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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Nepal
        • Oman
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
    • Art
      • Crafts
      • Street art
    • Colour
    • Dark tourism
    • Eco-tourism
    • Food & drink
    • Gardens
    • History
      • Ruins
      • War
    • Landscape
      • Coast & seascapes
      • Deserts
      • Mountains
      • Rivers
    • Nature and wildlife
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Plants
        • Flowers
        • Trees, forests and woodland
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Travel in general
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
      • Thursday Trios
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

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Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • DPRK,  Lens-Artists,  Mountains

    Mount Paektu, the revolutionary mountain

    October 24, 2022 / 58 Comments
    Looking down at still blue lake in a crater

    Straddling the border between North Korea and China is a still-active volcano, Mount Paektu. Its last eruption was in 1903 and scientists consider that another one could be imminent, based on a trend of eruptions roughly 100 years apart. The crater lake, Lake Chon (‘Heaven Lake’) was formed in the 946 AD eruption.

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    Or what about ...?

    Performers in a stadium with a backdrop image of Kim Jong Un

    The Land of the People

    December 13, 2021
    Large statues of North Korean Leaders with visiting locals

    Gallery: statues of the Great Leaders

    February 20, 2021
    Elaborately decorated table

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK

    International friendships in North Korea

    June 30, 2022 / 14 Comments
    Large modern Oriental style building surrounded by trees

    Among the mountains to the north of Pyongyang two vast edifices are set into a mountainside. Climate controlled and windowless, the International Friendship Exhibition buildings house thousands of gifts presented to the Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, both during and after their lifetimes, and more than a few given to Kim Jong Un.

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    Or what about ...?

    Looking down on faded yellow-painted buildings

    Campo da Morte Lenta: Camp of the Slow Death

    March 31, 2021
    Statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

    Why go to North Korea?

    September 10, 2020
    Sepia photo of Buzludzha Monument

    Buzludzha Monument

    September 4, 2020
  • Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Food & drink

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021 / 56 Comments
    Elaborately decorated table

    Many people worry, unnecessarily, at the idea of visiting North Korea. Is it safe? Are the rules too strict? Will the food be tasty, and adequate? The latter question is perhaps understandable, given the well-documented periods of famine suffered in the country, but tourists, as honoured guests of the regime, have nothing to fear on that score.

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    A man with a young girl on his shoulders

    Lunch with Mr Noon and his family

    January 13, 2023
    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022
    Large statues of North Korean Leaders with visiting locals

    Gallery: statues of the Great Leaders

    February 20, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    The Land of the People

    December 13, 2021 / 21 Comments
    Performers in a stadium with a backdrop image of Kim Jong Un

    Imagine an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony; full of spectacle and colour, involving tens of thousands of performers. Add a good dollop of political propaganda and unashamed messaging. Throw in hundreds of well-drilled cute children, all eager to please. Imagine too that this ceremony takes place every single night for several months. Now you have just a small idea of the scale of the North Korean phenomenon known colloquially as the Mass Games.

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    White houses, blur minaret and dome, distant mountains

    A walk along the Corniche in Muttrah

    June 9, 2022
    Row of moai

    Rapa Nui: the mystery of the moai

    October 18, 2020
    Village street with men sitting on bench

    A village built on shells

    May 11, 2021
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    Some short stories from the Hermit Kingdom

    November 28, 2021 / 33 Comments
    Factory gates with propaganda signs and various buildings

    We visited many strange and wonderful places on our tour of North Korea. But this is a short story about a place we didn’t visit. The Hungnam fertiliser factory was first established in Hungnam by the Japanese in 1927 and reopened by the Koreans after having been destroyed in the Korean War.

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    School children in the Hiroshima Peace Park

    Finding peace in Hiroshima

    September 7, 2020
    Looking down on faded yellow-painted buildings

    Campo da Morte Lenta: Camp of the Slow Death

    March 31, 2021
    Stone carved with cherubs

    Around the corner in Leipzig: die Runde Ecke

    April 16, 2021
  • Architecture,  CFFC,  Culture & tradition,  DPRK

    A look inside the Grand People’s Study House

    November 18, 2021 / 20 Comments
    Large building with green oriental roof

    Nearly all the great buildings and monuments of Pyongyang were built to mark a significant event linked to the Great Leaders, usually a birthday; and Kim Il Sung was especially fortunate on his 70th to be honoured with three such gifts. This special event was marked with a grand library, a triumphal arch and a tower.

