Korean Chic (PHOTOGRAPHY)

Seoul Live (PHOTOGRAPHY)

This is where I'm staying for the next few days.

We've been waiting for you for 5000 years (PHOTOGRAPHY)

It's warm, and spring is springing in Seoul. At the airport was a beautiful mountage of see-thru green plates, promoting Korea's heritage. One of them read: "We've been waiting for you for 5000 years." Another plate showed a tasteful depiction of a Silla Empire artifact (dated 6 AD). It is amazing to have a contiguous flow of people here over thousands of years. In South Africa by contrast the original inhabitants left (or were killed) a long time ago.

I had a nice drive from the airport after an exhausting 17 hours of flying. I am now on the other side of the planet, in one of the world's largest cities. How did all of this come to be, how did it happen without our ever coming here before or even knowing about it? Phenomenal.

The Most Wired City in the World - who wants the story?

At the end of April I am travelling to Seoul, South Korea, as part of the Seoul Press Tour (paid for by the Seoul Metropolitan Government).

South Korea is the most wired nation on Earth, with over 90% of households connected to highspeed broadband internet. Their broadband is the fastest in the world, and for a country with a relatively small population (47 m), they have one of the largest internet populations in the world.

From Wikipedia: . South Korea is one of the world's most technologically and scientifically advanced countries such as nationwide 100Mbit/s broadband internet access, full HDTV broadcasting, DMB, WiBro and 3G HSDPA. South Korea is a global leader in electronics, computers, digital displays, semiconductor devices, mobile phones and hightech gadgets.

Asia has a lot of growth potential even though it is already the the region with the most internet users. It's penetration remains low at just 14%, only slightly ahead of Africa.

I'd been keen to write something sexy about what is it like to live in most wired country in the world. Where is Asia going, and what does that mean for the West of the WW. What is the pace like in the country? How do they watch TV, what do they do for fun, what do they (not) use the internet for. Do they suffer from information overload? What is the receptivity to Facebook, or do they have their own? How do dating sigtes fare? What do they have that we don't? What are online communities doing and what sort of communities exist? In short, where might we (the rest of the world be) be in 20 years?

Please let me know if you'd be interested in a piece for YOUR publication.