Korean Job Discussion Forums

[northway]

I think there's a certain level of grime in a lot of urban areas that you don't see as much of in the States and Canada. I would attribute this to pollution (coal plants are frequently in downtown areas), with dust storms compounding the problem. That said, there's a serious dearth of public trash cans in Korea as compared to its North American counterparts, leading to people tossing people in the street a lot more frequently. Overall, I'd put Korean cities' cleanliness about on par with New York's: dirtier than Montreal or Boston, cleaner than Bangkok or Manila.

[Steelrails]

[young_clinton]

[Scorpion]

The Korean countryside is lovely. The cities, unfortunately, are basically garbage dumps with a zip code.

[Captain Corea]

My issue is often with the 'loudness' of the colours/materials used.

All too often I'll be walking/biking/driving through a nice patch of countryside, enjoying the scenery, then around the bend will be the ugliest grouping of buildings. Red turned over drums littering the front. Bright blue tarps flapping in the wind. And old, run-down mini-viking collecting rust.

There's been a slight trend in the last few years to make those countryside restaurants more appealing, but it can't happen fast enough IMO.

[Modernist]

Hmm. Korea. Beauty. Hmm. Korea....and....

Nope. I can't say it. Can't do it. I tried, but...

You people must be, you know, TRYING a little too hard, don't you think? You WANT to be able to find something beautiful, you look and look and then one day, after a LOT of looking, you suddenly see something that isn't as eye-strainingly ugly as you usually see. Your brain, momentarily shocked, struggles to classify this new type of Korean image. If you have the appropriate mental bias [married to a Korean, trying to 'be positive' about Korea, temporarily doped up for some reason], some wires are duly crossed, and suddenly: look at that rice paddy with the sun shining on it! Oh my God, there's a sort-of-mountain with some snow on top! IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! OH, KOREA!

Perhaps you need to travel a bit more, as others say. Have a look at China, which has some actual geographic diversity. Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Eastern Russia. Anywhere, really, besides here.

[Hank the Iconoclast]

I find the National Parks in this country to be quite beautiful. I hiked Jirisan in November and it was breathtaking. It was also relatively quiet considering it was a weekend. Stayed a weekend at Maemooldo (sp?) off the coast of Tongyeong. I also found it to be very beautiful as are all the islands off the coast of Tongyeong and Geoje. Hiked Wolchulsan in winter. Rode my bike through the countryside of Gyeongsangnamdo and Gyeongju. Gorgeous and isolated. Other places I thought were beautiful are: Haeinsa, Hyangiram, Boseong Green Tea Plantation, Odaesan, Danyang, The Yeongnam Alps, Seokbulsa, Hwawangsan, etc. While Korea doesn't have the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone or the Himalyas, there is lots of beauty to be found if you are willing to leave the ugly cities.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

What is WDK?

[shostahoosier]

[T-J]

[cheezsteakwit]

^^^ some good points, Shostahoosier, but for quite a few posters on Dave's , the glass is "half empty" all the damn time.

As for nominees for countries LESS beautiful than Korea ??? .. I dunno, maybe Somalia ???... Never been there. Don't wanna go there.

And, I also have heard of Albania, but your comments reminded me of this TV clip from a classic (80's) American TV show "Cheers"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_tT-q8EF0

[soomin]

[schwa]

Theres world-class beauty & theres local-scale beauty. The first doesnt negate the second. A place doesnt have to be spectacular to be beautiful.

I have a half-hour commute to work every day on a bus. The road skirts the sea & sandy beaches & on the other side paddies and fields give over to pine-forested mountains. Delights me every day.

Big international tourist draw? Okay, doubtful. But if you step outside the urban concrete here you can in fact find some appealing & beautiful situations in Korea.

[This from a guy who's been to the Himalayas, Machu Picchu, Greek islands, the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal, & a few other places.]

[Squire]

I think Korea can be fairly beautiful. I live in a particularly nice city for Korean standards though. Other cities look very dull to me. Jirisan was a fantastic place, but then again not the sort of place anybody would travel overseas to visit. The big issues with Korean natural beauty, for me, are the lack of diversity and the big groups that spoil it with their shouting and radios. I hate those people. They have no class what so ever.

I do enjoy the hills and mountains everywhere, which make for great vistas. Shame about the haze, but you can't have everything

[Mr. BlackCat]

I think people can find beauty in all sorts of things, big and small. I live in Seoul in a particularly, uh, not pretty area. But the other day I was walking down an alleyway and there was this amazing tree with giant vibrant purple flowers. It was stunningly beautiful, stopped me in my tracks. I took some pictures, but not too many because the the smell of sewers started to dampen the mood. Still, very beautiful.

I personally think Seoul is pretty much an ugly city, but sometimes I take a cab along the Han at night and stare at all the lights of Gangnam. It's pretty nice. Some of the mountains are very nice, even in the city, though total overcrowding really hurts the whole experience.

There's also some nice places in the countryside, but unfortunately Koreans just don't seem to respect or value the landscape (or maybe the overcrowding makes it unavoidable). Oftentimes what would be picturesque farms are covered in black plastic, that flies into the trees and roads where it stays for months. Electrical and phone wires will be draped haphazardly everywhere. Then, BAM! A giant apartment complex in the middle of an otherwise pleasant field.

The reality is Korea is a small country that has many, many people and limited resources. Some of these things are unavoidable, but I believe there are lots of things that could be really beautiful here if the government and citizens wanted them to be. Hey, instead of lining a beach with tacky seafood restaurants and noraebangs only 5 feet away from shore, why not let the landscape speak for itself? Just one example.

I went hiking in Seoul with some co-teachers and they 'asked' me (more like told me) "There are not beautiful mountains like this in Canada!" I know this trap well, but still sometimes I get tired of the constant insulting of my home country and culture simply to protect the fragile egos of some Koreans. So I responded, "Well, we do have the Rockies." "Yeah, but they're not this beautiful!" "Uuuuuh, weeeeeelllll...the Canadian Rockies have been described as one of the most beautiful areas in the world many times....but this is very nice too! I really enjoyed it!" "Korea is number 1!, etc., etc., etc..."

I do think, though, that many foreigners here kind of suffer from a bit of a Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to the beauty of Korea. Right now I think it's perfectly fine, and I love that I live at the foot of a mountain in Seoul. But every time I visit home, within 20 minutes of the drive home from the airport through the countryside in Canada I remember what the colour green looks like, and what pleasant smells are. Korea provides enough beauty for a year at most (if you look for it), but any longer than that will start playing with your head.