Do you know South Korea?

Do You Know South Korea? from David Dutton on Vimeo.

This video is one of the best representations of why I love living here. It also highlights some of the things I don't like about it. Take the Autumn, for example. It is every bit as beautiful as this video shows. If you can get out and see the mountains, do it. At the same time, it is also every bit as crowded as this video shows it to be. I love getting out of the city and into the mountains to enjoy the fresh air. After almost a decade here, I'm still not used to sharing that 'peace and quiet' with thousands and thousand of people who are also there to enjoy nature.

I think what I liked most about this video is that it is Korea through the eyes of someone who is new to the country. It is so easy to forget how amazing of a place that this is. It is easy to notice the bad drivers, the drunks, and whatnot while ignoring the things that are truly incredible. (It is also easy to forget that there are dunks and asshole drivers all over the world.)

There is a scene from about 6:50 that shows some little back streets. It reminds me of something I had been thinking about earlier today for some strange reason. I was thinking about a neighborhood I remember getting lost in somewhere on the east coast. My in-laws and I were driving around and we took a wrong turn and ended up crossing this little one-lane bridge onto an island filled with a houses and little streets that looked very much like the ones in the video. The thing is, we were there about eight years ago when we were lost. This last summer, my wife and I were back in the same area. Not only is that little bridge gone, but the entire area is gone. It is no longer an island at all, but the surrounding area has all been filled in and developed into kind of a resort area. This is not unusual. Every once in a while when I'm walking around my Gu,  I am struck by how much everything has changed. This shopping mall is new. That building is new. I remember when that was a great little noodle shop. That used to be a crumbling, condemned apartment complex; now it is a 45-story luxury apartment complex that has units starting at 700,000 (and going up six-fold from there). The country is changing so damned fast. I feel like a grandfather talking about how much things have changed in a lifetime, not the changes of a decade.

If anyone wants to come and visit, I plan to send them this video and ask them if there is anything here that they want to see. It is far better than anything put out by the KNTO (oh, sorry...Korea National Tourism Office).