Welcome to Korea

Seoul food

Work has posted me to Seoul, the capital of South Korea. It's a fantastic place, totally unlike what I was expecting; lively, cheerful, very modern --- there's a tech shop every few hundred yards down the street --- and the people are incredibly nice.

While it's mostly been hard work, I did get the opportunity to get out a bit and, yes, take some photos. Here's a small sample. Enjoy.

South-west Seoul (Geumcheon district).

A typical street in Seoul.

A (very) wet day in Seoul

Parkland in Seoul.

Random Korean countryside.

Welcome to North Korea: the Demilitarised Zone. The white line on the hills on the right borders the Republic of Korea. The white line on the hills on the left borders the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Untouched wilderness: across this four-kilometre-wide valley, on the other side of the DMZ, is North Korea. No human being has walked here (officially) for over 50 years.

The Punchbowl: a giant meteor crater on the edge of the DMZ. (The observation tower is on the right. The other panorama is just the other side of the road.) During the Korean War it was a battlefield. Now it's rich and prosperous.

In Sokcho, there's maybe a kilometre of assorted fish stalls and restaurants. I was too shy to take a picture of the actual tanks, where you can buy strange pulsating blobby things, but here's where the sell the cooked versions.

The Sokcho fish market at night.

I was treated to a fantastic meal in Sokcho, of which this is some of the remains. Most of it I have no idea what it was. All of it was delicious. Luckily, none of it was still moving.