My goodness South Korea is beautiful. I had the opportunity to go down to Kwangju with a couple of stops in between for a few days earlier this week. The trees are not fully changing yet, just starting, but the countryside is truly refreshing. I was reminded at times of driving through south east Kentucky, at times up through the Shenandoah valley, and even the drive into Chattanooga from the north. Lots of medium size rugged mountains with plains at their feet. The Koreans don't cut out the mountain side for road, but tunnel through. Every so often you would see a temple or monastery parked right on top of what looked to be an inaccessible tip. Small compact high rise cities/communities would be right up against the mountains surrounded by farming fields or perhaps a small industrial park.
We stopped at a major rest area. Great food courts with both Korean and western food. Tried some new Korean food - a kind of bimbop which is a rice and veggie dish that cooks in a very hot stone bowl. This one had fried seaweed - something that is much better fried by the way - with red pepper paste to flavor. It was fairly good.The picture below is of Kwangju.
This is Busan.
