{"id":412323,"date":"2015-03-17T20:25:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T02:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=412323"},"modified":"2015-03-28T19:37:29","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T01:37:29","slug":"skiing-in-south-korea-a-cultural-look-at-yongpyong-amenities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2015\/03\/skiing-in-south-korea-a-cultural-look-at-yongpyong-amenities\/","title":{"rendered":"Skiing in South Korea: A Cultural Look at YongPyong Amenities"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our last two posts about skiing in South Korea, we described skiing at YongPyong<\/a> as well as our visit to Alpensia<\/a>, both of which will be venues for the next Winter Olympics in 2018<\/a>. In this post, I want to talk about the things that sometimes get overlooked in a skiing trip report – what’s there beside the ski slopes. We will take a cultural look at some of the YongPyong ski resort amenities. <\/p>\n

We arrived by plane to Seoul, Korea. Seoul (Incheon) has one of the nicest airports I have ever visited.
\n\"Incheon<\/p>\n

In order to get to the ski slopes quickly (and avoid the chaos of public transportation while we hadn’t slept in 30 hours and were extremely jet-lagged), we arranged through ski-korea.com<\/a> for a driver to take us from the Incheon Airport directly to our accommodations at YongPyong. We tied our skis to the minivan.
\n\"tying<\/a><\/p>\n

And off we went, whisking by the city of more-skyscrapers-than-I-have-ever-seen, and into the mountains of Korea. We headed eastward on a highway which was well-built and crossed through many mountains via tunnels. About 3 hours later, we arrived in YongPyong. <\/p>\n

During our time in YongPyong, we stayed in a very large hotel called Greenpia.
\n\"Hotel
\nWhile this hotel is definitely large, it is not a monstrosity. The Koreans took time to build this, and the architecture even has a slight Bavarian feel to it. <\/p>\n

The slope-side access was fantastic.
\n\"View<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The rooms at Greenpia are more like condos, complete with two-bedrooms, a decent-sized living room, a kitchen, and wonderful in-floor heating.
\n\"Room<\/p>\n

This is what our bedroom looked like:
\n\"bedroom<\/p>\n

You might be asking, “Where’s the bed?” Well, there wasn’t one. Not as we know it anyway. This was our bedding:
\n\"Bedding<\/p>\n

Yep, you got it. We slept on the floor. When in Korea, do as Koreans do! It wasn’t so bad, actually – quite comfortable for a person who has a bad back! Besides, the fancy toilet will all the extra bells and whistles made up for it:
\n\"toilet<\/p>\n

Crested Butte doesn’t even have a base lodge, something I personally see as a big thing we are lacking. But, YongPyong has one of the nicest base lodges I have ever seen, called Dragon Plaza.
\n\"Dragon<\/p>\n

Another example of architecture with a Bavarian flare, Dragon Plaza was large, but beautiful.
\n\"Dragon<\/p>\n

\"Dragon<\/p>\n

I could not get over the details that went into this place.
\n\"Details<\/p>\n

\"Dragon<\/p>\n

YongPyong has good night-skiing – capturing a sign that promotes it.
\n\"night<\/p>\n

Most restaurants were located in large mall areas inside large buildings like the Dragon Plaza and hotels.
\n\"restaurant<\/p>\n

South Koreans love their coffee like we do. They’ve adapted a more American model of coffee shops, as opposed to the European cafes. Walk into this coffee shop or any other and you feel like you’re in a Starbucks or a Caribou.
\n\"Angel<\/p>\n

The base area had a wonderful river walk.
\n\"River<\/p>\n

\"r\"<\/p>\n

\"r\"<\/p>\n

\"r\"<\/p>\n

\n

Skiing in South Korea Series<\/h2>\n

If you liked this post, please take a look at the other posts in this series:
\nYongPyong Part 1<\/a>
\n2018 Winter Olympics Preview<\/a>
\nA Cultural Look at YongPyong Amenities<\/a>
\nKorean Food<\/a>
\nNight Skiing and a Night on the Town<\/a>
\nEnjoying Sunny Days at YongPyong<\/a><\/p>\n