Travel with me

Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
    • 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
        • 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
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Wildlife and nature
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Flowers
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Challenges
    • General challenges
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Photography challenges
      • Lens-Artists
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Thursday Trios
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
    • 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
        • 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
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Wildlife and nature
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Flowers
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Challenges
    • General challenges
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Photography challenges
      • Lens-Artists
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Thursday Trios
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com

Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds bird_weekly black_&_white buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday gambia history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Man frying insects at a food stall

    Exploring the street food of Phnom Penh

    April 3, 2021
    Row of moai

    Rapa Nui: the mystery of the moai

    October 18, 2020
    Statues of four young men

    Roll up, roll up! A Magical Mystery Tour

    August 26, 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Low stone houses on a hillside

    The Birdmen of Rapa Nui

    January 15, 2021
    Small tree with pueblo houses behind

    Taos Pueblo: home of the Red Willow People

    February 9, 2021
    Statues of four young men

    Roll up, roll up! A Magical Mystery Tour

    August 26, 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    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
    Statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

    Why go to North Korea?

    September 10, 2020
  • 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Looking up at a white stone church with several domes

    Le Sacré Coeur de Paris

    April 10, 2022
    Sculpture of a cat on a roof

    Gallery: meet the many cats of Riga

    September 25, 2021
    Small church on a wooded mountainside

    Asen’s Fortress and the Church of the Holy Mother of God

    August 18, 2021
  • 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Sign on boarded-up window

    Gallery: London, off the beaten track (urban erosion)

    January 17, 2021
    Yellow Victorian house

    Gallery: the Painted Ladies of Cape May

    October 10, 2020
    Lake with palace on the hill beyond

    The Palace of Bundi: Kipling’s ‘work of goblins’

    November 18, 2020
  • 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021
    Looking down at a station platform

    Taking a ride on the Pyongyang Metro

    July 10, 2021
    Relief carvings of battle scenes

    So who did start the Korean War?

    September 15, 2020
  • 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…

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Grassy mounds and statues of sheep

    Around the world in ten photos: day three

    December 19, 2020
    Mosaic of Kim Il Sung and family in the snow

    Where the Kims of North Korea were born – or were they?

    May 6, 2021
    View of a town on a bay with mountains behind

    Chongjin, a very different North Korean city

    March 5, 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Relief carvings of battle scenes

    So who did start the Korean War?

    September 15, 2020
    Empty airport seating area

    Gallery: Wonsan Kalma International Airport sits deserted

    May 7, 2021
    Factory gates with propaganda signs and various buildings

    Some short stories from the Hermit Kingdom

    November 28, 2021
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Any visitor to North Korea can’t fail to be struck by the absence of what we take for granted both at home and in most countries we visit: advertising. Only state-produced goods are available, so with no competition for customers, there is no need to advertise. But that doesn’t mean that there no eye-catching posters clamouring for our attention in the streets.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Long empty tunnel with subdued lighting

    Jersey under occupation: the War Tunnels

    July 28, 2021
    Stone carved with cherubs

    Around the corner in Leipzig: die Runde Ecke

    April 16, 2021
    Huge statues of young women holding a stone map above an empty road

    The Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification

    September 18, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art

    Taking a ride on the Pyongyang Metro

    July 10, 2021 / 40 Comments
    Looking down at a station platform

    A highlight of any visit to North Korea’s capital is a ride on their metro. This is one of the deepest subway systems in the world (our guide said the deepest) at over 110 metres below ground level, and is designed to double as a citywide bomb shelter, with blast doors at the foot of each lengthy escalator.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Lady in Indian dress with a goat

    Meeting the locals in Narlai, Rajasthan

    March 17, 2021
    Looking over an Italian hill town

    The Palio della Balestra in Gubbio: a centuries-old tradition

    November 26, 2020
    Street of adobe houses

    Acoma Pueblo: a place prepared

    January 13, 2021
Load More

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com

Subscribe to blog via email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,051 other subscribers.

Read my featured blogger interview

Logo for blogging feature
By Marsha of 'Always Write'

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 bird_weekly black_&_white buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday gambia history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020

You may have missed

  • Gallery: in the Cardamom Hills of Kerala
  • Gallery: the Very Large Array
  • Gallery: some street art in London’s Brick Lane
  • Gallery: building in threes
  • Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

How to join the Friendly Friday Challenge

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com
All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2022 ©
 

Loading Comments...