Ski Korea - Yong-Pyong Resort

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We took a bus to Gangneung from Chuncheon and had been told the shuttle bus was right outside the intersity bus terminal, there was no sign though but the bus came and we eventually got to the resort. We had booked into the hostel onsite for 11,000 won a night per bed. We checked in and then took a walk around the resort. The resort was not as modern as we were expecting, there was not that many places to eat. In the main building there was a Family mart and a Bueno Pizza restaurant (charging 30,000 for a pizza). There was also a dining hall style place with food court style stalls but they were never open in the 4 days we spent there. The internet cafe had reasonable rates of 3000 won an hour. The following day we skied for the first time. We were pleased to receive a 30% discount on ski hire and lift passes from the hostel. There are several beginner slopes and then many intermediate and advanced slopes. It was busy as it was the new year weekend but the mornings seemed to be the quietest time. I was surprised to see so many people doing evening and night skiing - not something I had seen before on European resorts. The resort has bowling alley, karaoke bar and norebang also a pool and snooker hall. These were busy in the evenings as expected. There were a lot of foreigners there, not only teachers but also American families. We decided the next day to take the shuttle back in to Gangneung and look around the city. The bus terminal seemed to be quite far from anything and so we took a cab to Emart and got some food to eat for the next couple of days. The evening was spent in the Peak Island water park on the resort. We also had a coupon for this and got 40% off the entrance. I think the full price is very high. The water park was ok, there is only one small actual pool and to use you must rent a life jacket - even if you can swim! there were two water slides open and a spa area with jacuzzi seats. there is also an outdoor sauna but as we had gone in the evening it was closed. As we were leaving we saw for the first time a Burger King restaurant! It was closing as we saw it but the prices were not high. We found it interesting that there were no adverts for this and we only found it by chance!
The following day i skied for the day, doing most of the intermediate runs. Was an enjoyable day and the weather was great! That evening we went bowling.
We had a good time here and the acommodation was a great price. Our main reason for choosing Yong Pyong over the other resorts, many of which are closer to us was because they had English speaking staff to give information when you call them and their website is available in English. We had a good few days here and there is definatley enough to keep you entertained for a few days. In a big group a trip would be a blast!

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