Time for a Korea Break

Having already posted my photos from Dubai, I have been looking for an excuse to show the ones from Korea, the final destination of my holiday last month. I was hoping that a major story would arise in that part of the world which would provide me with such a pretext. Oops.

It just so happens that I did visit North Korea during my trip to the South. If you don't believe me, here is a picture of the border taken from the north. It is only possible to step over this line in a special building in which diplomatic negotiations are conducted between the two sides. I hope that they get people around the table pretty soon.

Over the border is the world's tallest flagpole, at 100m, the result of a Freudian contest between the two Koreas. The South Koreans gave up at 70m realising, I hope, that the whole thing was rather silly. If you look closely, there is a mushroom cloud in the distance (not really).

On an optimistic note, I was excited by Dorasan Railway Station. Everything is in place for it to become the connection point between South Korea and China, and beyond. However, in the current climate, I wouldn't expect trains to be leaving from this platform in a hurry.

But South Korea's history goes back much further than the twentieth century and, although it is rather less topical, I feel it would be unfair not to mention some other sights. Seoul has several palaces from the Joseon dynasty, which lasted for five hunded years. Nearby is the folk village of Suwon where it is possible to watch the traditional art of see-saw jumping, surely soon to become an Olympic sport. The sign says that women took part in this activity purely because they were trapped at home and it allowed them to look over the fence.

Another favourite place for me was Gyeongju, in the south east of the country. It has some amazing temples and a fabulous Buddha (which I was not allowed to photograph). I was most fascinated by these burial mounds, which were used as a final resting place for the kings of the ancient Silla civilisation. This is remarkably similar to practices that were also followed in Western Europe, despite there being such a vast distance between them. Unlike China and Japan, South Korea does not get many Western tourists, especially outside Seoul, and in Gyeongju I was mobbed by a group of schoolchildren asking for my autograph.