A Floral Discovery

Last spring in Japan, we got lucky and saw cherry blossoms in full bloom almost everywhere. On my recent vacation in Korea, we were a) too late for cherry blossoms and b) there aren't that many Japanese cherries to see there in the first place (or so the Korean guide in the "secret garden" in Seoul told an inquiring tourist). However, there was this pretty flower that seemed to stalk us everywhere we went:

It took me some time to find out what it was. Basically, it is a type of azalea, commonly called "Korean azalea". I loved the bright pink variety best.