East Asia 2018, Day 12: Pyeongchang

The last day of my 2018 trip to East Asia is finally here. And there was 1 more similarity between Taiwan and Seoul. On Day 5, I had traveled east from Taiwan to Taroko National Park. On Day 12, I traveled east from Seoul to Odaesan National Park. There was also a similarity with Day 11. On Day 11, I visited the site of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. On Day 12, I visited the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. The Games had only ended just over 2 months before. It was sort of like getting to a party after the guests have left and the clean-up has begun. Actually, that’s exactly what it was.

Welcome to Pyeongchang and the 2018 Winter Olympics! Well, not really.

To get to Pyeongchang, I started off with a short subway ride. From there, I had a lengthy subway ride. Almost an hour and a half. That fact alone should tell you how extensive Seoul’s subway system is. Once I got to this point, it was time to catch the high-speed rail out to the eastern part of Korea. My time on the high-speed rail was under an hour. So the subway itself took me a great deal of the way.

Note the capital “C” in “PyeongChang”. This was strictly done for appearances. The concern, understandably, was that the average person would confuse with Pyeongchang with Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. So that “Chang” part was made to stand out. It’s clear now, right?

About 3 hours after leaving my guesthouse, I arrived at Jinbu. Jinbu is a town in Pyeongchang. Unlike most Olympic hosts, Pyeongchang isn’t a city. It’s a county. It’s a mountainous area, home to winter sports and a national park, Odeasan. Although high-speed rail is nothing new in South Korea, the line I took to get there was specifically built for the Olympics, opening just a couple months before the Games.

Transit at the station left a lot to be desired. The station itself is in an isolated area. I was expecting to catch a bus into town. A taxi driver told me there weren’t any buses. I ignored him, being sure that there was supposed to be a bus. Finally I gave up a took a taxi.

In the middle of town there was a very efficient bus depot. It really made me wonder why I had a hard time trying to catch a bus from the train station. They were going to have to do better to make Pyeongchang are world-class year-round resort! From the Jinbu bus depot, I caught a bus to a nearby nearby town. Okay, before seeing a single sight (well, other than the welcoming mascots), I had taken 2 subway rides (1 of which was very long), high-speed rail, a taxi when I couldn’t catch a bus, and then a bus I could catch. No wonder why I travel alone!

Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium

The Olympics wuz here. Like I said, I got to the party when the clean-up had already begun. To the left is/was the Olympic Stadium. The tall structure was the Olympic torch.

So after traveling by several modes of transportation, I had arrived at the site of Olympic Stadium. The stadium was built on the cheap intentionally because it was a temporary structure, promptly dismantled after the Paralympics were held a month after the Olympics.

Although it was sort of sad seeing the dismantling of Olympic glory, it was still sort of cool to get to see the disassembling of an Olympic Stadium where the Games had very recently been held.

Alpensia

After I took some pictures at the ex-stadium, I walked back to the bus stop and caught a bus to the close-by Alpensia Resort. Alpensia is a ski resort that was built in the hopes that it would help South Korea win the Olympics. It worked! A good deal of the Olympic competition took place at Alpensia. It was a ghost town when I was there though. I think South Korea needs to do some work to make it a successful year-round resort–starting with improving transit connections from the train station!

If you try really hard, you can imagine that not too long before I took this picture, this was a bustling resort village and the center of the world’s attention.

There wasn’t a whole lot going on at Alpensia, but I did find a place to have lunch there.

Odaesan National Park

That concludes my time exploring the facilities of the recently concluded 2018 Winter Olympics. But I had a lot more to see in Pyeongchang. I retraced my steps, taking the bus to the bus to the very efficient Jinbu bus depot. Then it was a half-hour bus ride into the mountains. (Thinking about it now, I wonder how the hell I researched all this transportation.) My whole Olympic experience, starting with my arrival at the isolated train station, was pretty downbeat. But the hills were alive…with joy, if not the actual sound of music.

Woljeongsa

My 1st stop in the mountains was Woljeongsa, a Buddhist temple with a history going back 14 centuries.

Day 12 was the final day for me to enjoy traditional East Asian architecture. Are you relieved?

I honestly don’t know what this design element at Woljeongsa is, but it’s gorgeous.

I just never grow weary of this. I hope you don’t mind.

The octagonal 9-story stone pagoda at Woljeongsa is 1 of the temples many National Treasures. It’s believed to have been built in the 10th century. At the top is a gilt bronze finial.

