REMOTE ISLANDS OF SOUTH KOREA
Between June and November 2011, I traveled to about 40 remote islands of South Korea in the West and South Seas. I was commissioned by Korea Tourism to collect information and travel photography. It was a great experience. At some stage I hope to be able to write a small English Guide Book on how to access these islands of which some had populations no more than fifty persons. All I can say is that South Korea is a country with an immense amount of serious travel opportunity of mountains, temples, old fortresses, old fire towers, coastal beches and over 2000 islands to explore.
Island culture and life is a little different from the mainland. Depleting fish stocks have seen crumbling populations, but the stalwarts remain, and a rough yet compassionate culture of the sea still remians.
"Even after months of island travel, I still wasn’t use to relying on a ship to take me somewhere. Timetables were a menace, time controlling tablets that hung in terminals. I was a walker. Mountains were different in that sense. You moved when you wish, no tide told you what to do. But this was the very lifestyle of the islanders that I had learnt to appreciate. They were governed by the ocean, its tides, its wares, its beauty, and its anger. It was their shaman. I think I came to understand that".
PHOTO SLIDE SHOW FROM REMOTE ISLANDS OF KOREA