How would you preserve 80,000 beautifully carved woodblocks of the complete Buddhist scriptures for 7 centuries?You'd have to ask the original monks of Haeinsa in Korea because they succeeded where modern technology failed. During the 1970's the President of South Korea ordered the construction of a modern storage facility for the woodblocks which are UNESCO Heritage listed. The facility was equipped with advanced ventilation, and temperature and humidity...

"Ondol" is an excellent Korean word.Ondol is the word to describe the unique underfloor heating system that is a Korean tradition, going back to ancient times. Originally coal was burned in an oven under a clay floor, however now days hot water is pumped through pipes. It is cold here in Korea even though it is Spring and it is wonderful to feel the warmth come up through the floor.This is brought to mind as we are now in Gyeongju, after taking the metro first fr...

We are so happy to be on the road again!Three days in Seoul and we have savored food of the most delectable and, to us, unusual kind. Gimchi, fermented cabbage preserved in chili and spices a Korean staple, marinated seaweed, radish in chili, sesame leaves, street food of fried cakes and another of spun sugar with almonds, are just some foods we have sampled. In doing so have discovered our chopstick skills are in need of much more practice! What we can tell you ...

We headed to the airport for our flight Dubai - Perth in plenty of time. On checking in, we were told the flight was full and Avan, who was traveling on a staff discount ticket (being Ebony's Father) could not be allocated a seat and would be on a standby list. Well of course Ebony had always been told this can be an issue but this was the first time we had been impacted. The check in officer said Avan would probably get on at the last minute so best to chec...

"It is estimated that the money spent by each tourist supports 10 to 11 Nepalis for a year." (source - Lonely Planet). Well, we hope we have done our bit! We hit the ground running when we got back from Pokhara by hiring a taxi at the airport to take us for an afternoon of sightseeing and had him wait for us between sights. In medieval times there were two other major cities, Bhaktapur and Patan which now, in present times, are joined completely to Kathmandu. Eac...