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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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 Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I like the countryside too. Now, the weather is a different story (although we've had a particularly long spring this year). |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:16 pm Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| No_hite_pls wrote: |
| Korea is a beautiful country! I really like how there are mountains everywhere and I can drive less than two hours to an amazing beach. The weather is usually pretty good except for in the Monsoon season. I love the cool dry winters here too. The winters are a really good time a year to get out and climb some mountains. Get out and enjoy some nature folks. |
Actually, I was noticing while I was riding the KTX yesterday how beautiful everything all of a sudden looked to me. Korea looks more and more beautiful in terms of the moments and other natural vistas. |
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soomin
Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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Speaking of the KTX, I really love looking at the rice paddies outside the KTX windows~~ They look so serene and I love to see the water rising between the rows~ ^.^
I lived by a bunch of mountains and famous national parks back in the States, so seeing mountains and trees is nice, as well~ |
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cheezsteakwit
Joined: 12 Oct 2011
Location: There & back again.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:38 am Post subject: Korea is Beautiful |
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Train rides are MUCH nicer nowadays in comparison to the depressing brown fields of early March.
I didn't have my camera with me Sun. night , but I was leaving Gwangju as the sun was setting behind the mountains and the glare from the sun was shining on the water in the rice paddies. & I thought, 'Damn , that'd make for a pretty picture.'
Korea is neither the MOST pretty nor the LEAST pretty country in the world, but the mountains remind me of the landscape back home - (Western PA, Western VA, & the Tennessee areas.) I'm looking forward to hiking some more mountains here, especially in the Fall.
And I love the nights when I get to ride my bike alongside the rice paddies outside my small city (which I'm about to do). It's a nice break from the Soviet style apt. buildings & trash piles.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You just gotta know where to find it & cherish it when you do. |
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fosterman
Joined: 16 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:22 am Post subject: |
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| korea is beautiful, but then again every country on earth is. because Earth is beautiful. |
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Paddycakes
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:23 am Post subject: |
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| LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.... especially if you got a K-girl in front of you with a nice ass. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:36 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful |
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| cheezsteakwit wrote: |
Train rides are MUCH nicer nowadays in comparison to the depressing brown fields of early March.
I didn't have my camera with me Sun. night , but I was leaving Gwangju as the sun was setting behind the mountains and the glare from the sun was shining on the water in the rice paddies. & I thought, 'Damn , that'd make for a pretty picture.'
Korea is neither the MOST pretty nor the LEAST pretty country in the world, but the mountains remind me of the landscape back home - (Western PA, Western VA, & the Tennessee areas.) I'm looking forward to hiking some more mountains here, especially in the Fall.
And I love the nights when I get to ride my bike alongside the rice paddies outside my small city (which I'm about to do). It's a nice break from the Soviet style apt. buildings & trash piles.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You just gotta know where to find it & cherish it when you do. |
I sometimes think of West Virginia when I'm in Korea. It does remind of the Appalachian Mountains, and Soju is your moonshine to enjoy the scenery. Okay, the last part was a joke. |
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fosterman
Joined: 16 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:40 am Post subject: |
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| Paddycakes wrote: |
| LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.... especially if you got a K-girl in front of you with a nice ass. |
hahahahahahahhaa... everyday I walk out of my house I see K girls with great legs and asses..you can't miss it.. |
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toby99
Joined: 28 Aug 2009
Location: Dong-Incheon-by-the-sea, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:34 am Post subject: |
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| Paddycakes wrote: |
| LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.... especially if you got a K-girl in front of you with a nice ass. |
It is tough to beat a leggy K-girl with beautiful thighs. |
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Newbie
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 4:47 am Post subject: |
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I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that "Korea is beautiful", but there are definitely some very beautiful parts to Korea. Nothing in or close to the cities, but when you find yourself driving for an hour or two and wind up in the middle of nowhere you can be pleasantly surprised by some of the beauty you find. Often when driving to the in-law's hometown 2 hours west of Daegu we'd stop somewhere random and the beauty could be breathtaking. Especially in winter when the mountains are covered in snow. In Jeju went to some beach and the shapes in the earth formed by the waves was amazing to see. I've taken a couple of water skiing trips, ski trips to god knows where and the views were very nice (nothing like those BC pics someone posted, but nice nevertheless)
Some problems though, I think many NT's don't get out of the city enough to see these.
