All credit to finding our way around goes to Hun Ji once again – figuring out the buses around rural Korea took some figuring out between the two of us!
One of our stops during seolnal (the Lunar New Year) was the Pyeongchang Ice Festival. One of several winter festivals going on in Gangwon-do during the Lunar New Year, others were supposedly larger but harder to get to.
After arriving at the Jinbu bus terminal in Pyeongchang, we found the standard ‘welcome to the festival’ tower in the middle of an intersection.
Of course, we didn’t see much else in the town – it took quite some time just to find an open restaurant for a late lunch. Granted, this was the day of seolnal – New Year’s Day itself – and the locals were either inside with their friends and family, out of town, or at the festival which we also came to see.
After finding some food, we walked down to the river / stream where all the ice / trout activities were taking place:
ATV racing on the ice…
A tractor pulling several large rafts, whipping them around on the ice for a few minutes. Both looked like fun, but at this point the high was probably -10 C. (14 degrees F.) with the wind chill factored. Now factor the additional wind chill and yeah – I passed…
Virtually everything beyond walking past said events cost money. While I guess it doesn’t surprise me, I was a little disappointed to find very little available for the tourist without having to part with hard-earned money. Despite the cost of events, walking around was still free, so off we went.
A forbidding-looking cave, but it connected things underneath a sledding hill. The camera wasn’t able to capture the colored lights inside the cave, but since the distance was less than 5 meters they almost weren’t needed during the day.
An artificial igloo covered in real snow. Inside were a couple chairs and a chance to step out of the wind that made everything feel much colder.
Sledding! Inner tubes are great for sledding, but give me one of the old-fashioned sleds with metal blades anyday.
ATV’s on ice earlier, now go-karts on ice – what’ll they think of next?
Bicycles with blades, that’s what… Pedaling slowly was the key to getting any sort of traction, although steering seemed a little…problematic. You are on ice, after all…
Remembering that this is a trout festival, not strictly an ice festival, we came across the next sight.
Yep, those are trout – caught and wrapped in aluminum foil before placing them into the fire to be cooked. A very nice and warm fire cooked trout purchased nearby (or caught yourself, I would presume). Someone was standing by to sell you some fish in case your fishing wasn’t successful or if you didn’t fish at all.
OK, back to the ice – and the classic way of sledding in Korea. You sit on a small (perhaps 2 feet square) wooden sled with ice-skate blades, using wooden sticks with nails at the bottom to move on the ice.
So where are the live trout?
Ahhh, now we’re talking – finally, the trout part of the trout festival makes itself known! Some small holes in the ice gave people to bob their fishing pole up and down until some poor fish was caught on your lure.
For the more hard-core fisher – or those just wanting some protection from the wind and elements – you could also rent a plastic tent to do your fishing under.
That everything cost money was a bit of a turn-off – ice fishing for two was 30,000 won (about $22), and you couldn’t fish by yourself, for example. The bitter cold combined with the wind chill made this a fairly short trip, but I’m glad to have made the trip out. It’s always nice to see how the more rural areas put on a festival, especially if you’re the only foreigner around to appreciate it.
There’s a lot more to Korea than life in Seoul – if you find yourself living in Seoul, recognize how much there is to do in town – and out of town. C’est la vie!