Memories from South Korea Book 2: This picture book is the second of 5 which cover some touring - mostly unguided - of South Korea. For Europeans, South Korea is going to have some distinctly different experiences, maybe not so for Americans. It is about as culturally distinct as one can get, except for a visit to the its northern neighbour (although there isn’t much neighbourly behaviours between the two). It could be a real challenge except that it is a place with a great deal of foreign influence, especially in the bigger cities. In the countryside you feel totally odd, as you can be the only European, or even non-Korean in sight. A relative was working in the country and so this was the impetus for the visit: it probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise, but we were glad at the end that it did. Book 2 continues with the visit to the south of the country as we were based in Geochang. Over South Korea there are many ‘temples’ to Buddha. My western view of a ‘temple’ is building, but in South Korea, it can refer to a whole community with many buildings. Commonly quite isolated. The subject of most of this Book I is Jikjisa, and the countryside surrounding it. Although the temple is a major reason for visiting, it is a short distance from a large ‘cultural park, called ‘Jikji’ Here we cld see what South Koreans considered a place to see art, sculptures, statues fountains and ponds. There was a water feature, but this was not operational as it was still too cold. Jikjisa was founded in 418 and is revered for its age and its religious significance. Not often one gets to casually stroll around such an ancient built place. Of course the language difficulties mean we may not have got it all correctly into perspective and there were certainly more modern aspects to the site. It was cool, and dull with only a weak sun and the ever-present sense of smoke in the air. There are 99 still images and accompanying pages of minimal description. The file size limit of the eBook format is the reason for 5 books. The original photographs (taken by the author, an amateur, with amateur equipment) are very large and so need compressing to fit in the file limit. If you have wondered what such a trip might be like, have a read. If you just would like see an amateur view of an out-of-the-way part of South Korea with enormous cultural significance to South Koreans, have a read