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From traditional tea to transcendent views, international students take it all in with Wellness Gangwon

Published: 01 Jan. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 02 Jan. 2025, 10:02

LEE TAE-HEE
[email protected]

Students participating in the Wellness Gangwon trip pose for a photo on Mount Gariwang, which spans Jeongseon County and Pyeongchang, both in Gangwon. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Finding time to relax and connect with nature can be important for those leaving the busy semester behind and entering a fresh new year, with a group of international students embarking on a trip to Jeongseon County in Gangwon to recharge.

Although most of Korea was chilly but snow-free during the trip on Dec. 27, patchy snow covered the ground in Jeongseon, where around 70 international students invited through the Korea JoongAng Daily’s K-campus platform gathered to enjoy various wellness programs at High1 Resort.

Jeongseon is one of the five areas designated as wellness tourism regions through the Wellness Gangwon scheme, a project run by the provincial government since 2020 to promote tourism focusing on rest and tranquillity. Wonju, Donghae, Yeongwol County and Pyeongchang County are four others included in the list.

Each region offers wellness attractions and programs under set themes, with Jeongseon focusing on rest and meditation, Pyeongchang on its forests, Yeongwol on ecotherapy, Donghae in spas and Wonju in Korean medicine.

The logo for Wellness Gangwon, a project led by the state to promote various wellness venues and programs. [GANGWON STATE]

High1 Resort has been one of the venues offering such programs since 2021, ranging from yoga, meditation, trekking and tea classes. Since then, there have been over 30,000 participants of the resort's programs.

"There are actually a lot of foreigners that come to participate in our wellness programs,” said Kim Hye-jung, head of the Tourism Contents Team at Kangwon Land, the company running High1 Resort. “We have a lot of tourists, and they also come through group tours.”

The resort was designated an outstanding wellness travel destination by the Korea Tourism Organization and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism this year. There are 77 outstanding wellness tourism venues in the country, with 13 located in Gangwon.

A perfume-making class is one of the programs offered to visitors, allowing participants to capture Korean scents.

Each participant can make their own perfume by choosing three fragrance oils from 16 different options, such as a Korean cedar scent and white forsythia, a tree that only grows in Korea.

Scents that evoke certain images such as a musk base that smells like hanji (Korean traditional paper) or a balsamic incense base that smells like Buddhist temples were some of the other fragrance oils students could choose from.

An instructor helps students mix fragrance oils during a perfume-making class at High1 Resort in Jeongseon County, Gangwon. [PARK SANG-MOON]

"I picked the hanji paper scent, one of the floral scents and an inkstone scent,” said Farra Izlin, attending the trip. “The scents are very unique and I've never smelled anything like them before."

"We have Chinese herbal stores in Malaysia and I think that's the closest thing the perfume smells like, and the inkstone scent I put in was very interesting."

As many visit High1 Resort to relax and participate in various activities, it is currently building a new wellness center on the second floor of the resort. The center is scheduled to open around mid-January, with individual guests participating in wellness programs at the center and group tour guests using the resort's grand ballroom, which offers bigger space.

The tea class is another wellness program offered at the resort, helping participants relax and find compatible drinks.

Participants can find their Sasang constitution — a Korean traditional classification that categorizes people into four types based on their physical and psychological characteristics — by taking an online test. Various teas are recommended based on the results, such as quince tea suggested for Tae-Yang types because the group is prone to sore muscles and the fruit is known to relieve muscle pain.

Red bean tea is recommended for Tae-Eum types, job’s tears and goji berry tea for So-Yang types and jujube and astragalus tea for So-Eum types.

A group of students try various teas during the tea class at High1 Resort. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Although participants are introduced to teas that are best for them, everyone is also given the chance to try other teas.

"Out of the four teas, I enjoyed the red bean tea," said Adriana. "I'm unfortunately a So-Yang type, but I enjoyed the overall experience because I'm a big tea fan."

"I’m actually very particular about tea because my go-to drink to get caffeine isn’t coffee but tea, and I made different friends here as everyone at this table is from a different country, which is a bonus too!"

An additional tea experience was offered to select students, moving to the resort’s hanok (traditional Korean house) cafe Unamjeong to enjoy an afternoon tea set.

The cafe has been open since 2009, offering drinks and desserts with a traditional twist.

Its afternoon tea set consists of bite-sized desserts such as a gamtae oranda, a traditional Korean snack that mixes puffed beans with honey. A thin layer of gamtae, or roasted seaweed, is placed on top to give it a savory taste. Small cakes using gotgam, or dried persimmon, and surichwi tteok, rice cakes made using marsh plants, are also served with selected teas.

Students enjoy an afternoon tea set with various traditional Korean desserts at the Unamjeong cafe at High1 Resort. [PARK SANG-MOON]

"We don't really get to try these types of foods at normal cafes, and it was quite a unique experience to me," said Farhana. "The desserts were really pretty and tasted good as well."

Aside from indoor activities, students also ventured outside to enjoy the winter landscape that Gangwon has to offer.

Mount Gariwang is one of the mountains near Jeongseon, which takes a roughly one-hour car ride from High1 Resort to reach.

Instead of hiking up the snowy mountain, students rode the cable car from the mountain’s Alpine Plaza to the very top. The ride takes around 20 minutes, allowing passengers to take in the scenery.

Students take pictures with 2018 PyeongChang Olympics mascot Soohorang and Paralympics mascot Bandabi at the top of Mount Gariwang, a mountain between Jeongseon and Pyeongchang. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Despite temperatures of around minus 1 degree Celsius (30 degrees Fahrenheit) in the county that day, the peak of Mount Gariwang was even colder at around minus 8 degrees Celsius and covered with white snow.

Winds were piercing at the top, but students gathered in groups to take pictures with each other and look around regardless of the weather. Some lined up for hot chocolate, gazing outside from the warmth of the mountaintop lounge.

For some, such as Yaowamal from Thailand, it was the first time seeing mountains with snow.

"I really think the cable car experience is worth it," said Nabila, Yaowamal's friend. "I live in South Gyeongsang, which doesn't have a lot of snow, so this is my first time seeing snow and I'm really enjoying the experience."

"I've hiked through Mount Jiri in the past, but it's my first time coming up a snowy mountain."

Students pose for a photo in front of Unamjeong, a hanok (Korean traditional house) cafe at High1 Resort. [PARK SANG-MOON]

With Gangwon designating 2025 and 2026 the Visit Gangwon Year, the state hopes people both inside and outside of Korea will come experience its nature, festivals and food. Gangwon is aiming to have 200 million visitors per year. As of September, there were 114 million visitors to the state this year.

A logo for the 2025-2026 Visit Gangwon Year [GANGWON STATE]

"Gangwon is Korea's tourist capital with around 150 million people visiting every year," said Gangwon Gov. Kim Jin-tae during a ceremony to proclaim the Visit Gangwon Year on Nov. 25. "Gangwon is known for its stunning nature and landscape, a destination for K-pop fans with 25 BTS-related locations to visit, a well-known workcation destination and home to global festivals such as the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival."

"We are preparing various promotions for the 2025-2026 Visit Gangwon Year, and hope many enjoy and help promote travel in the state."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [[email protected]]