Korea

We toured Korea and China with my Sister, Debby and her husband, Scott who was stationed in the US Air Force in South Korea.  Their 2 children, Lauren and Jared are sitting on the back of the bus.  Scott's parents are sitting across from them. My father, pictured below also joined us.  

I was intrigued with the cute little trucks that carried various types of cargo around and scurried from job to job on the Korean Highway.

One of the favorite foods in Korea is Kimchi.  It is a fermented food and has a very strong smell.  Most people that we met smelled like kimchi.  Because it is very strong the smell continues on through the sweat of the the people. If you don't enjoy the smell, you will not really enjoy a long, hot bus ride.....just saying.

The airport in Korea was beautiful and immaculate.  The bathrooms in the airport and in our hotel were very high tech.  It was amazing to see all of the features that a toilet can have. They played music, sprayed water, air, and probably perfume.  Very impressive. China was the very opposite end of the spectrum.

One very interesting thing that I saw in Korea were the cities with skyscrapers like this above and right next to a city about this size would be complete rural land growing rice and then after a couple of miles another instant city with tall tall buildings and then boom...another countryside with pristine agriculture.  This repeated over and over again.  I didn't see any suburbs or houses like in America.  I imagine that the people live in apartments in the towers with businesses on the street level. 

We visited an outdoor military museum in Seoul and enjoyed seeing the planes, tanks, and the cute schoolchildren who were also touring the museum.

We visited the Seoul Temple and I stayed with Lauren and Jared outside while the other adults served in the temple.  Incidentally, tomorrow, Jared will be going to the Temple in Provo Utah to be married and sealed to his wife to be, Sarah.  Time flies!

The market in Korea was very interesting.  We found some real treasures in mink blankets that can keep even the coldest person warm. They also were happy to monogram things for a very great price.

I cannot read in Chinese or Korean but I can recognize Korean because the characters contain little circles and ovals and evidently that is not apart of the Chinese language.

I would happily visit Korea again.  It was a clean and friendly place.  I don't have a desire to visit North Korea but South Korea is a beautiful and unique country.