those who lay silent

I meandered down a narrow lane before returning to Hengchun. An old signpost at the entrance hinted that some of the graves around the laneway might be from the town’s ancient past.

An ancient underwater tomb

200 metres off South Korea’s eastern shore from Bonggildaewangam Beach lay King Manmu’s tomb. Within a natural cluster of rocks his remains were buried under the tortoise-shaped rock lying underwater in the centre of the rock formation.

Hang Duong Cemetery

As I walked the tree-lined entrance to Hang Doung Cemetery, a heaviness pressed down on me. The site was lovingly maintained and the silence broken only by birds chirping, a rooster’s crow, an occasional dog barking or the wind through the trees.