Home of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Pyeongchang in Gangwon province is the coldest and snowiest area of South Korea – thanks to its elevation of 700 meters above sea level. And, it is also home to the annual Pyeongchang Trout Festival which attracts about a million people every year. This year is the first year they held it since the pandemic and we had the opportunity to check it out.
Pyeongchang Trout Festival
Pyeongchang is a driving distance of about 167 kilometers from our home in Pyeongtaek. This kind of distance, with no traffic, would usually take us about 2.5 hours. But on the glorious Saturday that we visited the festival, there was an overabundance of traffic and poor visibility for most of the drive, so the trip there took us almost 4.5 hours. Which, if you ask me, is a bit excessive when you’re hoping for a day trip, but we intended to see our plans through. And we are so glad that we did.
As soon as we got close to the festival, we were met with the most incredible frozen trees I have ever seen in my life. And if these trees aren’t an indication of how cold it was that day, then I’m not sure what is. And of course, it wouldn’t be a festival in Korea without some of that cutesie charm that we have come to expect. There were random sculptures of fish, snowmen, and even some Olaf statues that had definitely seen better days. And then there were the hundreds of colorful tents covering the ice where over 10,000 holes are drilled to go ice fishing. The tents on their own are a sight.
We met up with the Moore family at the festival and it was the bare-handed fishing that led us there. Yes, you read that right. Bare. Handed. Fishing. It seemed like a hilariously random thing to do – and definitely something to write home about. However, what we were expecting it to be was VERY different than the reality and that made it all the more hilarious. So let me outline what we THOUGHT would happen:
1. Purchase ticket for bare-handed fishing for ₩20,000.
2. Show up at the heated pool (because surely, when it is outside and it’s only 25 degrees out the water would be heated, right?).
3. Change into the mandatory outfits (so we didn’t get our clothes wet and die of hypothermia, of course).
4. Jump into the knee-deep pool and kick some trout butt by catching one right away. Have the husbands take many pictures because they will be the only ones paying any attention to us.
5. Take said trout to the food court and pay a modest fee to have it prepared and cooked on the spot.
6. Everyone goes home happy for the experience.
But that, my friends, is not exactly how it all played out. As it turns out, this bare-handed fishing is kind of the MAIN EVENT at this festival. As in, a good portion of the people attending all gather around at the designated time to watch a bunch of suckers go after the school of trout in a COMPLETEY UNHEATED pool of water. Our first clue to this was that our tickets for the event specifically said “3pm” on them. The second clue that we were about to be the center of attention was when we exited the dressing room to find a HOARD of people surrounding the pool that we were about to jump in.
And then it honestly all happened so fast. One second they are having us do jumping jacks in the waiting room (I’m assuming to warm us up? But of course they were all speaking Korean and neither Missy nor I speak or understand Korean) and the next second, they are leading us out in the cold to prepare for the event. And, in case you were wondering, yes, we were the only non-Koreans participating. And yes, we did stand out… like a LOT. There was a lady yelling into a microphone and apparently being really funny (because everyone was laughing, but again, it was all in Korean) and hyping up the crowd and the participants. One of the men working the event told us to “smile crazy when you catch a fish and I take your picture” – which honestly just made us feel like he had a lot more faith in our ability to catch a fish than we did.
After the crowd was nice and wound up, we entered the pool, which was PAINFULLY cold. Honestly, the only way we were able to get ourselves to get in that water was to not think AT ALL and just go for it. I think it took about 30 seconds for my feet to go completely numb, and about the same amount of time before my hands joined them. Missy and I had a few failed attempts at catching a fish – those buggers aren’t OVERLY fast, but they are SLIPPERY. Plus, our hands were absolutely numb, so gripping a slippery fish when you can’t even feel your hands is SO HARD!
And then it finally happened: We caught a trout. We caught a freaking trout with our freaking bare hands! Missy and I used our incredible team-work skills and we caught a stinking trout. While I celebrated, Missy went on and caught one on her own because she is a BEAST. We cheered and got our pictures taken and then we were ushered back into the covered area to change our clothes. When we got out of the changing room, we were surprised to see that our families had been brought into the covered area and were getting their pictures taken too. Apparently the bare-handed fishing isn’t popular among foreigners, so they want to document it.
Because we’d made the bare-handed fishing the priority for the day (and because the trip TO the festival took so long), we didn’t have much time to sled by the time we finished with that and ate our fish. We didn’t realize that sledding closed at 5pm and so by the time we got to the hill, there was only time for one ride down. It was disappointing and I think Brandon and the kids felt like they’d gotten totally jipped. So we decided that we’d head back on Martin Luther King Jr. Day – since it was likely to be less busy on an American holiday.
And that’s exactly what we did. We almost didn’t make it back though – L was sick the entire weekend and so we doubted she would be feeling well enough by Monday. Thankfully, she was, so we hit the road around 11:30 (which was WAY later than we had originally planned). Since it was Monday, the traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been the last time we’d gone, so we were able to make the drive in under 2.5 hours. We paid to rent 3 sleds (at ₩4,000 each) and then hit the slope! Brandon and the four older kids went first (they allow lap-sitting on the sleds) while H and I waiting back and watched. Then we switched and I went down a couple of times.
In all we got about three solid hours of sledding in this time before it was time to call it quits. We honestly would have gotten more time in, but poor little H was pretty much done being outside in the freezing cold, so we figured we’d finish up before she totally lost her crap. We headed to the cafeteria area and got candied strawberries and teriyaki chicken kabobs and enjoyed some live music and then we headed home – happy to have spent another winter day NOT cooped up in the house.
This sweet man pictured with our kids was amazed that we had five kids. He was busy catching fish in the tent in the background and told us to wait for him (we assume that’s what he was saying based on his hand gestures) and he grabbed his phone and asked if he could take a selfie with the kids. Then I asked if I could take a picture of him with the kids on my phone and he said I could. This might seem weird to anyone who hasn’t visited Korea (or Japan or China), but it’s a pretty normal occurrence for us – especially when we visit areas that are further away from post. It’s rare that we can go anywhere without having someone ask to take pictures with our kids (or without us catching people taking pictures and/or recording us). It will be a little strange when we return to the States and we aren’t treated like celebrities.
If you find yourself in the area during the Pyeongchang Trout Festival (this year it runs from December 30, 2022 – January 29, 2023), it is definitely worth checking out. We may not head back next year, but I am so glad we got to experience it this year. It’s a little bit off the beaten path, which always makes for the best adventures!
’til next time…
Ash
Tips for visiting the Pyeongchang Trout Festival
Directions: Pasting 강원도 평창군 진부면 경강로 3562 into Naver will get you to the festival and then all you need to do is find parking.
Parking: There is a small lot right next to the festival that is free to park in. However, it fills up fast, so be prepared to find street parking. We were able to find a spot just a couple streets away – there is a lot of street parking available.
Cost: There is no fee to get into the festival (although you can’t go out on the ice without purchasing a ticket for ice fishing), but you pay for each individual activity. Activity prices range from ₩4,000 to ₩20,000 depending on what you were doing and there were plenty of things to choose from. Activities included: ice fishing, indoor fishing, sledding, rafting (where you are pulled behind a vehicle on a giant raft), a giant food court, bare-handed fishing, and more.
