Wow. What a day.

Today was Lunar New Year, a very big deal in Korea.
Mine was an eventful one to say the least.

To sum up, I visited gravesides up mountains, ate raw fish that was still breathing (I swear at one point it mouthed 'help me') fell down a seafront jetty trying to take pictures fishing boats - getting covered in slimy seaweed, strolled around a tiny village, and visited a beautiful hillside temple. Then just to bring me back to reality, sat in a two hour traffic jam on the way home (thank heaven for iPod movies).
Above all else though, I found myself exploring an old leper colony.

I took a lot of interesting pictures today, but the subject of this blip had such a lasting effect on me that this was always going to be todays entry.
We visited my girlfriend's home town in the morning, as is the tradition on Lunar New Year - to visit the graves of deceased relatives. As Lucy's Father sadly passed away last year it carried extra significance this time around.

After the visit, we ate raw fish at a seafront restaurant - literally plucked from the sea and plopped on your plate, via a swift meeting with a very sharp knife.
Then we went to a small, picturesque island nearby that, unbeknown to me, carried with it a dark history.

Seorok Island was used by the Japanese during the 1910-45 occupation, to study the effects of leprosy. It effectively became a small leper colony where the human rights of sufferers were cruely violated.
The island housed small high-walled buildings, windows barred, in which Korean lepers were detained, studied, then cremated after death - despite the wishes of family members to give the body a traditional funeral ceremony.
Walking around the crumbling remnants of such a terrible place was a truly haunting experience.

Several years ago I visited Auschwitz, and all be it on a much smaller scale, the atmosphere here, and the way it made me feel as a visitor, was very similar.

Above is the autopsy table used in the studies. A truly sombre place.