Another problem is timing: you have to try to find these ares when there aren't many people around. Often Korea's beautiful spots become ugly with overcrowding.
Now, I'd never tell a Korean person that I found Korea to be beautiful because I wouldn't be able to stand the beaming or the ensuing news reports about how all foreigners think Korea is the most beautiful country in the world.  |
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bojangles
Joined: 19 Feb 2011
Location: south jeolla
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:29 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| No_hite_pls wrote: |
| Korea is a beautiful country! |
....except for the smog, the haze, the litter, public spitting, the white sky syndrome, the severe lack of sunsets and individuality, the white gas, the burning trash, the barking dogs, the dead cats, fluorescent lights, the racist stares, the animal abuse, the dog farms, the heat, the humidity, the racist stares, the lack of sunshine, the similarity of everything and everyone, the xenophobia, the butchering of the English language in advertising, the racist stares, the copy-cat mentality of all things Western, the traffic, the noise, the over-development, standing-room only on the bus and subway, the army of over-friendly employees while shopping, the animal abuse and neglect, people who think eating dog meat improves your virility, people who eat dogs, people who brutally and satanically butcher dogs, being advised to go to the hospital for a "shot" to get rid of a cold, the fluorescent lights on 24 hours a day in every restaurant, school, and convenience store, people wanting to be your friend so they can add you to their list of 'foreigner friends', working at a job that isn't really a job, being told what each province is famous for, being told what ailment each food is good for, being routinely asked to pee in a cup and give blood because you are 'foreign', being so close to Fukashima, being so close to China, the yellow dust, and most Korean music. |
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shostahoosier
Joined: 14 Apr 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:40 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| bojangles wrote: |
| No_hite_pls wrote: |
| Korea is a beautiful country! |
....except for the smog, the haze, the litter, public spitting, the white sky syndrome, the severe lack of sunsets and individuality, the white gas, the burning trash, the barking dogs, the dead cats, fluorescent lights, the racist stares, the animal abuse, the dog farms, the heat, the humidity, the racist stares, the lack of sunshine, the similarity of everything and everyone, the xenophobia, the butchering of the English language in advertising, the racist stares, the copy-cat mentality of all things Western, the traffic, the noise, the over-development, standing-room only on the bus and subway, the army of over-friendly employees while shopping, the animal abuse and neglect, people who think eating dog meat improves your virility, people who eat dogs, people who brutally and satanically butcher dogs, being advised to go to the hospital for a "shot" to get rid of a cold, the fluorescent lights on 24 hours a day in every restaurant, school, and convenience store, people wanting to be your friend so they can add you to their list of 'foreigner friends', working at a job that isn't really a job, being told what each province is famous for, being told what ailment each food is good for, being routinely asked to pee in a cup and give blood because you are 'foreign', being so close to Fukashima, being so close to China, the yellow dust, and most Korean music. |
Who peed in your trashcan? 
Anyway, I don't deal with fog or "white sky", haze or even litter where I live. Every morning there's a group of people who literally move from one end of my town to the other with brooms and trashcans and they pick everything up. There are also a few designated trashcans to leave you trash in, scattered throughout town.
I think this "dirty Korea" stereotype is more of a big city thing. |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:06 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| shostahoosier wrote: |
I think this "dirty Korea" stereotype is more of a big city thing. |
You realize that more than eighty percent of Korea's population lives in urban areas, right? And therefore it might be a fair generalization when applied to the country as a whole?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country |
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JustinC
Joined: 10 Mar 2012
Location: We Are The World!
