Lunar New Year Pt. II - Phoenix Park

Welcome to Phoenix Park Ski Resort!

Despite getting to bed sometime around four in the morning, I managed to drag myself to Nowon Station, Exit 6, where we caught our Good Bus, bound for Phoenix Park, just in the nick of time. Settling into my cozy seat I was jolted forward as the bus lurched on towards it's next destination just as the clock struck 5:40am, our arranged pick up time. They weren't joking!

Within minutes I was sound asleep again and just as pleased as I could be. With my back pack spread out over the seat next to me and my giant (by Korean standards) body flung against the window at a long angle, I figured I'd have a row of seats to myself for the couple hour drive out to Phoenix Park in Gangwando Province, slightly north east of Seoul.

Unfortunately, I awoke only a short time into our journey as our bus came to a halt along what appeared to be the Olympic Highway near Jamsil Station. While I can't verify exactly where we were, I followed the crowds off our bus, grabbed my bag stashed below, and headed towards another, identical looking vehicle. Unfortunately, this time I was greeted by a throng of Koreans rather than a bus of empty seats. It took a while to finally find someone willing to slide over and let me in. It took Nate even longer than me to find someone willing to share their row but eventually we were on our way.

While I again planned on closing my eyes and passing out, I was unable to do so for a number of reasons. First, the guy next to me was clearly not happy about my joining him on the bus as he conceded no more space than was absolutely necessary for me to remain on my seat. To keep myself from slipping out every time we hit a bump I braced myself with my foot by reaching across the narrow aisle and latching it under the adjacent seat.

I had just gotten locked into place when the seat in front of me came crashing back at a blistering speed, stopping only when my knees refused to give any more. When I made the small mistake of sliding my knees away for a moment, the person in front of me took the opportunity to inch back even further. Thus, I firmly wedged my knees up against the seat back for the remainder of the journey, encouraging my busmate not to move any further.

When I tried to compensate for my lack of space by reclining my seat a bit, I was met with fierce resistance from well positioned knees behind me. Apparently, the person to my rear had preempted my attack and wedged a small army of knees behind my seat, disallowing me from encroaching at all.

I eventually got over the stupid kid who was playing some cellphone game with the sound on by putting in my ear phones, with no music however as I needed to save battery for the mountain. Turns out the ipod decided not to work anyways. . .awesome!

Just as I thought I would finally be able to get some rest, I felt a blast of hot air blow up in my face. While at first the heat was refreshing, it quickly turned painful. I stripped down of my outer jacket as the first wave of heat rushed over me. Soon however I was drenched in sweat and had to remove my sweatshirt. This proved not nearly comfortable enough as I soon had to take of my long sleeve t-shirt as well, leaving me with nothing more than a breathable running shirt on. Even so I contemplated taking it off as I had literally begun to seat from everywhere as my sweat was clearly placed above the vent from the bus' boiler room.

Alas, I got no sleep on the bus ride up and only very little rest. The heat was eventually turned off but not after my discarded garments had absorbed most of it from the air.

We arrive at the park a little after nine, hustled out in to a way too bright sun and a bit crisper than expected morning. We grabbed our bags from down low and headed up towards the main building to try and spot a group of foreigners. Why are we here again and who are we meeting?

Well, a couple months ago I got a facebook invitation to go on a ski/snowboard trip from a girl we had met over Halloween in Itaewon. Though we didn't know anybody else invited, it sounded like a fun way to spend our holiday and a good way to meet some other people. So we signed up.

It didn't take long for us to spot a large group of clueless looking foreigners who made up the rest of our party. While most of the people, as we would later learn, come from somewhere south of Seoul, everybody was connected to the group by about as thin of social threads as we were. Which, while slightly awkward at first, made for a rather fun time in the end!

Christine, our 'hostess,' checked in at Phoenix Ville, the park's youth hostel, while we stood around the lobby pretending to meet one another. We were quickly ushered up to one of two rooms and the 'boys' were thrown in in the first that we came to, 307. Though it would be hard to believe it for anybody that visited after Sunday morning, the room was actually quite neat and fresh when we arrived.

