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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Croatia
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
        • Sardinia
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Montenegro
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Madagascar
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Colombia
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • Mexico
        • USA
          • California
          • Chicago
          • Nevada
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Nepal
        • Oman
        • Philippines
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
      • City streets
    • 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
      • Lens-Artists
      • CFFC
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
    • General challenges
      • Bird place of the month
      • Happy Place Happy Space
      • Monday walks
      • Weekend Coffee Share
      • Words of Wisdom
  • 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white california churches cities coast colombia colour dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks monochrome Monochrome-Madness museum naturephotochallenge nepal north_korea paris people photography pick_a_word PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views wildlife
  • Man laying a wreath in front of two very tall statues
    Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art

    The Eternal Leaders of the DPRK

    August 24, 2024 / 48 Comments

    I have long maintained that one of the things that travel teaches us is that people the world over have more in common than you might expect if you only read about other countries or watch TV news and documentaries. Everyone wants to feel safe, to be in good health, to have the basic necessities of life. North Koreans too are not so very different from us in those respects.

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  • Boys and girls in white shirts and red ties sitting on steps
    DPRK,  People

    Songdowon International Schoolchildren’s Camp

    August 12, 2023 / 38 Comments

    On the same day that we visited the Kosan Fruit Farm near Wonsan we were also taken to this children’s holiday camp on the outskirts of the town. And while, like the apple farm, that might not sound especially worth visiting, it was, like many places in North Korea, unexpectedly interesting.

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  • Small bird hovering by purple flowers
    CMMC,  Themed galleries,  Travel in general

    Gallery: searching for M and M

    July 29, 2023 / 40 Comments

    Hummingbirds are among the hardest of birds to photograph, I find. So even though it’s not perfect I was happy to get this shot of one in Costa Rica last year.

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  • Row of huts in front of a larger modern building
    Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists,  War

    Dreaming of reunification in North Korea

    March 26, 2023 / 36 Comments

    Travel is all about experiences. They may seem quite small at the time, like a chance but memorable encounter with a local person that changes your perspective on the world. Or they may seem huge, visiting an iconic world sight that you’ve dreamed about seeing for years. But whether large or small, long-planned for or serendipitous, the experiences of travel are, in my opinion, among the best to be found.

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  • Looking down at still blue lake in a crater
    DPRK,  Lens-Artists,  Mountains

    Mount Paektu, the revolutionary mountain

    October 24, 2022 / 63 Comments

    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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  • Header image with two small photos
    Cambodia,  Friendly Friday,  Photographic techniques

    Friendly Friday Challenge: think about your viewpoint

    July 1, 2022 / 50 Comments

    Before photographing your subject, it’s worth taking time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. As well as shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on.

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  • Large modern Oriental style building surrounded by trees
    Dark tourism,  DPRK

    International friendships in North Korea

    June 30, 2022 / 14 Comments

    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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  • Elaborately decorated table
    Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Food & drink

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021 / 58 Comments

    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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  • Performers in a stadium with a backdrop image of Kim Jong Un
    Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    The Land of the People

    December 13, 2021 / 21 Comments

    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.

    Read More
  • Factory gates with propaganda signs and various buildings
    Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Lens-Artists

    Some short stories from the Hermit Kingdom

    November 28, 2021 / 33 Comments

    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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Some topics I’ve touched on

africa animals architecture art birds black_&_white california churches cities coast colombia colour dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks monochrome Monochrome-Madness museum naturephotochallenge nepal north_korea paris people photography pick_a_word PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views wildlife

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You may have missed

  • May 07, 2025 A short walk in the City (of London)
  • May 05, 2025 Gallery: breaking the rules
  • May 03, 2025 Colonial churches of the Philippines
  • May 01, 2025 Gallery: an April selection (2025)
  • Apr 30, 2025 Gallery: seeing reflections in black and white

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2025 ©
 

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