Located in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon-do Province, Jeonggangwon (total area of 33,057㎡) is a tourism complex consisting of hanok, modern accommodation facilities, a Korean restaurant, a food museum, gardens, and an animal farm among its many facilities. Joh Jeonggang, a specialist in Korean food, established this tourism complex with the aim of to developing and promoting traditional Korean cuisine through hands-on experience programs. The current owner took over the complex six years ago and continues to run the business. After passing through the large gate and walking along the path, the first things to catch the visitor’s eye are the many hundreds of crocks for soy sauce and other condiments, all of which are neatly arranged in front of the Korean restaurant. After that, a refined hanok building, a well-maintained garden, and a children’s animal farm which keeps birds, rabbits, chickens, pheasants, etc. will come into view. The clear water of Geumdang Valley flows down in front of the hanok, while the Geumdangsan Mountains embrace the vast expanse of the complex, creating a magnificent landscape. Jeonggangwon, named after the founder’s name ‘Jeong-gang’, can be translated as a ‘garden where a quiet river flows.’ The garden is planted with dozens of wildflowers and abundant fruit trees including Korean cherry, peach, and plum trees. The Jeonggangwon’s hanok was built ten years ago using pine wood and other eco-friendly hanok construction materials to emphasize the structure’s unique beauty. It comprises one main house and two annex buildings, and has eleven guest rooms in total. Situated on slightly elevated ground, the hanok commands open views of green mountains and fields. Each room bears the name of a particular flower in Korean, including Doraji, Mandrami, Baekryeon, and Jindalrae, which can accommodate to three persons; Mulmangcho, Railnak, Bongseonhwa, and Maehwa, which can accommodate two to four persons; Suseonhwa and Deulgukhwa, which can take two to five persons; and Chaesonghwa, the largest room, with a capacity of four to eight persons. Each room is decorated with antique furniture, folk paintings, and other items that were custom-made by artisans. All the hanok rooms feature ondol (Korean floor heating system) and toilets. The outdoor paddling pool, table tennis table and grass field are available to guests free of charge. In addition, breakfast and dinner is served free of charge – breakfast consists of a set menu of dried Pollack soup and rice, while dinner is a Jeonggangwon full course menu served together with 12 side dishes as well as grilled fish, doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew), memiljeon (buckwheat pancakes), and steamed eggs. Notably, Jeonggangwon’s Traditional Korean Food Culture Experience Center, winner of the Korea Tourism Award in the hands-on food experience category in 2014, offers visitors an exciting opportunity to sample and experience traditional Korean food. The yard contains around 500 ~ 600 crocks filled with various types of traditional Korean hand-made pastes and sauces produced by the center, including red pepper paste, soybean paste, soy sauce, pickled vegetables and so on. Customers can buy products directly or by phone. It also has a stone-built ice storage for salted seafood that maintains a constant temperature all year round, and a salt storage for good quality salt. In addition, the center offers diverse hands-on experience programs that allow guests to make their own traditional Korean food including bibimbap, gochujang (red pepper paste), kimchi, mackerel ssamjang (a mix of doenjang and gochujang), bean curd, injeolmi (Korean traditional rice cake made with glutinous rice and coated with bean flour), memiljeon, and songpyeon (half-moon rice cake). All of these programs are popular among foreign visitors, and are charged differently according to the food menu and cooking time. Visitors can also sample a variety of Korean dishes at the Korean restaurant, visit the Food Museum, which displays old agricultural machinery and implements for making rice cakes (tteok), or try on hanbok at the Korean Clothes Experience Museum (KRW 8,000 per person).
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