Walking in to the room I immediately noticed the view which looked right out on to the mountain. Along each wall were two bunk beds with a sheet and pillow. By sheet of course I mean a weird partly stiff, almost stuffed but not quite, Korean sheet. Not the 300 count Egyptian cotton that I would of course demand anywhere else. . .just kidding.

Plopping down on a bottom bunk, Nate and I got a little more acquainted with our two roommates Kris and Kevin (from Missouri). I fought the urge to lie down and spread out as I knew that going to sleep would put me in a state that I simply would not recover enough from to go skiing that day!

Eventually two of our other roommate, Neil (Canuck) and Justin (Virginia), arrived. During introductions, Kevin suggested the name Beard-o for himself and, well, it stuck for the rest of the weekend. . . long after Beard-o himself had left even! As Neil ran around frantically and Justin crawled in to bed, Nate and I slowly readied ourselves for a day of riding after a long night of being entertained by Anna and Co.

We managed to figure out how to get our lift tickets using our Good Bus coupon which brought our total to, well, zero! I paid 13,000won, half off, for snow board rental and Nate literally got away with nothing! Turns out that 50,000won bus ticket was a darn good deal!

Back inside the main building I tried to slip into a pair of rental boots at our rented locker. No luck, way too big. I later learned that they simply hand all foreigners the same size, the biggest they have, and then work from there. I informed the worker that these were too big and that I needed a size smaller. Well, turns out I guess he thought I meant bigger as he continued to give me a different pair of similar sized boots. . . um, no thanks. I eventually got some that, almost, fit and laced up. Immediately I knew I was in for a rough day as my toes wedged up against the front of the boot while the sides of my foot were left slipping around. . .this would be the first, and last day, that I rented at the resort!

Though we had lost everyone else from our party, we figured they couldn't be too hard to find as the mountain seemed rather open and foreigners aren't hard to spot against the crowd. Just look for the neutral earth tones in a sea of fluorescent prints. No, not like retro 80's neon, but super new school watch me shred this pipe type neon. The problem is that only a very few riders can actually back up their ridiculous outfits on the mountain! No worries, as Meg (Canada) would eventually point out, 'It's more of just a fashion show for them.'

On our first trip up the gondola we joined an eager Korean foursome who were gai-bai-bo-ing (also known as 'rock paper scissors' on our side of the world) to see who would lead on the next run. They made us get in on it and we were happy to have some guides on our first trip down. While the elder man spoke a bit of broken English, it was Min, our new mountainside friend, who helped guide the conversation. Although she has never studied abroad she really did an excellent job with her language and comprehension especially, which, is quite a feat when I have really only my students to compare with. Though, as Kerouac would say, 'comparisons are odious.'

Our New Friend Min!

First Gondola of the Day!

We couldn't have asked for any nicer weather, or a nicer group of people to spend our Sunday morning with. After the first few runs Saturday night was entirely worked off, thanks in part to Min and Friends sharing their Powerade. . .apparently they had a long night too!

Sunday Morning Sunshine

It wasn't long until I lost RPS on the gondola and was forced to chose our next run. I suggested 'Dizzy' as it was the only run name I recalled from the trail map. Min looked somewhat surprised and reminded us that 'in Korean, Dizzy means Death.' This turns out not to be true but was rather her way of telling us that it was a hard run. Now, for Korea, sure, it got kinda steep. . .for a hundred meters or so, but even the one double black run Phoenix boasts doesn't have anything on a steep Blue anywhere in the Rockies.

We made it down Dizzy a couple times before our new friends took off as they had to return to Seoul later that day. We snapped a couple photos, promised to 'facebook' and went our separate ways: Min and Friends towards the city, Nate and I towards Popeyes!

Nate, Min, Green Jacket Girl, Me
(In this picture Min and Friend are showcasing another famous Korean mountainside fashion. . .leaving your coat open at all times. . . not sure why or how they don't freeze but hey, if it's in the name of fashion, why not, right?)

Getting on the Gondola
We made great friends with our favorite lift attendant who just looked too cute in her 'phoenix' hate to pass up a picture with! (See Lars, I told you all the cool people in Korea wear animal hats!)