Statue of Buddha in the main hall of Woljeongsa.

Magnificent ceiling, featuring a couple dragons and a swallow(?).

Peaceful setting in Odaesan National Park.

Sangwonsa

From Woljeongsa, I took the bus further up into the mountains to get to the last sightseeing site on my trip–Sangwonsa, another Buddhist temple. (I really don’t know how I researched all this transportation. But it worked!)

What appears to be a primitive stone pagoda at Sangwonsa.

Okay, so this phoenix. Who wouldn’t want to get a picture of this cool phoenix? It looks pretty good here, but I wanted to get its tail in the shot.

But to get the tail in the picture, part of the phoenix was set against the overcast sky and didn’t come out well.

Well, I checked my watch and I had plenty of time before I had to catch the bus back to Jinbu. And I was determined to get a satisfactory shot of the phoenix. I kept trying to get a shot from different angles. It was late in the day, so I thought if I waited till the sun went down a little, I’d get a better shot. So then I decided to walk around the temple a little more while waiting for the sun to get lower in the sky.

So inside the temple hall, I was able to get a picture of this fabulous ceiling painting.

And then I saw Sangwonsa’s most important artefact.

The bronze Bell of Sangwonsa is another National Treasure of Korea, the final 1 I saw on my trip. Cast in 725, it’s Korea’s oldest bell.

Now back to that phoenix.

Well I kept trying and trying, and I finally got this shot. I think it’s not bad. But…

I checked my watch and I realized I had spent way too much time trying to get the perfect shot of the phoenix. I just had a few minutes to catch the bus. And it was the last bus out of the mountains back to Jinbu! I started to run. You’ll recall the stone steps from my 1st picture at Sangwonsa. The whole path back to the bus stop–including many, many, many stairs–was unevenly paved with these stones. I was seriously afraid I was going to trip or sprain my ankle as I sprinted towards the bus stop.

As I kept running, fearing for my physical safety the entire time, I started wondering what I would do if I missed the bus. Would there be a place for me to spend the night in the mountains? (Unlikely.) Would I get back to Seoul on time to pack up my things at the guesthouse and make my early afternoon flight? Would I be able to arrange a taxi back to Jinbu? Was there anyone around who spoke English who could help me with any of this?

I finally made it back to the bus stop, likely in record time, to see the bus had just pulled away. I waved my arms like a wild man. (Fortunately, the bus had to drive in the direction of the stone path to get on its way.) I made the bus after all. I had thought that maybe this was finally going to be the 1st night on a trip that I didn’t make it back to the hotel. But that day is still yet to come.

Wrapping up East Asia

So I made it back to Jinbu. Just as with my arrival, I kept expecting there to be a bus to take me between the town and the inconveniently located train station. Once again, I had to take a taxi. Unlike with my arrival, when I had to take a subway to the far outskirts of Seoul to catch the high-speed train, I was able to take the high-speed train all the way back to the main Seoul train station. Then it was 2 subway rides back to my guesthouse. With my sightseeing done, I had a memorable dinner in the lively alley I had first walked down on my late-night arrival in Seoul 6 days earlier.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from the 12 days of my East Asian experience. I think I can fairly say that, as usual, I got a lot of good shots. In addition to my visit to the temples in Odaesan National Park, other highlights of the trip included the calla lilies and fumaroles of Yangmingshan National Park, the incredible Taroko Gorge at Taroko National Park, the gorgeous traditional homes of Bukchon Hanok Village, the peaceful stroll along reclaimed Cheonggyecheon, the hike up the rugged mountains above Seoul in Bukhansan National Park, Korea’s great treasures at the National Museum of Korea, and the strange DMZ (my shortened visit notwithstanding)–not to mention of course all that traditional East Asian architecture I can’t get enough of, plus all the fantastic food I feasted on.

I have to be honest though. The sights of Taiwan and Korea couldn’t compare with the grandeur of China and India, my 2 most recent international sightseeing destinations prior to my East Asian trip. It’s apples and oranges though, really. China and India are 2 of the world’s greatest civilizations in history. Taiwan and Korea just don’t stand a chance in the comparison. But I got 12 days of great pictures. And that’s what counts!

In the meanwhile, I still need to reschedule my trip to Spain that I had to cancel in 2020. Maybe in 2022. And of course, I still have lots of pictures from my 2018 and 2019 adventures in California to share with you. Stay tuned!

[Factual information is primarily gathered from Wikipedia, so you know it must be true.]