With apologies for a year's silence...

Hi there,
I've just finished reading Meeting Mr Kim by Jennifer Barclay and wanted to say how much I LOVED the book and want to go to South Korea one day... Books like these keep me inspired and keep my travel dreams alive. I learnt so much from her book and have some lovely quotes to keepsafe.

Thank you Mary for this heart-warming message, which reminded me that I haven't written much about Korea lately. A few days later, I heard that the episode of Grand Designs where Meeting Mr Kim is sitting face out on the window ledge as the camera pans out was shown again on Channel 4. I promise I had nothing to do with it... But the house featured is rather Zen, so maybe they liked the Buddha on the cover.

Oh, and another good thing happened. Jacob Lotinga, who writes books about climbing mountains in China and Korea, wrote to say he's been dipping into my book again, and 'enjoying your coverage of Mount Songni and Beopjusa Temple, and also relishing your reflections on exploring another culture and seeking authenticity in one's experience of life'. What a lovely way of putting it. He's working on an exciting new book about Korean nature and culture, so stay tuned.

With all this happening, I decided it was time to revive my Korea blog and post things here from time to time, even though I am no longer running the 'CoolstuffKorea' web presence with the Korea Tourism Organization. I wish I'd been running it when Gangnam Style came out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 Love it. Makes me want to go back to Seoul...

I'm now living in Greece and have been focusing on getting my book about Greece finished. A woman I met in Rhodes a few days ago asked me about South Korea, and I said it was a bit like Greece really: lots of islands and coastline and mountains, a strong maritime culture, ancient roots and traditional culture and cuisine, and an amazingly welcoming, hospitable people.

Well, at least when I go back to London at Christmas I can have a Korean meal or two!