Dabbling in Druidism

Last weekend we booked ourselves into the annual winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge Aoteoroa, near Carterton. It was, or claimed to be, an ancient Celtic/Druidic ceremony called Alban Arthan – which can be translated as “Light of Arthur.” The ceremony was followed, at the Carterton RSA, by a dinner during which there were presentations about [...]

Kitten chosen

UPDATE: he’s been named Java.

Korean Folk Village

There were no business commitments on the day we arrived in Seoul and Alex, our host, arranged for us to visit the the Korean Folk Village, a living museum in the city of Yongin, part of the broader Seoul Metropolitan Area. Even though it was a ‘canned’ tourist attraction, it was well done and very [...]

Royally entertained in Seoul

We were well entertained on each of the three nights we spent in Seoul. The first night I’ve already described: the curious events at the Daewonyojung restaurant.
The following night we went to Cookin’, a dance and percussion extravaganza performed by a troupe called Nanta. This show originated in Korea and has since travelled the world. [...]

Bullet train to Nonsan

One of our more interesting days in Korea was a visit to a TV and computer CRT recycling plant in Nonsan, a smaller city and hour and a half south of Seoul. It was actually some distance away, because we travelled there at 300 kph in Korea’s new fast train, built by French engineers.
Our first-class [...]