Pyeongchang Winter Olympics: the next cool spot
South Korea is gearing up for next year’s Winter Olympic Games.
Say “kimchi’’. The tour guide is talking to the German man kneeling on the mat next to me in a 1000-year-old mountaintop temple as we take instruction from a monk in the art of stringing Buddhist prayer beads. There are 108 beads to the strand (to represent that same number of humans’ earthly desires) and we are counting diligently.
But our guide wants my neighbour to smile for the camera, and that makes me smile, because it’s one of those moments when you realise no matter how foreign a place may feel, people are people. Of course, South Koreans would say “kimchi” when posing for photos, given that fermented cabbage is as ubiquitous in Korean culture as cheese is in ours.
With less than a year to go to the Winter Olympics, all of South Korea is preparing for its close-up. In February the world’s attention will turn to the mountainous region of PyeongChang, which will host the snow sports, and the nearby east coast tourist mecca of Gangneung, host of the ice sports. As we drive into PyeongChang, there are signs dotted around wishing us all “Happy 700’’.
In Korean culture, 700m above sea level is regarded as the optimum altitude for healthy living and PyeongChang happens to be just that. With 70 per cent of South Korea covered in mountains, city dwellers head to the mountains on weekends for rest and recreation. But there’s not much international tourism here, far beyond the bright lights of Seoul, and that is what tourism leaders want to change as part of the Olympic push.
The thumb-shaped peninsula jutting into the Sea of Japan has much to recommend it. Culturally, it has struck out in its own direction despite the best efforts (historically) of China and Japan. One advantage of its low profile among international tourists is that it feels entirely authentic.
There is much more than first meets the eye. Take the much-loved national dish, bibimbap. On the surface it’s a simple meal of rice topped with assorted vegetables, egg, chilli sauce and sometimes meat. But our guide Grace explains it is actually a manifestation of Korea’s traditional belief system, replicating primary colours and shades: black (mushrooms), white (rice), red (pickled carrot), blue (spinach) and yellow (egg). Collectively known as the obangsaek, or Korean rainbow, the colours also represent the five directions (north, south, east, west and centre) and the five elements (earth, water, fire, metal, wood). So there you have it, culture, nutrition and flavour in a bowl.
Seoul is a modern metropolis and the gateway to the nation, but it is beyond the capital that you feel Korea’s 5000 years of history. The ancient Buddhist temples, such as Woljeongsa on Odaesan Mountain, are mostly in less accessible places high in the mountains because that was their protection as Confucianism became the dominant religion in the 15th century. That period lasted until 1910, when the 35-year Japanese occupation began.
We get a taste of the Confucian period with a visit to Ojukheon, reputedly the oldest wooden house in South Korea, a simple 15th-century construction.
It later became the birthplace of one of Korea’s most famous artists, Shin Saimdang, born into an aristocratic family in the 16th century, and her son, the famed Confucian scholar Yulgok, who according to legend was born in the “Room of Dragon Dreams’’ in the family compound. Shin Saimdang was unusually well-educated for her time and is still held up as an ideal of grace and accomplishment for Korean women. Even chattering school groups can’t disturb the serenity of the compound where she was raised, which gives a window into Korean society at the time when men spent their days on politics, poetry and calligraphy; the women’s quarters out the back bear witness to the more practical arts of sewing, cooking and other housework.
In three days, we cover a fair slice of South Korea, which is one of the beauties of visiting a small country. To my Sydney eyes, the roads outside Seoul seem lightly trafficked aside from rush hours (allow extra time if heading back into Seoul at the end of a weekend or holiday), and well signposted in English.
Korean tourism chiefs are determined to use the Olympics to push foreign tourist numbers from 17 million last year past the 20 million mark on the back of the Olympics. “What we hope to project is a new image of Korea,’’ Korean Tourism Organization president Jung Chang-Soo says. “We hope that PyeongChang is the perfect opportunity to accentuate the beauty of the four seasons in Korea, and we want to show off the strong Korean economy [12th in the world by GDP].’’
Jung is at pains to point out that South Korea surpassed Japan in tourist numbers from 2009 to 2014, but he also accepts that with the next three Olympics being hosted in South Korea, Japan (Tokyo 2020) and China (Beijing 2022), respectively, his country’s best strategy for boosting visitors is to create a combined push with those near neighbours.
“To promote the tourism effect you need a cluster of regions,’’ he said. “If tourists go to Europe, they usually go to several countries, so we can work together.”
The marketing push is on several fronts. K-Pop (who can forget Gangnam Style, even if you want to) and the settings for Korean Wave movies and television are an attraction, particularly for Asian tourists.
Korea is also promoting its healthy lifestyle as one of the attractions (say “kimchi’’) and is looking for a bigger slice of the medical tourism market. Despite its Winter Olympics host status, South Korea is relatively new to the snow sports market. Considering how cold it is in winter it does not get a huge amount of snow, not nearly as much as neighbouring Japan, which seems to have almost cornered the market for Australian powderhounds looking for an international fix.
The Korean mountains are smaller and slopes more gentle than Japan’s, which means resorts cater more to families and first-timers.
And if you choose to visit South Korea in winter, take heed of a truism about the weather: “Sam Han Sa Un’’. It means “three cold, four warm’’, so pack accordingly.
Nicole Jeffery was a guest of the Korea Tourism Organisation.
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LET THE COLD TIMES ROLL
Something you might not know is that the Winter Olympics are more fun than the summer edition. They are smaller, more intimate, the venues more picturesque, the sports more spectacular and the athletes more out there, reflecting the extreme nature of most of their pursuits.
The Summer Olympics are deeply embedded in Australia’s psyche after more than a century of welcoming home generations of intrepid men and women who have gone off and conquered the world.
By contrast, Australia didn’t win its first Winter Olympics medal until 1994 and waited until 2002 for gold, when speed-skater Stephen Bradbury made the breakthrough in the most extraordinary circumstances.
So we are pretty new to this winter caper, but next year’s PyeongChang Games should be on our radar, shaping up as the best in at least a decade. Vancouver did a mighty job in 2010 but events were marred by unseasonable weather. Sochi, in Russia in 2014, also had weather issues (an ongoing theme for future Winter Games hosts as climate change bites). There were also cultural barriers that made attending difficult.
But South Korea is suitably cold in winter and the Games give every sign of being well-organised. Athletes who visited for this year’s test events gave glowing reviews of the venues; food is good, people are kind to strangers and transport will be efficient.
A high-speed train will ferry spectators from Seoul in the west and Gangneung in the east to a mountain hub before they are dispersed to skiing and sliding venues. Skating events will be contained in an attractive Olympic park in Gangneung, a well-known seaside resort where accommodation is plentiful. However, all roads will lead to Phoenix Park at Bokwang, venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
The Australian team has just come off a record season, winning 40 medals across world championship and world cup events. Half-pipe snowboarder Scotty James and moguls skier Britt Cox will go to the Games as reigning world champions. Veteran winter-watchers report there isn’t much choice of accommodation in the mountain region right now and it is expensive, but they expect that situation to ease as the Games approach.
Nicole Jeffery has attended the past five Winter Olympics and the past seven Summer Olympics.
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CHECKLIST
The Korea Tourism Organization will participate in the Snow Travel Expo in Sydney this Sunday, May 21, at the International Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, and on May 28 at Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Southbank, to promote the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. The Korea stand will feature a virtual reality ski jump experience.
More: visitkorea.org.au
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