With the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty , I ‘finished’ South Korea’s batch of 12 entries on the current World Heritage List. Like many of the others – 6 to be precise – it lies well within the range of the Seoul Hotspot . The Joseon Tombs comprise 18 different locations, of which I chose the Donggureung Cluster to visit - “the largest and most attractive” according to the Lonely Planet ánd our own South Korea expert Kyle Magnuson . Donggureung lies in Guri, a city typical for the Seoul metropolitan area with its many numbered grey high-rise apartment blocks. The bus driver alerted me where I had to get off the bus, but I had seen it already myself as there are big signs in Korean and English pointing to this royal cemetery. Despite the urban setting, this is a peaceful location in a forested area. There were few other visitors when I arrived on a Friday morning, only a couple of the ubiquituous Korean pensioners and even a small group of birders. Entrance costs a nominal 1,000 Won (ca. 0.80 EUR). Donggureung literally means …

Namhansanseong was the ‘contingency capital’ for the Korean Joseon Dynasty, built as a mountain fortress in the early 17th century. I visited it on a day trip from Seoul – although it lies only some 25km outside of the capital, it took me 1.5 hours to get there by metro and bus. Looking at the number of large parking lots and restaurants, the site must see huge crowds during the weekends (over 3 million visitors already in the year 2010, before WH inscription!). On a weekday though, the place is the domain of elderly hikers. Most of them actually got off one bus stop earlier than I did, for the start of the trails that run on and alongside the walls. I eventually found myself at the roundabout of a tourist village, wondering what to do. I noticed some more traditionial looking buildings a bit to the north. These turned out to be the newly restored Emergency Palace, plus ticket and information stalls. I first went to get a ticket, which I was given for free although there is a usual entry fee of 2,000 Won. Maybe it was a …

Palau’s best chance of a second WHS is the serial transnational nomination of the Yapese Disk Money Regional Sites / Yapese Quarry Sites . This collection of 4 locations in two countries has already been brought forward in 2010, but ended up with a Deferral advice from ICOMOS and a subsequent withdrawal of the nomination by the Federated States of Micronesia (representing Yap) and Palau. They will try again in (possibly) 2018.

Palau played an important role in the origin and practice of the use of stone disk money on Yap. Although the island state lies almost 500km away, with its fine limestone it provided the source for producing the large disks that were used on Yap as stone money. In 1883 it was reported by judicial commissioner G.R. Le Hunte that he found around 100 Yapese at Palau cutting stones and preparing them for transport.

The two locations on Palau included in the original nomination are called ‘Uet el Doab ma Uet el Beluu’ and ‘Chelechol ra Orrak’. After the discussion we recently had on the Forum and some further research, I’m quite sure that both …

Rock Islands Southern Lagoon so far is Palau’s only WHS. It encompasses a marine area south of the nation’s main islands Babeldaob and Koror. The lagoon is a maze of some 445 karstic islands, of which many show a typical mushroom-like shape. The site is a mixed WHS: some difficult to access archaeological sites are part of the core area too, mostly on Ulong and Ngeruktabel islands.

The WHS cannot be visited under your own steam: you have to join a tour, hire private boat transport or step on the state ferry to the outlying island of Peleliu that only runs twice a week. I visited the Rock Islands with Impac Tours – this may be Palau’s largest and most professional tour outfitter, aimed especially at a Japanese audience but other nationalities are welcome too. On my tour an English speaking guide and a Chinese & Korean speaking guide supported the Japanese head guide. The cost was 95 USD for the tour, plus 50 USD for a special conservation permit. I joined 20 other tourists on the ‘Rock Islands plus Kayaking’ full day tour.

Around 9 a.m. each …

Palau’s Stone Coffin or Tet el Bad is one of the strangest entries on any Tentative List. It may be the smallest object in size: it measures 233cm by 66cm, at a height of 40cm. And it is a moveable structure, not only in theory but also in real life as it has been moved for research to a museum in Koror in the 1930s. It has stayed there until the 1980s, when it was transported back to its place of origin on northern Babeldaob. Despite its flaws, I am going to write a full 500 word blog post / review about it!

The coffin lies on Palau’s main island, Babeldaob. When I was young I was active with geofiction , and Babeldaob could have been a creation of mine (its name sounds like fiction already). Somehow the countries I created were always islands, often located in the Pacific. Always round or oval-shaped, with points of interest scattered around evenly across the surface. For sure I would have designed a flag for it, another one of my childhood interests.

