Seoul

  Our hotel was close to the Han River.  It was a very warm evening, so we walked around to take in the sights.  Seoul is a very large city (24 million people), and most people live in high rise apartment buildings.  There are very few single family dwellings.  So on a hot day, people go down to the river to spend the day.  They bring their sun shelters with them--no they're not camping!  Korea is 70% mountain.  The mountains are very old, and are quite rounded, but still very high.  In order to make more land available for  farming and cities, the mountains (or parts of them) are removed and the ground levelled.  The mountain is then thrown into the sea--the main international airport is built on reclaimed land.

What I find so disappointing about what I have seen so far in Korea is that the landscaping is not maintained at all.  There is an initial attempt at planting trees and bushes, but everything is just overgrown--weeds everywhere.  I noticed it last time I was here, but it seems to be so much more now.

Our hotel was great!  It had a jacuzzi tub, which was wonderful for relaxing in after so many hours of travel!