After a hearty lunch of good ole' fried chicken (which was actually way less than good but substantial enough to get us back out on the mountain) we headed back up to ride the opposite side of the mountain. Here the trails were a bit less steep but certainly less crowded and skied out at the same time which made them enjoyable. On top of the serenity of the mountain's 'left side' we found a short little run under one of the lifts that was essentially untouched.

Heading down the 'other side'

From here you could ride a short ways before launching yourself off a five foot boulder in to some pretty cushy 'powder' mixed in with some not so cushy underbrush. I gave the run a shot first having the rental board to test for rocks. With pretty good results, other than my landing, we both decided to try it again. Though the run itself lasts only seconds and the jump is far from anything impressive, it had to be the most adventurous thing we were able to find on the mountain all weekend. That is, until the ski patrol came after us with their whistles. . .apparently skiing in Korea is about looking good, not having fun!

On our way back over to the Gondola I suddenly saw a huge mass of human being flying down the slopes. As the waygukin came hurtling past I called out 'Neil!?' who responded 'Yep! That's me!' before hurling himself off a short jump and crashing in a flurry of snow! We waited for the rest of their party to catch up and headed down together, happy to have some people to ride with.

For the rest of the day we joined Neil, Meg, Nick, Morgan and Mike (the last two, Quebecois, ended up being our two missing roommates). This group was a blast to ride with and everyone was really good, even Morgan who was still on her first couple days of boarding. Meg decided to show up everyone in the park while Mike wowed me by doing anything and everything he could try on a board despite being a natural born skier!

We finished out the rest of the day in the park as the sky clouded over and eventually began to drop buckets of snow on us! We were so excited to have fresh white coming down that we stayed out until the last lift closed for 4:30 grooming! Though some others considered going back out at night, Nate and I were both too popped to do anything more and returned to the room to wind down.

Meg Giving Lessons on the Box

'I can do that,' says Nate

It's really starting to come down now!

Sunday night the 307 gang decided to head over to the Park's Central Plaza to grab dinner and hop in the hot tubs at Blue Canyon, the resort's water park. We ended up having too much 'fun' at dinner and missed our chance to make it in the water before closing. Oh well, never mind, at least it's good to know that there's one byob restaurant in Korea. . .almost reminded me of the Naw!

We stocked up on supplies for the night, and morning, at the Family Mart just outside our 'Sports Cafe' restaurant before making the trek through the cold back to the room. For the next few hours we bounded from room to room in Phoenix Ville making friends and getting creeped out as we went. At one point, a random girl walked in to our room, suitcase and all. She looked up startled and said simply, 'Oops, wrong room. But hey, can I spend the night?' We all looked around and everybody agreed that'd work, seeing as how Mike and Morgan fit comfortably on one of the bunks (which were not only bigger but substantially more comfortable then my bed at 'home' in Doota). Steele (our new roommates last name) at first tried to break out some poetry to read before being simply overwhelmed by the rest of the room's antics. Eventually everybody made it back to 307 where we had lights out by about four am. . .not a bad evening, though I sure could have used a couple hours more sleep!

Monday morning I got outta bed around 9:30am and started to stretching in order to kinda rouse others from their half slumbers. We eventually got everyone up and downstairs to try and find some breakfast. Turns out we just missed the 10:00am closing time on the breakfast buffet so it was off to the 'Cafeteria,' where only Korean food was served. Surveying our options the majority, and eventually everyone, of us headed upstairs to the Popeyes. Though the food was certainly better than anything I could have gotten in the cafeteria, we did notice that chicken burgers were being made by the dozen and stored in cooling racks to apparently be served later. . .hmmm, not so delicious on second thought!

Monday Morning View from 307

After breakfast we browsed the ski shops for a bit checking out the absurdly awesome apparel selection. I really just don't know how to adequately describe this ski clothing and I'm really sorry I didn't get any better pictures! We eventually went back to the room to change and get ready where Meg and Nick met us at 11:30am to go pick up rentals at a shop down the way. Apparently Meg has a friend of a friend at a place who knows a guy whose sister slept with this one dude once before getting fired from his dads burger joint in Cincinnati and moving to Vancouver as a stopping off point to Korea. . .well, not quite, but something along those lines.

