How do you know you are boarding a flight to Rockhampton? Is it the laconic voices of salt and pepper grey haired men who meander out to the plane? Maybe it is the sunny dress on the toddler and her blond curls hinting at the tropical sun. And her mother dressed for capricornia in a…
33,192 total views, 88 views today
Remarkable photo. Apparently the blue is reflecting the sky. Apparently. But it is pretty neat. Photograph by Randy Heisch (via National Geographic) 33,139 total views, 85 views today
33,139 total views, 85 views today
I read the news this morning and, like everyone else in this country, kept a morbid eye on the growing death toll. Suddenly through the course of the morning I was jolted by the realisation that one of the news items had mentioned Chum Creek Rd, an address where friends lived. Relatives of JD no…
34,008 total views, 86 views today
We walked down Boundary Street today after alighting from the train at Price Edward Station. It was a clear day and the high hills and steep slopes of the New Territories, which in theory stretch out from the other side of the road and extend to the China border, were clear and sharp. My eye…
33,186 total views, 85 views today
I am talking about travel! I have numerous solo experiences and only two, maybe three or four group travel experiences. And this one to Hong Kong is my first experience leading a group on any sort of travel ( I do not count taking troops out on a military exercise in this category!). Sitting here…
33,392 total views, 85 views today
I am staying at the old Gurkha (British Army) Barracks at Perowne in Hong Kong. Tuen Mun to be precise. 2 Castle Road to be even more exact. It is a visit that is strangely affecting me in a way I was not expecting at all. Let me test the feelings and see what it…
33,309 total views, 85 views today
Sunday is “maids day” in Hong Kong. We passed a flood of them pouring down the hill towards Central as we made our way to the tram terminus. Filipinos and Indonesians mainly. Like their sisters in the Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore. But my experience of them here in China is coloured by the abuse…
34,182 total views, 85 views today
Cultural impressions can occur in a range of different ways. You can walk up the back streets of Beijing and watch a man have his ablutions on a tin tray at one o’clock in the morning. Or drive the escarpments of Eastern Tibet and take an English class in a village which cannot ever recall…
33,044 total views, 87 views today
Pickledeel views on this subject can be found on Eric’s page. Though I don’t really believe haggling is necessary, culturally relevant/observant or otherwise in a visitor’s interests the Saudi’s in the Riyadh gold souk are certainly up for some negotiation. Just make it loud! 32,991 total views, 85 views today
32,991 total views, 85 views today
Travel is a great introspective tool, strangely mixed up with the opportunity to step outside of yourself to see how you fit in the world. An existential flux if you will. The more I travel the more I want to do more, not for the sake of travel (though worthy a motivation in itself as…
33,059 total views, 85 views today