Hoopoes at Anapji

There is a hoopoe outside my office widow. I've always loved hoopoes. They're one of my favourite birds. I used to think they were uniquely South African. Obviously, they're not. Far from it. But I didn't expect to find them in Korea.

It was winter, I think, and I was visiting my favourite town in Korea, the history-rich Gyeongju. I had visited the museum that morning, and now I was at Anapji pond, a man-made lake, constructed in 674 as part of a palace pleasure-garden. As I walked around the lake, there on the path were a pair of hoopoes.

Strange how ordinary things - birds, animals, smells, sounds - gather memories over time.