Whatever the connection was, the ten minute walk down the road was totally worth getting hooked up with great (read, comfortable) gear at an amazing price. 10,000won for an all day rental! Not only was the gear better than the Park's but it was cheaper than the half price discount too! Saweeet deal!

Neil, Meg, Nick, Morgan, Mike and I got suited up as Eung (that's how I understood his name, though I can't be sure, I did eventually learn that he can just be called 'Bear' for short) loaded our boards in to the van. The only issue is that the back row of seats had been taken out to may room for gear and now we had not only the six of us but three Koreans who needed a ride back to the park as well. No problem, we assured the driver, as we pilled in on laps. After a couple tries we managed to get all the doors shut and we were on our way the short, thankfully, drive back to the park.

A Happy Driver...

And a Tight Squeeze!

Our Hayanara Rental Shop driver took us right to the ticket booth where we used Mike's SK Phone to get a 27% discount, leaving us a bill of only 39,000won for a day of skiing. Not too much damage. I picked up a ticket for Nate too who we met just outside waiting to get on the Gondola.

Using our knowledge of slope selection from the day before, we RPS'd for honors and headed down the mountain. After only a couple runs we were all drawn away from riding for a few minutes by the small pen of animals we kept noticing out the Gondola's windows.

Hmm, only in Korea do they have a petting zoo at the ski resort!

Lured in by pine branches, Neil unsucessfully tried to pluck one up for a picture! Better luck next time!

Meeting other foreigners made Nate so happy he didn't care what species his new friends were!

After taking some shots with the animals, and drawing quite a crowd of onlookers in the process, we decided to use the beatufiul morning light to capture our super happy riding club!

Riding Happy!
Nick, Neil, Meg, Nate, Adam, Morgan, Mike

And of course, the quintessential, 'look ma, I'm flying' picture. . .great idea Meg!

As there's really not too much to this mountain there isn't a whole lot to report other than we had another fun day of riding! We spent a bit more time in the park than either Nate or I probably would have but ended up having a great time doing it. By the end of the day I was hitting boxes with out question and had finally nailed a 180, including landing. . .though the 360 is still a long ways off!

Thanksfully the weather stayed beautiful all morning!

Finally 3:30pm rolled around and we had only an hour left to ride. Having discussed switching board for skis earlier, Nate and I were encouraged to swap out by our riding partners. Having never before strapped in to a pair of skis I figured it sounded like a good idea. Especially as there was only a little time left in the day and worst came to worst its always entertaining watching somebody learn to board! We quickly switched up boots before getting on the Gondola and strapping in.

My first time. . .in ski boots!

On the way up, Mike, Morgan and Nate all chimed in with their personal advice for a first time skiers. Here's what I remember. . .Keep your shoulders facing down hill. Always keep your weight forward. Initiate a turn with your pole (and here I thought they were just decoration). Don't lean back, or you're done for. Never let your skis cross. Keep your poles in front of you, don't let them drag. When in doubt, resort to the wedge.

Well, I managed to keep most of that in mind, except for the wedge part. Every time I try I end up crossing and falling so I've resorted to other means of slowing down, some conventional, some not. Anyways, despite being led down one of the mountains three black trails to begin, I feel like I kinda got the hang of it! At first it was pretty rough trying to figure out how to turn as the grade of our initial run didn't make starting and stopping all that simply. But, as the hill evened out I fell in to a back and forth rhythm that felt a lot more comfortable, but not quite as natural, as snowboarding.

What I really enjoyed most about skiing is how relaxing it is. I fell like when I'm on a board I'm always fighting something, whether its to stay upright, stay on edge, make sure that I'm balanced or whatnot. On skis though there's a lot more time to just kinda relax, which sure felt good at the end of the day.

