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Some random bullets about Korea:

• Seoul seems to have struck a decent balance between industry/economy and ecology. There are many trees everywhere and lots of green in general. While driving in from the airport, I commented that it reminded me a bit of Hawaii. From listening to the guides on the tours, it seems like feng shui and nature play a large part in the building/planning process. I guess my point of comparison is mainly Shanghai.
• Loved the Chongyechong (spelled way wrong) revitalization. It brought a beautiful contrast to downtown Seoul.
• Love the pride in education. Wish the US was the same, and not slowly devolving into stupidity.
• WhereTF are the trashcans? Our friend speculated that the lack of public trashcans was to serve as a reminder to the populace about the waste they generate. But it doesn’t help when you’re out and about on the weekend with millions of other people and wandering through open air street malls.
• Why did they make 2 sound like a long e? Because everyone else uses that with 1.
• Seoul has an awesome program for visitors. They provide free guided tours in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (of course). These tours are walking tours and led by volunteers. Each of the ones we went on were basically just our party and the guide. I don’t know if that is always the case or if it is just because nobody else knows of the program. How could you go wrong with free? Great for us and great for Korea.
• Food costs seem to be just a little bit lower than in the US. We’re constantly amazed by what we can get with a few bucks. Don’t expect it to be at Shanghai levels though.

Thanks for hosting us, Kate!

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 9th, 2007 at 8:51 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.