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    Buddhist monk

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021
    Empty airport seating area

    Gallery: Wonsan Kalma International Airport sits deserted

    May 7, 2021
    Large square with historic buildings and tourists

    In ancient Bhaktapur, a royal capital

    November 24, 2022
  • Architecture,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 2021 / 48 Comments
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, has been developed as a showpiece for the country, demonstrating to both outsiders and the North Korean people the strength and power of the regime, and making a strong statement about the country’s ambitions to be self-reliant in the face of often hostile challenges from elsewhere – those challenges being of course both political and at times physical.

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    Ceramic tiles with blue border and brown lion and castle

    A visit to the Real Alcázar of Seville

    December 29, 2021
    Black and white photo of white building

    Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture

    March 28, 2021
    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
  • DPRK,  History,  Ruins

    Another slice of North Korean history in Kaesong

    October 21, 2021 / 17 Comments
    Ornate moss-covered oriental roof

    Kaesong is unusual among North Korean cities in having not been largely destroyed during the Korean War. It is also noteworthy as the only city to have changed hands as a result of the armistice agreement, having been part of South Korea from 1945 to 1950 until the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement brought it under North Korean control.

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    Or what about ...?

    Little girl in red skirt playing piano

    Spending time with the children of Chongjin

    March 25, 2021
    Elaborately decorated table

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 2021
  • DPRK,  History,  Squares

    A rare glimpse of history in North Korea

    October 14, 2021 / 28 Comments
    Grassy mounds with stone sheep

    Once upon a time a king consulted geomancers to find the best place to locate the tomb of his beloved wife. The first one he asked recommended a place that, when he went to inspect it, seemed to him very inappropriate. So when he went to look at the suggestion of the second geomancer he was wary. He told officers in his revenue that he would climb the mountain alone to check it out. If they saw him wave his white handkerchief it would mean that he was displeased with…

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    Or what about ...?

    Buddhist monk

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021
    Factory gates with propaganda signs and various buildings

    Some short stories from the Hermit Kingdom

    November 28, 2021
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 2021
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art

    The Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification

    September 18, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Huge statues of young women holding a stone map above an empty road

    Like many such states, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea does public art on a big scale. The many statues of the Dear Leaders are well known, but perhaps a little less so is this rather astounding example, the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification.

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    Painting of young slave

    Roots: dark history or tourist trap?

    October 29, 2020
    Stone statue of man in an overcoat

    A visit to Sofia’s Socialist Art Museum

    October 10, 2022
    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021
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Lady in a hat and red top sitting on rocks

Some favourite photos

Man in a turban with fishing nets
Fisherman in Fort Kochi, Kerala
Two elephants in long grass
Okavango elephants
Blue glacier edge
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Elderly woman in black hat and sunglasses
In Santiago, Chile
Very large statues of North Korean Leaders
Statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang
Water reflecting the sky with clouds and low sun
Approaching sunset in the Okavango Delta
Feet of huge metal sculpture, with man standing beside
The feet of the Angel
Large moai with row of more behind
The ‘travelling moai’ and Ahu Tongariki
Man in knitted hat by water, black and white photo
Waiting for the ferry, Banjul
Mountain reflected in a lake
On the road to Dyrholaey
Sunset at Wahiba Sands, Oman
Squirrel with a conker in his mouth
In Walpole Park, Ealing
Silhouette of a man in a gateway
Looking out from Bundi Palace
Blue and pink bird on a dead tree
Lilac-breasted Roller, Chobe NP, Botswana
Buddhist monk in orange robes with mobile phone
Monk at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang, Luang Prabang
Man sleeping in a tuk tuk by a carved stone wall
Tuk tuk driver by the Terrace of the Leper King
Close up of flamingo with head tucked under
Flamingo (Jersey Zoo)
Lady with baskets of fruit sitting by a canal
In Hoi An, Vietnam
Small fishing boat with a man in it, on a large lake
Lake Atitlan
Wet street and two people with bright pink umbrella
Street in Lucca, rainy day – edited

Some topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

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