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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • 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
        • Colombia
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • Chicago
          • 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
      • Lens-Artists
      • Monochrome Madness
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Happy Place Happy Space
      • Monday walks
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Life in Colour
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Trios
      • Thursday Doors
  • 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 bulgaria cambodia chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art

    The Monument to Party Foundation

    July 22, 2023 / 33 Comments
    Three concrete sculptures against the sun

    Three enormous fists reach skywards, dominating the cityscape at the end of a long grassy avenue. Linked by a massive concrete belt they loom over visitors and passers-by. However this monument makes a statement not just through its grand scale but also the details of its design. This is a story told in numbers and in symbols.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Ruined building among trees

    A postcard from Colombia: Pablo Escobar’s former lakeside retreat

    February 13, 2023
    House in a garden with concrete path

    A postcard from Tirana: Enver Hoxha’s former residence

    April 22, 2023
    Long empty tunnel with subdued lighting

    Jersey under occupation: the War Tunnels

    July 28, 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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    White painted cathedral

    A city shaped by earthquakes

    October 27, 2021
    Red crumbling ruins

    ‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

    August 12, 2021
    Simple candlestick with slim coloured candles

    A tale of two cathedrals

    June 18, 2023
  • 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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    Large square with historic buildings and tourists

    In ancient Bhaktapur, a royal capital

    November 24, 2022
    Yellow Victorian house

    Gallery: the Painted Ladies of Cape May

    October 10, 2020
    Red sandstone palace buildings and pool

    ‘He keepeth a great court’: Fatehpur Sikri

    March 26, 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.

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    Or what about ...?

    Three concrete sculptures against the sun

    The Monument to Party Foundation

    July 22, 2023
    Man seated in front of poster of himself

    Meeting a survivor of S-21, Tuol Sleng

    February 24, 2021
    Painting of young slave

    Roots: dark history or tourist trap?

    October 29, 2020
  • Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Photographing Public Art

    Taking a ride on the Pyongyang Metro

    July 10, 2021 / 41 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.

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    Or what about ...?

    Banner with photo of two women in yellow dresses

    Friendly Friday: meet some wedding guests in Cambodia

    October 8, 2021
    River through a city with several bridges

    Gallery: ‘Coming home Newcastle’, a football anthem

    August 9, 2021
    Inlet in the sea with snow and wooden hut

    A brief look at the Lofoten Islands

    August 4, 2023
  • DPRK,  Sunday Stills,  War

    Commemorating the fallen: the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery in Pyongyang

    February 10, 2021 / 22 Comments
    Memorials separated with low green hedges and city view beyond

    On a hillside above Pyongyang, commanding a wonderful view of the city, stand row on row of granite blocks, each topped with a bust. The figures portrayed gaze out over the wooded slope of Mount Taesong to the rapidly changing cityscape below. These are North Korea’s fallen, martyrs in the cause of freedom from Japanese occupation.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Large group of dancers in traditional Korean green dress

    Gallery: dancing on the streets of Pyongyang

    November 28, 2020
    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021
    Little girl in red skirt playing piano

    Spending time with the children of Chongjin

    March 25, 2021
  • DPRK,  War

    The USS Pueblo at the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum

    January 9, 2021 / 8 Comments
    Elderly man in naval uniform

    An elderly man in naval uniform sits on a bench in the museum grounds. He is eighty years old and is employed by the museum as a guide, although his main duty is simply posing with tourists. To the visiting North Koreans this man is a national hero; while to the relatively few tourists from further afield he is simply an historical curiosity.

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    Or what about ...?

    Empty airport seating area

    Gallery: Wonsan Kalma International Airport sits deserted

    May 7, 2021
    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021
    Buddhist monk

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Friendly Friday,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: dancing on the streets of Pyongyang

    November 28, 2020 / 28 Comments
    Large group of dancers in traditional Korean green dress

    Only in North Korea, I thought, could you have a day of sightseeing like this! It was the country’s National Day, marking the 71st anniversary of the founding of the DPRK, and our itinerary for the day had been carefully planned to allow us to see how Pyongyangites celebrated the occasion.

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    Or what about ...?

    Rock face with small caves and bushes

    In the footsteps of the Anasazi: Tsankawi

    May 3, 2022
    Print with blue mountains

    Dust collectors? Or precious memories?

    January 23, 2021
    River through a city with several bridges

    Gallery: ‘Coming home Newcastle’, a football anthem

    August 9, 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife

Archive

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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