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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
        • Colombia
        • 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
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • 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 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 cffc chile churches cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • 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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    Or what about ...?

    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
    Statue of two soldiers shaking hands

    Gallery: favourite miscellaneous photos of 2021

    January 7, 2022
    Ornate painted ceiling

    Gallery: ceilings and floors (and pavements and more)

    September 7, 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.

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    Colourful houses built over water

    Chiloé: a place of witches and gnomes

    August 4, 2022
    Stone church and blue sky

    The wonders of Bulgaria’s Bachkovo Monastery

    February 10, 2022
    Mountain road with car on verge

    Following the High Road to Taos

    February 14, 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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    Black and white photo of sculptures of two women, one a soldier

    The Monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia

    October 22, 2022
    Stone statue of man in an overcoat

    A visit to Sofia’s Socialist Art Museum

    October 10, 2022
    Two large mosaics with portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

    Gallery: mosaic portraits of a dynasty

    October 21, 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 ...?

    Man beating white cloth

    A dhobi wallah in Fort Cochi, Kerala

    April 14, 2021
    Elaborately decorated table

    Eating like honoured guests in North Korea

    December 30, 2021
    Line of seated stone statues wearing red caps and bibs

    The Bake-Jizō of Kanmangafuchi Abyss

    February 16, 2021
  • 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.

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    Or what about ...?

    Mosaic of Kim Il Sung and family in the snow

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

    May 6, 2021
    Large group of dancers in traditional Korean green dress

    Gallery: dancing on the streets of Pyongyang

    November 28, 2020
    View of a city with river and modern architecture

    The astounding architecture of Pyongyang

    November 7, 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 ...?

    Large poster depicting man waving red flag

    Gallery: the art of the propaganda poster in North Korea

    July 17, 2021
    Relief carvings of battle scenes

    So who did start the Korean War?

    September 15, 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
  • 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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    Looking over an Italian hill town

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

    November 26, 2020
    Banner with photo of a tightrope walker

    Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer

    August 27, 2021
    Street of adobe houses

    Acoma Pueblo: a place prepared

    January 13, 2021

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By Marsha of 'Always Write'

And my answers to Bren’s ‘five at five’ questions

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 cffc chile churches cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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