Ulsan, South Korea

Bob and I took a quick trip down to Ulsan on September 18-19, 2014.  He had both work and church business to attend to down there, so we decided to drive down together.  The seventh largest city in Korea is near Busan on the southeastern coast of the peninsula.  It is where Hyundai has the world's largest automobile assembly plant and the world's largest shipyard as well.  It is also the home of the world's second largest oil refinery owned by SK Energy.  We arrived Friday evening and met with the new Korea Busan LDS Mission President and his family.  Then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with President and Sister Barrow at a very nice Korean barbecue restaurant.   What a great asset they will be to Korea and to our missionaries serving down south!

We stayed at the Hyundai Hotel near the shipyard, which was close to where Bob's work meeting was held the next morning. Sight-seeing was limited in the few hours I had before leaving, but I did enjoy a leisurely stroll through the park next to the hotel and a quick walk through the Hyundai Department store. From all appearances, Ulsan seems to be a productive and successful community and a nice place to live.

On our way out, we stopped at Jujeon, a black pebble beach just north of town, so that I could take a couple of pictures of the coast.  From there we drove about four hours to visit the Camp Humphreys Military Branch, who were hosting a farewell dinner party for Elder and Sister Riding, one of our fabulous senior missionary couples.  They will be sorely missed!

The longest part of any excursion from Seoul is the last few miles into Seoul!  It always takes three times as long as it should.  But overall, the drive was one of the most beautiful we have taken through Korea, with Bob commenting that his favorite thing about Korea is the many tunnels burrowing through the mountainsides, and me reaffirming my love of the well-manicured family hillside burial mounds dotting the hills on every side.