Where have all the rivers gone?

A couple of weeks ago on the visit to Hanwon I made comment about the wide rivers with no water. My guide said it bothered her too - she recalls that as a child she and her parents used to visit the rivers but these days the rivers have dried up.

She thought the rivers had been dammed or something.

Around here the river beds have been transformed. Some have roads that pass under bridges before coming back onto the main roadway again, and on both sides of the rivers there are now pathways, and sports fields.

Today when visiting the area known as Mai San or Mt Mai Tap-sa, we passed quite a wide river bed, where huge earth moving machines were dragging rocks around the bed of the river. There was a small channel of water which would have been about 2 feet wide.

I asked my companions about it today. Oh, there is not enough land for farms, so they are making the rivers into farms. I heard today too that in some parts whole mountains are being moved to make way for farms too. In a small nation with a huge population, all needing food, I guess it is something that the government needs to do, though I would worry about the rivers.

Is this really playing around too much with nature??