As for Nate, well I don't think he had it quite as easy. If you've ever tried snowboarding you know how rough the first day, and especially the first run is. As Nate noted, you go down about fifty percent of the hill on your butt. This is usually the breaking point where most people try it once and never return to it again. . .Jay, my brother, and Justin, our other roommate, as two examples!

Though he eventually got the hang of it, kinda, the kinder slopes aren't necessarily kinder to a boarder. As even an experienced boarder knows, your likely to fall, without warning and without reason at almost any moment, no matter how fast or slow, steep or shallow. Nate got to learn this the fun way! As we retired for the day, he empathized with me nothing that he now understands why my goggles are always wet and fogging. . .because on a board, you spent a good part of your day lying face first in a snow bank somewhere!

Almost up!

What a mean heelside turn!

Now I know why you have poles. . .to rest on!

Starting to get the hand of it. . .kinda!

Turning in Monday evening I made the hike back out the Hayanara to drop off my board as I realized I didn't mention anything about wanting it for two days. In fact, I didn't really mention anything as I simply showed up with Meg and the group. We didn't even have to pay until later that day when I dropped it off. . .what a great place! To top it off, they even drove me home once I had changed out of my boots. . .and I thought transportation was only for when you had equipment!

Monday night was a blast as Nate, Meg, Neil and I retired to the Blue Canyon Water Park for a couple hours followed by a BBQ dinner and bowling. The water park was a hilarious experience that I simply cannot describe in words and regret not taking a picture of!

For 13,000won, half price for foreigners, we are let in through a turnstile where you are asked to remove your shoes and store them in a locker. From here you head downstairs into the Korean Sauna where men of all ages are walking around naked, talking to each other, combing their hair, stretching, doing what not. . .I changed, quickly, and headed out towards the pool area where I was quickly ushered back in to the locker room by a sneaky spy who saw me evade the 'please shower first room.' I honestly intended to, but couldn't find an unoccupied stall at the time. . .and by stall I mean shower head in front of a long mirror in front of which dozens of other naked men are taking their sweet time washing every ole' nook and cranny. . .mmmmm

The park itself is hilarious. Half indoors and half out, there are three main swimming areas. One is a wave pool that never goes beyond 1.3 meters deep. Even so, you are required to, wear a life jacket if you want to enter which must be purchased for a 5,000won rental fee. Um, yes, even if your head is well above water as you stand in the deep end. . .so, we skipped it.

The second pool is the equivalent of a massage parlor. Jet placed in all sort of combination with all kinds of seating line every inch of this oddly shaped pool. Some shoot straight out of the ground which, without a bathing suit, would certainly induce an enigma, while others come from chair shaped nooks that one can relax in and enjoy a full body water massage.

The last pool is a lazy river type that pushes it's waders around in a circle with a gentle current. Just for kicks, half the pool is outside. . .woo hoo! Though it's not quite warm enough to hang out in very long.

We eventually made it outside to the hot tubs (37.9 C), one of which was infused with pomegranate, making the water a deep blood red color. Of course, we wouldn't dare leave without riding the water slide a couple of times! While not quite as steep or thrilling as the one at Atlantis, this slide certainly ranks up there on the surprise factor. . .want to know why? Guess you'll just have to go to Phoenix Park for yourself!

After swimming we met up with Justin to eat a less than satisfying BBQ deal that was made worse by the fact that we had to sit on the floor after finally getting relaxed in the pool. From there we headed back into Central Plaza for a night of 6-16 bowling. What is that you might ask? Well it's a new form of skilled bowling where you are only allowed to shoot either the 6lb or 16lb ball. . .quite interesting I must say. While Justin stood out as the clear winner of both games, no shot came close to matching the spare Nate almost pulled by throwing a gutter ball that launched itself back on to the lane to pick up one of two remaining pins.

After getting a bit to silly for our bowling neighbors we headed back to 307 where the night continued. At this point, all attention was turned on Nate's hanging big toe nail that had caused him a load of trouble in the water park. This was the direct result of skiing last time with Joseph and had now, after two days of skiing, reemerged as an issue.

