Mar 18th-Soeul, Korea

The outstanding feature of this bustling city is its placement in the Hangang River valley amid craggy, stony mountains that hover as backdrops to its modern skyscrapers. I could just picture how beautiful it must be when all the leaves appear and the cherry blossoms bloom in about a month. It has gotten much colder as we headed north on the same latitude, approximately, as Washington, DC. Some of Soeul sprawls down from the foothills. There are about 7 historic "Palaces" around the city. They provide a pleasant counterpoint to the modernity that bustles around them. The Palace we visited was built for a 14th century king who established the simplified Korean character alphabet. The changing of the guard is done in the traditional style.

For those who have followed the blog, I found the corner roof decoration very different in style and color from the one on Lungshan Temple in Taipei.