Cheonggyecheon Stream, Seoul.

When Keith surprised me with these tickets to Seoul, I felt a surge of sheer joy and was instantly "I MUST SEE THE SEWER!!!"

Waste disposal is not what you usually most want to see in any country but without a doubt the most inspirational and exciting thing that's happened in world in recent times would have to be Cheonggyecheon Stream in downtown Seoul.

If you don't know about this, what happened is that someone in South Korea went down into an old sewer (that had once been an ancient stream and which hadn't been used for sewerage purposes since they stopped pumping sewerage into Han River back in the 60s) and found - dah dah! - that the water had returned to clean, fresh and potable.

 The water quality!

Isn't Mother Nature so forgiving.

Anyway, they found it so inspirational, they uncovered the entire length of the old sewer, gussied it up and gave it as a gift to the people ... and the people just love it.  Those 5.3 miles of stream are filled with people day-and-night.

It was our first stop on our first day in Seoul and was everything I hoped it would be and so much more ... like how cool is it that this ancient sewer was built a long time ago using bits of even older temples and palaces and other blocks of carved granite:

 Look at those carvings. 

Could there be anything so cool!

I've already told you about how Hong Kong heard about this and immediately went down to test the waters in our own old nullahs (our word for old streams used for sewerage) which had also not used since we stopped pumping our sewerage into the Harbour also back in the 60s - and discovered - dah dah! - that again the water is fresh, pure and potable, and thus is currently in the grip of Seoul's inspiration and we are currently uncovering our own nullahs, greening around them and returning them as gifts to the people ... and aren't the people grateful.  All the old men are out daily fishing, and old ladies do their Tai Chi on the banks and everyone is saying things like "I've lived here for 60 years and never knew that life could be this wonderful."

Hong Kong Island has uncovered eight nullahs so far and have another 16 to go, so life for us will become increasingly pleasant as more and more of us are given back our pleasant places to walk.

So everyone who doesn't live in Seoul or Hong Kong, please also find inspiration from this and discover what's happening with your own disused sewers ... and perhaps you too will find yourself with a pleasant addition to your town or city.