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:56 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| northway wrote: |
| shostahoosier wrote: |
I think this "dirty Korea" stereotype is more of a big city thing. |
You realize that more than eighty percent of Korea's population lives in urban areas, right? And therefore it might be a fair generalization when applied to the country as a whole?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_by_country |
Does the "dirty Korea" thing apply to all urban areas in Korea or just the bigger/biggest cities? I live in a large town and it's pretty clean - not Switzerland clean but not noticeably filthy either - but I'd class it as urban. I've visited Seoul a few times and, only having seen the central, prosperous areas, haven't noticed much trash there either (although it's often been at night). |
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jfromtheway
Joined: 20 Nov 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:57 am Post subject: Re: Korea is Beautiful! |
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| shostahoosier wrote: |
| bojangles wrote: |
| No_hite_pls wrote: |
| Korea is a beautiful country! |
....except for the smog, the haze, the litter, public spitting, the white sky syndrome, the severe lack of sunsets and individuality, the white gas, the burning trash, the barking dogs, the dead cats, fluorescent lights, the racist stares, the animal abuse, the dog farms, the heat, the humidity, the racist stares, the lack of sunshine, the similarity of everything and everyone, the xenophobia, the butchering of the English language in advertising, the racist stares, the copy-cat mentality of all things Western, the traffic, the noise, the over-development, standing-room only on the bus and subway, the army of over-friendly employees while shopping, the animal abuse and neglect, people who think eating dog meat improves your virility, people who eat dogs, people who brutally and satanically butcher dogs, being advised to go to the hospital for a "shot" to get rid of a cold, the fluorescent lights on 24 hours a day in every restaurant, school, and convenience store, people wanting to be your friend so they can add you to their list of 'foreigner friends', working at a job that isn't really a job, being told what each province is famous for, being told what ailment each food is good for, being routinely asked to pee in a cup and give blood because you are 'foreign', being so close to Fukashima, being so close to China, the yellow dust, and most Korean music. |
Who peed in your trashcan? |
I did. But I had to hold it in for a really f-ing long time because there's a serious undersupply of trashcans here. I had to use his. Pardon him for being courteous enough to let me use it, and for his mood after having to discard the results.
If I say Korea isn't beautiful I'll be jumped on because I have not seen much, if anything, of the countryside, the 7th wonder of Jeju, or whatever else there is. But its geographic location and size naturally assumes it to be more underwhelming than not, depending on what you define as "beautiful," of course. Cheezsteakwit said it reminded him of "Western PA, Western VA, & the Tennessee areas" and the same thought ran through my head a couple months ago when I finally left Seoul. People are talking about rice paddies, valleys, and forests. I wonder how much of the world some of these people have seen in order to deem Korea so beautiful. I got dragged around on road trips throughout the US and parts of Canada as a kid. I've been to almost fifty countries. Not trying to come off as an a-hole saying that, but I doubt any claim that Korea is "beautiful" from any comparative point of view. I think the people who say such things simply haven't traveled much. Yeah, there are some aesthetically pleasing, beautiful places here, I don't doubt that. But taking the world as a whole, this is a tiny ass country, with crappy weather, that has essentially zero tourism-worthy attractions. Those pee-ness statues, maybe.
If you have a good job here (which I do), are enjoying the country (which I am), married to a pretty Korean woman doing your thing (not yet  ), and enjoying your life, no worries, I'm with you all the way. But I get the feeling that a lot of the white Korea defenders generally haven't been around. Just here and there. Even Albania has this place beat to toast aesthetically, and I doubt half of the WKD have even heard of that country. It's usually a lack of experience, limited mind, or birthright issue. But if you're hunkered down, got a good job, and are just looking for the positive in life, do your thing, but keep your eye.
Last edited by jfromtheway on Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:12 am; edited 1 time in total |
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