Russell's Latest Travels....

In the last two months, Russell has done quite a bit of travelling, to very interesting places and under interesting conditions.  He spent one week in North Korea, and found that an experience like no other.... He was invited to attend a conference at a new university, and met some fascinating people.

He felt a slight sense of unease the whole time he was there, and was pleased to return home.  He could go nowhere without being in line of sight of the military or government officials, and was restricted to the grounds of the university except on a couple of occasions when their group was escorted to the centre of Pyongyang to show respect to the leaders, and to visit some rice fields just outside the university compound. Approval to visit the rice fields (about 200m outside the main gate) had to be obtained from the Department of Foreign Affairs!

Russell observed that there were very few cars, and so the streets were easy to get around.  He remembers seeing one or two sets of traffic lights.... and he could see stars in the sky.  Of course, with less cars there is less pollution, and so the sky was much clearer than in South Korea!! He also saw very few shops and almost no advertising.

It's not often you get a boarding pass like this one!!

Russ with one of the students from the university he was
visiting, in front of the enormous statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il,
the previous leaders of North Korea.  

All these people are lining up to put flowers at the base of the statues.

Rice fields near the university.

The students march to and from classes singing patriotic songs.

Russell has also had two trips to The Philippines, to the head office of the organisation he works for, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).  During his first trip there was a devastating earthquake in the central islands of The Philippines, and 4 weeks later he was there when Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) again devastated some of the country. Sadly, some of the worst hit places were in the same area each time.

Fortunately for Russell, IRRI is located just south of Manila, well away from both disasters, and was impacted very little by them.

He has now been home for a few weeks, and happy to stay put until we head to Australia at Christmas time.