What might surprise people about South Korea?
I hardly knew anything about South Korea before the opportunity arose for me to visit, except that I associated it with war. Actually Koreans are mostly peaceful, happy people with a wicked sense of humour and they love to have a good time. When I first arrived I found out there were regional festivals such as the fireflies festival and the mud festival happening around the country, and I realised there was an extraordinary, ancient culture here with shamanism and Buddhism and beautiful art and music and dance, and our only mistake has been ignoring it for so long. I think it’s important that we see South Korea as a very different place from North Korea, as a welcoming place that you can freely explore. What would you say are the top 5 things travellers should do when they visit South Korea? • Visit a working Buddhist monastery – you can do this through an organised Templestay programme, or simply find a place yourself • See the amazing Korean drummers or samulnori, or for something a
