Shuvo shokal from Dhaka, Foreigners here generally refer to themselves as ‘ex-pats’, regardless of their origin and despite the fact that they are actually here and not home. Some appear to endure their time abroad, at least in this country, rather than embracing the differences. Linda and I have difficulty understanding the fact …Read More
Kia ora from New Zealand, Timing is everything, they say. Just ask a magician, a comedian, an actor or even a footballer. