PYEONGCHANG - MorningCalm NOVEMBER 2017

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TILTING AT WINDMILLS

Pyeongchang, host of the 2018 Winter Olympics, is home to picturesque ranches where clear skies and green pastures provide some of the most timelessly romantic scenery in Korea.

Things are speeding up in quiet Daegwallyeong, located in the northeast of Pyeongchang-gun County. A line of cars maneuvers around construction projects that stir up plumes of dust. From here I can see the edges of the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics will take place. I ask a cab driver to take me to nearby Yangtte Farm, one of several ranches in a region famous for its sprawling pastures. Established in 1988, it has become one of the most popular tourist spots in Pyeongchang. It feels like a neighbor’s farm; a swing hangs from a tree and an old dog relaxes in the sun. But the highlight of my experience is feeding the sheep. I hold a clump of grass in my palm and offer it up to a meek-looking creature. The sheep gently sweeps it up, its damp nose tickling my hand.

After I’ve finished ingratiating myself with the fuzzy locals, I visit Samyang Ranch, about 11km northwest
of Yangtte Farm. While Yangtte’s charm lay in its coziness, Samyang Ranch astounds with its sheer size. Commanding an area of nearly 20sqkm, it’s the largest ranch in Pyeongchang. I get a chance to speak to the ranch’s chief marketing officer, Edward SY Chung, about what makes it special. “Head to the observatory and you’ll get a view of the sea,” he suggests. “You can see the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range, where, by law, nothing man-made can be built.” This hands-off attitude is something the ranch strongly believes in. From the East Sea Observatory, I can see where the scattering of buildings in Gangneung abruptly gives way to the ocean.

It’s early evening by now, and the land before me is a potpourri of colors. The trees are daubed orange, but the long grass remains a blazing green; every blade is limned gold by the setting sun. In the distance, the Daegwallyeong ridge forms a stern blue line against a sky stained pink. There are no sounds here — nothing except for the low whoosh of wind turbines overhead. Samyang Ranch hosts 53 of them, and the shadow of one giant blade passes over my face. I think of Don Quixote, tilting at windmills in the vast province of imagination. It’s a fantastical setting unlike any I would have expected in Korea.

By nightfall, I’m famished from all my quixotic musings, and for dinner I order a hwangtae-gui course, a dish famous in the area. The dried pollack is grilled and coated with a sauce made chiefly of gochujang (red pepper paste). A little chewy, the fish has a light, pleasant sweetness. Impressed by the local cuisine, the next morning I start my day with memil-mak-guksu, or buckwheat noodles. The noodles are slightly nutty, and the tartness of the vinegar is grounded nicely by flakes of dried seaweed.

After I arrive at Sky Ranch, the last of the three most famous ranches in Daegwallyeong, a charming tractor wagon transports me around the 10sqkm area. It stops first at Sky Floor Observatory, where, as its name suggests, a pure, undisturbed cerulean sky meets unfettered fields of grass. Once again, I feel lost in the otherworldly romance of the scenery, and I take my time wandering through the tranquil Moguwon Garden, where statues with placards tell people about the ranch’s history. I sit in the shade on one of the many benches where visitors can stop to daydream.

Before I leave Pyeongchang, I catch a last glimpse of the Olympic Stadium. It’s a futuristic structure, and the polished metal is dazzling. Soon, its grand halls will be filled with roaring crowds. But the stadium’s backdrop
is what makes me pause — the blank canvas of sky that seems to tell me that here, in the land of green pastures and giant windmills, you can’t help but let your imagination run wild.

Photographs by Han Sang-mooh