Debating for hours about what to do with the toe, the general consensus in the room was to rip it off, while Nate insisted on retaining it, for who knows what reasons! After failing to slyly attempt to get others in on a big 'rip off' scheme, Meg decided to take the job in to her own hands. Hurling herself off her bed, she landed on Nate, pinning his leg to the ground. Then, in one cat like motion, she reached down, grabbed the toenail, yanked and held it victoriously above her head. . .all before he could even squeal!

The room erupted with applause and Nate could only look on in shock. . .photo evidence of the event is below . . .I'll spare you the closeup. . .

Meg is Victorious!
(P.S. Nate now has the toenail in a bag, if you ask politely, he just might show you!)

We eventually made it to bed but not before five in the morning. . .uggh, another unintentionally late night! Oh well, nothing I could do but set my alarm and hop out bed again at 10:00am to start my 'morning tae chi' routine, as I referred to it. This time however I was unable to rouse everyone and only Meg and I made the hike to the rental shop. We returned to meet Nate and Joseph who were, almost, ready to ride.

Oh yeah, Joseph had called me Monday evening and asked if I wanted to ski Monday night. I told him I was certainly done for the day but he was welcome to come spend the night as we had open beds (Mike and Morgan took off Monday evening after riding). He agreed and showed up in record time for Joseph. This was of course because he wanted to try out his brand new, just purchased 'new-school' Armada skis that he insisted on buying after seeing Nate's 'twin tips. Of course, new skis weren't quite enough as Joseph also picked up a flashy new Armada outer coat to match. . .and as for the yellow and purple bindings, well, these are just too cool!

Tuesday Morning Mountain

Pounding down a Powerade and Issac Toast sandwich, I was ready to go. So while Joseph and Nate grabbed lift tickets, Meg and I headed up to get a few early morning warm ups in. The rest of the day was pretty much peaceful as Meg eventually left us to goof around in the park. We lost Joseph for a while who insisted on riding the beginner hills (on his new $600 skis). By mid afternoon though we had relocated him and managed to coax him down some more advanced runs.

Again, with an hour to go, Nate and I made the great switch. We tried to do the same run as the day before which felt infinitely times easier for me. The only time I went down was trying to hit a little jump after which I simply lost total control. Unfortunately for Nate, the second day snowboarding isn't much different from the first if you've never tried it before. He slid down about half the mountain on his but and put in the equivalent of fifty forearm push ups just righting himself up again! As a result, we called it a day after one run.

Back on solid ground we changed up and loaded up Joseph's car. Just before leaving we were lucky enough to catch sight of our 'hostess,' Christine, who we had almost entirely missed this weekend. We said thank you and good bye to hear while signing off with Neil and Justin as well.

I can't tell you how long it took us to get back in Joseph's car but as I've mentioned before, going anywhere with him is a chore. We did eventually get in the car and get going, but only after a bit of proding. Dropping of my board we settled in to a bulgogi dinner that hit the spot left vacant by three days of Popeyes.

Back on the road again I immediately conked out in the back seat, only to wake up some time later in a dark parking lot with the driver and passenger asleep. Fine enough with me I figured and closed my eyes again. Later I learned from Nate that twenty minutes in to the drive Joseph decided to pull over for a twenty minute nap that turned in to an hour. I mean, better to rest than drive sleepy but come on, we were only 150 or so km from home and the back-to-the-city New Years traffic wasn't getting any lighter!

I stayed out just about the whole way to Seoul, waking up again as Joseph starting swearing having missed a camera speed checkpoint. . .which, are not at all evasive but actually show up dinging on the GPS. Not sure how you miss that but, I guess it's possible!

Back home I dumped out my dirties and immediately crashed.

It was a fantastic weekend get away that was full of fun, friends and adventure. With a very limited crowd in Junggye it was exciting to have a couple days contact with other foreigners who don't make weird faces and comments when you walk by (as some do around here). Not sure when my next adventure outing will be but I certainly look forward to it!

As for next weeks schedule returning to teaching in the evening. . .well that, I am not looking forward to!

Saehae bok mani baduseyo, or, Happy New Years!

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that this entire ski resort is sponsored by FUBU! Go figure!?