Need to wake up earlier today because we need to make a long journey to the ski resort. We set off around 8.30am from Chuncheon Bears hotel to the resort. On the way, Yuli collected the fees for our ski suit and eqiupments rental. I got them free because I’m the tour leader but still need to pay for Agnes. The rental fees are 20000 won (RM 80) for the full ski suit, 10000 won (RM 40) for ski mask, 25000 won (RM 100) for the ski equipments. Then, she continued where she left off yesterday on Korean history. She talked about the Korean war that separated North and South Korean and the predicament of some Koreans family separated when the borders are drawn, never to see each other again for decades, sad story.
We arrived around the resort area 2 and half hour later and took a detour to a nearby shop to pick up our ski suits. The shop offered rental of ski suits, skis and snowboards. Everyone chose their suit and proceed to the changing room to try it. I looked like I know how to ski after putting on the suit and all of us look good in it. More important than outlook is that the ski suit prevents you from getting wet if you fell onto the snow.
After gearing up, we had early lunch at a nearby shop. Had the usual Korean dishes of kimchis and steamboat of vegetables and meat.
Hyundai Seongwoo Ski Resort, we arrived shortly after leaving the restaurant. While the driver try to maneuver the bus to send us up to the lobby, he accidentally knock a car parked beside the road, so we end up walking up to the lobby. Yuli brought us 2 floors down from the lobby to the ski area. When I came out to the ski area, I saw tons of snows covering multiple mountain slopes. Although some are artificial snow, they looked pretty real to me and I can’t wait to get my equipments and start skiing. After measuring our shoe size, we collected the ski boots, ski sticks and skis from the rental counter.
I walked like a robot after putting on the boots. Valuables stuffs like my camera and bags are kept in the pay per use locker which cost 500 won (RM2) or 1000 won (RM4) depending on size. Yuli then taught us the basics on skiing at the beginners slope. Most of my customers fell on their 1st run. I was fortunate not to fall on the 1st time but I eventually did. It was really fun after you get the hang of it, at least I thought I did. I got ambitious and went to a higher slope to try out, thats when I realized that the braking technique that Yuli taught me couldn’t slow me down as I went down the steeper slope. I managed to slow down by turning to the right but then it got faster again, I couldn’t turn back to the left so I just fall to stop my descent. Climbing up the slope and the adrenaline sliding down really makes you sweat albeit the low temperature. The ski suit really helps to prevent me from getting wet after the falls.
Although I still have lots of energy left to ski, I tracked back to the resort to get my camera, had to capture some nice moments. I took some pictures for my customers and at the same time tried to take some panning shots. Its a technique to capture pictures which indicates motions. In this case, people coming down the slopes at high speed. There are many subjects for me to shoot including my customers and Agnes. Took many shots of them skiing down the slopes and falling down as well.
When time is almost up, Agnes and I took a few more pictures and head back towards the resort. We spent around 4 hours at the ski area but some of the elder customers got back earlier due to exhaustion. We returned the equipments and head back up to the lobby to get keys to our apartments. Each apartment has 2 rooms, 1 bathroom, 1 living room and 1 kitchen. The kitchen is complete with utensils and cutleries for cooking. There weren’t any beds in the rooms, we are suppose to sleep on the mattress on the floor. Agnes and I shared an apartment with Mr Lim and Hui Sze. Mr Lee then invited us over to his apartment next door for some coffee. We chatted about our previous trips to other countries while enjoying the nice cool fresh air. This is a really nice resort for friends and family to get together and spend some quality time.
Dinner tonight is not included in the tour package. We had choice of either cooking or eat at the restaurant, we chose restaurant. The restaurant that we ate didn’t taste that good but it had a good night view of the ski area. It is brightly lighted and there were many people skiing at that time. Some of my customers opted to cook their dinner. They bought instant seafood steamboat and instant rice packs from the convenient store. Just need to pour water and boil them and its ready for serving, pretty convenient. The seafood steamboat wasn’t very fresh according to their feedback.
Agnes and I then explored around the resort after dinner. We went back to the ski area to get a feel of the temperature there. It was quite chilly and the wind was quite strong. Despite the cold weather, we bought red bean ice cream and had it at the ski area where its the coldest. Just couldn’t resist the temptation of the nice packaging and red bean. It tasted really good though. We also bought instant cup noodles (bowl noodles actually) and Shoju (Korean Wine). Since there weren’t many things to do, we went back to the apartment to watch TV and ate cup noodles. Tried the Shoju and it sucks. I drank a bit and left it there for the cleaning lady tomorrow.
The floor of the rooms are heated. After lying down covered with blanket, I felt the warm through my back. It was nice at first, then it became warmer until the entire room feels warm. I had to open the room door and the sliding glass door in the living room to let the cool air come in. I prefer it cool then warm and cosy, must be a Malaysian habit due to our weather or its just me. I didn’t get a good sleep through out the night due to the dry air and warm floor. The mattress ain’t that comfy either. I’m the tour leader, I shouldn’t complain….
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