishes and props are sold ind the Art Shop.  You can also take a stamp on the PyeongChang stamp tour. On the second floor of the Art Shop, there is a small shelter, and you can see the view of Mooee Art Center and the green trees on the terrace. You can see the world through insect's eyes and feel the wind that cool off the heat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you come out side after finishing tour, you will meet drawing of hopscotch. I wanted to go back to my childhood and have fun. The Mooee Art Center is a closed-down school but it is also a place of reminiscent of childhood memories and heart-warming.

 

 

From the entrance, you can meet Lee Hyo-Seok's works. Be sure to look up when you pass. You will find the most famous phrase. 

 

Lee Hyo-Seok Memorial Hall is composed of Lee Hyo-Seok Literature Exhibition Room where lifetime and world of Lee Hyo-seok is exhbited and Literature Class and literature Study Room where you can experience various literature programs.

 

Lee Hyo-Seok's exhibition hall is designed to reflect author's life and his world of literature according to the passage of time. There are magazines, newspapers, articles and first book that published Lee Hyo-Seok's work. There are also replica of old Bongpyeong Market and visual image data of Lee Hyo-Seok's life and work. In the buckwheat data exhibition room, you can see the efficacy, nutrition and ingredient of buckwheat and manufacturing process of buckwheat product and food made of buckwheat. Inside the museum, photos are not allowed.

While Gasan Lee Hyo-Seok had a tidy and gentle personality and was a western oriented mondernist. You can fell all that through statue of the author.  

 

You can find out the phrases of Lee Hyo-Seok's work everywhere, and you will be able to better understand Lee Hyo-Seok by reading the descriptions of his work.

 

 

Visitors can enjoy a cup of buckwheat tea in a souvenir shop and look at souvenirs of buckwheat flowers and donkeys from the novel <When Buckwheat Flowers Bloom> .

 

 

 

From the observation deck, you can see Bongpyeong the place of traditional market, Lee Hyo-Seok Cultural Festival and Buckwheat Flower Festival. .

 

There are many buckwheat noodles restaurants near the Memorial Hall.

Enjoy the delicious noodles after the tour.

In addition to Lee Hyo-Seok Memorial Hall, there is also a Hyo-Seok Cultural Village in Bongpyeong. The birthplace of Lee Hyo-seok, Gasan Park, Hyo-Seok Literature Forest Park and a spinning mill are some of the tourist sight in the village. 

 

 

 

More than 100 kinds of herbs are planted. You can eat herb food and tea or buy herb soaps and incenses.

After passing through the ticket office, there's the bridge to the Herbnara. And below the bridge, the water of Heungjeong Valley flows swiftly. 

When Geumdang Valley is a place for rafting, Heungheong is good for nearby and is good for rafting, a bargain valley is good to swim and play in the water.

You can enjoy herbs and flowers as you walk along the Herbnara. For detailed tour, follow the number of each garden.

After passing through # 1 Palette Garden, you will meet the Glass Greenhouse and Garden Shop. Now, this place was back door of Herbnara in the past but not anymore. So you get to see the shop first.

Inside glass conservatory, there are plants that are suitable for indoor such as foliage plants, succulent plants, orchids and flowering plants.

You can name the names of each flowers even though they are so unfamiliar to you because the names of the flowers are written all over.

The Garden Shop sells herbs, flowers and various garden and interior goods.

It's also a good idea to stay in a green house cafe for a while and smell the aroma of herbs.

Once you get out of the glass house and garden shop, you can see the herbal experience classroom. Here, you can experience making herb soaps and candles. Also at the classrom, you can buy herbal products and cute items.

The Herb Museum is the place where you will learn all about herbs including the history of herb, the world of herb and herb in daily life.

In front of the museum, there is a children's garden, and there is a Famer's Market where you can drink herb tea and eat herb bread and cuisine. On the terrace here, you can take a break and watch the panoramic view of the Herbnara.

Now let's look around the garden. The Herbnara is open in four seasons but still it is the most beautiful the spring when flowers bloom. The charm of herbnara is that you can enjoy the new appearances every year. Because every spring, they grow new flowers and make new cute items. The place is not so big in size but there is no corner that isn't beautiful. So there's plenty of places to take pictures.

Because herbs, flowers, and trees takes lot of caring, there are many people who look after flowers and herbs.

 자~ 이제 허브나라의 주인공인 꽃들입니다. 

Never been to the Alps, but I can see why it's called Korea's Alps when you get there.

First, the scenery is very beautiful. Most of the time, when you think of Yangttee Ranch, you think of feeding the sheeps. But walking along the green grassland along the trail of the trail makes stress go away and makes you feel great again.

There's no payment for admission, but instead you have to buy ticket for hay. You buy the ticket for hay at the entrance, and then you trade the ticket for the hay at the Hay Feeding Experience Center and feed them to the sheeps.

You can meet sheep at the Hay Feeding Experience Center. From mid of May to the end of October the sheeps are out on the green grass land. Because Spring is comes late and winter comes earlier than other regions, the days of putting the sheep out to pature are very short. When the weather is good, those days will be little longer.

The shortest way to tour the ranch is to go straight to the Hay Feeding Experience Center from the entrance. It takes about 30 minutes to feed the sheep and come down immediately.

There are many tourists visiting the ranch, so the sheep are fed well. But they are alway hungry for the hay.

Children who encounter sheep are scared, but they get used to feeding the sheeps quickly because the sheeps are quite and gentle.

One person get a one bucket for a ticket, but it disappears in a flash so you feel little vain.

Adult sheeps concentrate on eating and little sheeps are...

If you want to appreciate the foreground of ranch, you'll need to climb the summit hut along the trail of a flock of sheep. On the trail are azaleas and alpine wetlands.

"Is that The.. Samyang?" 

The reason for Daegwallyeong Samyang Ranch is Samyang Ranch is that it was built

by Samyang Food Company to produce beef and milk to supply protein to people of Korea in 1970s.

When you enter Samyang Ranch, Samyang's logo is seen everywhere and sells products of Samyang.

There is a resting place in the plaza where you take a shuttle at Samyang Ranch. This place sells Samyang Ramen and Daegwanryeong Ranch Milk.

It's exciting that you can buy instant noodles cheaply! If you just pass away, you'll be sorry later.

You can see the history of instant noodles and snacks at a glance!

Older you are, you'll be more reminescent of old days. And for younger people, it's fun to find out what people ate in good old day.

Ramen and snacks that are sold for more than a few decades proves that those are popular and tasty.

If you go to market, you will see many different version of JjangGu.

But the this is Original JjangGu!

JjangGu means smart in Korea. So the first character to be on the package of JjangGu is a doctor.

But in 1980, Frog the Big Eye must've been very popular. It is new character of JjangGu.

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 ByulPopeye~ which looks like ramen before cooking~ is born in 1971 and was names RamenGwaja!

And now Samyang Ramen!

Nowadays, there are so many kinds of ramen and so many designs, but in the past, when you think of ramen first thing that come to your mind was Samyang Ramen.

The package hasn't been changed a lot. So it is very friendly ramen.

Besides Samyang, it will be a good place for people who like noodles or snacks.