Pyeong Chang

Pyeong Chang was almost the host town for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In the end, a spot in Russia was chosen. It was a sad story here. The news showed people crying. They had put a lot of work into the bid.

Coincidentally, this was the place where we rented a cabin for the weekend. Here, cabins are called “pensions”. They’re not backwoods. The roads are still paved and the grocery store is just a 10 minute walk. There are camp sites but so far I haven’t really seen or heard of anyone “roughing it”. For anyone living in Seoul, renting a room or cabin in a small town seems to be the way to get away.






For Koreans, the accommodations are important, but the greatest concern is the cooking and eating facilities. This was our cookhouse on the river. Inside there were two barbecues, three tables, tree stumps with cushions on them for chairs and a little cassette player blasting – you guessed it – the Carpenters Greatest Hits.

The family lives in the white home and they rent out the cedar additions. They meddle for sure but it a gracious host kind of way. They were friendly and generous.

The river is really moving and cold too. It reminded me of the Bow river in Calgary. Near the river, the air is clean and there’s always a cool breeze.




A plate of homemade kimchi, compliments of the house. The ajuma (old lady) also gave us the wenchan (bean paste).

Round One.

Korean brands. And a few familiar ones.

The green bottle on the left is Korean soju – a local poison. It’s the national drink of choice. It’s also used to clean the kitchen and bathroom floors. On this trip to Korea, I’ve officially said no to Soju. During the card game, some rules were broken. Sometimes you don’t have a choice.