South Korea (ROK) 2018

 

The Reason I went here was to visit PyeongChang, the 2018 Winter Olympics site

 

I departed Yokota AB on the red tailed Omni International Patriot Express for Osan AB, South Korea.

 

For the short hop, the aircraft was pretty empty

 

Leaving the snow behind, but not the cold. It will be my first (and maybe last) time in the South Korean winter
A short time later the coast of South Korea came into view

 

Being still late January and very early in February, I waited a few days. It was quite cold in South Korea and the days rarely reached freezing. When I finally got on a bus to Seoul, the sun was shining and I figured I would at least have good weather for taking pictures. I went to the Dragon Hill Hotel on Yong San Army Base in Seoul, and these flags was the only thing I saw that reminded one of the upcoming Olympics. After talking to the lady at the information and tours desk, I found out that the new high speed rail line was operational, but that the train station was miles outside of PyeongChang. Also, she said, there would be free shuttle buses around PyeongChang and to the various ventures, many of which were in the surrounding mountains. However, she informed me (in perfect English), none of those buses are running at this time. They will start on February 8th, about a week away. It would be all taxis for me, from the hotel to the Seoul train station, and from Pyeongchung train station into town, and all around. The (temporary) stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies are to take place, was not quite finished at that time, and none of the athletes had arrived yet. It didn't sound very promising to me and definitely not cheap. So, with heavy heart, I decided that I was way too early and that it simply would not have been worth my time and money, and called it off. Headed back to Osan AB, and hung around there, waiting for a flight back to Yokota AB, Japan.

 

 

Returning by bus to Osan AB, I noticed that the river that runs through Seoul was iced up on both shores.

 

 

 

So, I settled for a little bit of shopping,

 

And noticed these new items in the Osan Exchange concessions mart. They're all heated and some have pretty advanced features.

 

 

Of course, all of the traditional items continued to be available on and off base.

 

Flying back to Japan, I saw almost no snow in South Korea. not even in the higher mountains
What might have been not far from the PyeongChang area had the same problems

 

I'll end this short journey with one of my favorite Koran art prints, even with those unfortunate reflections