Forget the past when visiting Baengnyeong Island Waves break elegantly on rocks ias a cool breeze brings the sounds and smells of nature. Standing on a shaped boulder in front of the ocean, watching a beautiful sunset, there is a tranquility that belies the islands reputation. Welcome to Baengnyeong Island ― one of the world’s most heavily militarized islands. The first thing that strikes one ...

SAN FRANCISCO ― If the restaurants I sampled on a six-day jaunt to San Francisco are any indication, the food scene there is on fire. Every meal I had was noteworthy. Either I was very lucky or there’s a whole lot of good cooking going around there ― and I got to sample only one of the newish places in the East Bay, an area that is coming into its own. What are the chances of picking six really ...

Oakwood Premier Coex Center Seoul The hotel’s Genesis Business Center on the fifth floor offers the “All-day Meeting Room” package until May 31. The package includes complimentary coffee and cookies, a beam projector and the Internet. There are three meeting places at the Genesis Business Center. Meeting Room 1 is available for up to six people, Meeting Room 2, up to 18 people, and the Boardroom...

During the summer and autumn, North Gyeongsang Province and Gyeongju city will host an international cultural event to tell the story of Silla Kingdom (B.C. 57-A.D. 935), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Under the theme “The Story of Millennium ― Love, Light and Nature,” the 6th Gyeongju World Culture Expo will be held for 60 days from Aug. 12 to Oct. 10 at the Gyeongju World Culture Expo Par...

ZELIV, Czech Republic (AFP) ― Religious belief may be on a sharp decline in the Czech Republic but the Zeliv monastery has found a new role as a spiritual refuge while it recovers from its own decades of turmoil. Today’s pilgrims to the monastery tucked in a picturesque valley outside Prague include businessmen, managers and artists ― even a 1970s pop star ― who come to follow the steady rhythm ...

What is the line between being a ghoul and a do-gooder when it comes to visiting a recent disaster area? It’s a question to be asked again when the crisis in Japan finally abates. But what is an appropriate waiting period to visit a country hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake and 20-foot-high tsunami that killed thousands of people in northeastern Japan and created a nuclear radiation crisis? In na...

JW Marriott Seoul On April 22 and 23, DJ e_qnx will throw a “Shaky Night” party at Bar Rouge in the hotel from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. His live DJing will mix trance, progressive house and synthesized 70s and 80s retro from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. A b-boy team performance and lucky draw for restaurant certificates will lead into midnight, and a hip-hop and electronic DJ mix will power the dance floor from...

KATMANDU (AP) ― A team of mountaineers led by a veteran Sherpa guide flew Wednesday to Mount Everest on an expedition to clear away tons of trash left on the world’s highest peak. Since Everest was first conquered in 1953, thousands of people have climbed it, leaving behind the empty oxygen bottles, ropes, tents and other garbage that made their journey possible. Nepal’s government has since im...

IN THE SERENGETI, Tanzania ― The lion isn’t sleeping tonight, and neither are most of the people around him. The eerie calls of male lions echo throughout the Serengeti at night. In a tent, even a luxury one, it is an unsettling sound, but the workers at the comfortable Kirawira Lodge in the western Serengeti smile reassuringly and insist that lions can’t work the zippers on the tent flaps. But...

Every Friday, Los Angelenos make a mass exodus to Las Vegas, traveling through the desert on an easy 400-kilometer drive up Interstate 15. Come Sunday, the caravan reverses, and they head home from a weekend at the casinos. If you’re visiting Las Vegas, why not follow their lead and include a road trip to Los Angeles in your vacation? Better yet, spend a day or more on the drive and explore the ...

The Ritz-Carlton, Seoul The hotel offers a special honeymoon package. The package includes a night stay at a Superior Deluxe room with a nice view, a bottle of sparkling wine, chocolates and complementary use of the fitness club and swimming pool the next day. The package, coming at the price of 250,000 won, is available until Dec. 30. For more information or reservations call (02) 3451-8114. J...

NORTHAMPTON, England (AP) ― Surrounded by boxes in a rickety old warehouse above the family shop, Joe Church hurries to wrap plates adorned with the faces of Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton for a customer in Australia. The Church’s business, a 152-year old china and ornament seller specializing in memorabilia, has plenty of reason to celebrate the upcoming royal nuptials as its cash ...