Finding this stone coffin required some determination. I had rented a …

Seoul is preparing for inclusion of its 4th WHS in the city proper in 2017. ‘Hanyangdoseong’ covers its City Wall , originally constructed in the late 14th century. ‘Hanyang’ is a reference to the old name for Seoul, while ‘Doseong’ is a “walled city where a ruler lives”. The over 18 km-long wall was built along the ridge of Seoul’s four inner mountains. The site seems well on track for receiving foreign visitors, it already has an elaborate website in English and its own Seoul City Wall Museum.

12 km of the wall has been preserved, as well have the South Gate and the East Gate. The official website has extensive information about hiking trails on and alongside stretches of the wall. I choose the shortest and most accessible route, the Naksan Mountain Trail. I started from the southern end at Dongdaemun (East Gate) – the site of one of the best remaining gates, plus the location of the City Wall Museum. Dongdaemun has its own subway stop, and from there I took exit number 1. The way to the museum and the start of the hike is …

In a couple of days I’ll be on my way for my last trip of 2016: South Korea and Palau are waiting, including 4 'new' WHS. Maybe you want to look over my shoulder how I plan and prepare these WH related trips. I just hope I don’t come across as too obsessive–compulsive!

1. When to go?

I am in the fortunate circumstances that I can have about 45 days off from work each year. And that it does not really matter when I use these days. I like to spread them evenly across the year, so most years I take 4 trips of about 2 weeks length. I always travel the weeks right after Christmas, just to escape the European winter and because I get some bonus days off this time of year (Dec 26 and Jan 1 are national holidays in the Netherlands).

2. Where to go?

My wish list of destinations is still very long. I even maintain a spreadsheet of countries (or parts thereof) that I’d like to visit in the …

Westminster is the second most visited WHS according to the statistics of this website. So far 12 of those visitors have written a review about it. Some zoomed in on Westminster Palace and praised the guided tour of the Houses of Parliament, others focused on Westminster Abbey or the site's third component St. Margaret’s Church. Last week during my day trip to London I took a closer look at Westminster Abbey. “Huge Crowds” and “Ridiculous charge” are two common denominators to describe the first impression of a visit to the Abbey. I also smiled about the “Not allowed to sketch” comment from a previous reviewer. Photography is forbidden, and apparently even sketching is (would taking notes be also?). The reasoning behind the ban is stated on the Abbey’s website : “We believe that the unique beauty and history of the Abbey are difficult to enjoy with the distractions which widespread photography would bring; and that photography would diminish the sacred and intimate atmosphere of a building which is, first and foremost, a living, working church.” From our reviews we can also see the admission fee rise over the years: 6 pounds in 2011, …

Last October, when I visited Mapungubwe WHS in South Africa, I got intrigued by the cute small statue of a golden rhino which was found in a grave there. The rhino itself isn’t displayed at the site (a copy is): the original is in possession of a University Museum in Pretoria. Coincidence has it that just now they have lent this golden rhino to the British Museum in London for an exhibition on South African Art. So that’s where I headed yesterday.

I had paid 12.5 EUR beforehand for an entrance slot to the exhibition at the opening hour of 10 a.m. It has received good reviews , so I expect it to be busy all the time. My surprise could not have been bigger when I stood in front of the first display case: it contained the Makapansgat pebble ! This is the most curious discovery from one of the other South African WHS, the fossil hominid site of Makapansgat . It is a reddish brown, face shaped pebble, apparently taken ‘home’ by an Australopithecus africanus. It was larger than I had imagined it, about ca. …

According to this Thematic Study from 2014, the WH List contains 35 sites related to the Silk Roads / Routes. We had 27 already in the Silk Roads Connection , but with Bam, Lhasa, Mount Qingcheng, Bisotun, Soltaniyeh, Esfahan, Shustar, Takht-e-Soleyman, Armenian monasteries of Iran, Hatra, Samarra, Bosra, Anjar, Baalbek, Kathmandu, Makli (Thatta), Divrigi, Nisa and Itchan Kala 21 others could be labelled that way. And there is no end to Silk Roads nominations: the tentative lists of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Turkmenistan, China and Iran all contain explicit serial Silk Roads sites.

The Thematic Study found no less than 54 ‘Corridors’ within the Silk Roads system, linking ‘nodal’ points along the routes such as cities and towns. Nominations of these separate Corridors are now slowly brought forward. There is one already Pending : in 2014, the 'Silk Roads Penjikent-Samarkand-Poykent Corridor' (Tajikistan – Uzbekistan) got referred. In addition to the already inscribed Samarkand and Bukhara, this 365km long stretch would include places like Chor Bakr, Penjikent, Raboti Malik Caravanserai, Vobkent Minaret and the Bahouddin Naqshband complex. Besides trade, Sufi pilgrimism is the …