Comments on: Lonely Planet Makes Seoul Look Bad, City Asks for Corrections

By: Cheap Shots? I report, you decide. | The Marmot's Hole

Cheap Shots? I report, you decide. | The Marmot's Hole — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:27:40 +0000

[...] you also have the Seoul City government strong-arming a publisher for what it thinks is “unfair” reviews of the town. You also have this rather stark [...]

By: Translation and Comments on Lonely Planet Criticism | The Marmot's Hole

Translation and Comments on Lonely Planet Criticism | The Marmot's Hole — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:24:40 +0000

[...] I’ve finally gotten around to translating the Chosun Ilbo piece on the Lonely Planet for your reading enjoyment. [...]

By: Translation and Comments on Lonely Planet Criticism | The Marmot's Hole

Translation and Comments on Lonely Planet Criticism | The Marmot's Hole — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:24:36 +0000

[...] I’ve finally gotten around to translating the Chosun Ilbo piece on the Lonely Planet for your reading enjoyment. [...]

By: Maddlew

Maddlew — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:20:00 +0000

It is true that if you close your eyes and go to a hilltop skirting Puson, then open them and see the lights touching the tips of point tendrils skirting the water, a person might conjure up images reminiscent or Rio. My vision is always clouded by what lies within. Part of the impact of Rio is the romantic undercurrent, that I know the beaches are filled with people unafraid of the sun or the water. People are encountering wildlife and not shrieking in terror, writhing in a corner. The art, the music the warmth of their smiles which might have alot to do with their poverty and lack of responsibilities still alter my vision.
Koreans seem to be almost at war with nature, or merely attempting to keep it at bay, visiting it as if it were an alien landscape and walking in line to observe its strange hieroglyphs.
I know that many Koreans are attuned to the natural and that a huge portion away from the north of the Lagoa region is squalid and teeming with horrors, the very antithesis of romance. Yet, on a whole, it is impossible for me to see anything in Korea that is comparable to Brasil. To generalize hugely, I see Korea as cold and technological and Brasil as warm and poetic.

By: Eujin

Eujin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:48:50 +0000

#98, josesiem, I agree with you about Jeju. I wouldn’t make it the best island in the world, but then I wouldn’t make any of the Hawaiian islands the best in the world either.

I hope you’re not from New York. I didn’t even realise that “hazy” was a type of weather until I was flying into Newark one day and the pilot informed us that “the weather in New York today is hazy”.

A curious thing about the visibility in Seoul. I suspect most of the smog is caused by motorvehicles. In Pyongyang they’ve almost done away with motorised transport entirely, but the skyline still looks pretty dirty. Maybe in winter it’s all the log fires keeping people warm? But in summer the visibility still isn’t great. What to put that down to? Wood-powered air-conditioning?

By: josesiem

josesiem — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:16:08 +0000

Re #98, I apologize if that sounds bad. I mean, from my experience, people often over-estimate their own country.

When I first landed in Seoul, I found it bewildering, noisy, dirty, and difficult to find good food. Now that I’ve lived here, I like it.

As someone else said, it’s cool city to live in after you get to know it. It has many treasures (Inwangsan, Samcheondong, etc.)

By: Eujin

Eujin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:13:33 +0000

I did not know that about the US falling out with UNESCO.

Reminds me of a Chinese friend who says the Nobel Peace Prize went through a dodgy patch when they gave awards to the Dalai Lama and Gorbachev (he broke up the USSR). Perhaps some round here would say the same thing about Kim Dae Jung.

Norwegians eh? What do they know?

By: josesiem

josesiem — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:03:04 +0000

“My guess is that this is at least partially due to the fact that the United States withdrew from UNESCO in ‘84, and only rejoined in 2003. I’m also assuming the US hasn’t been especially diligent in pushing the listing of its cultural sites with UNESCO.

Probably because the US doesn’t need to attract tourists. It has plenty already. It’s like finding a dentist in the Yellow Pages — don’t go to the guy with the biggest ad!

By: josesiem

josesiem — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:00:05 +0000

If you’re going to talk about the wonderful mountains around Seoul, you should also mention on many days they’re barely or not even visible. The smog in Seoul is awful.

I love the mountains, but tourists don’t come to a city to hike the mountains. This is the last thing on most tourists’ minds.

IMO, only a Korean could put Seoul in the top 10.

Reminds me of one my students insisting that Jeju is the best island in the world — “even better than Hawaii!” she insisted.

I lived on Jeju — it’s WAY overrated — by Koreans of course. There’s some nice stuff there, but there’s plenty of ugly crap, terrible buildings, and in the cities, you may as well be in Daegu.

By: Eujin

Eujin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:56:09 +0000

I agree with Robert.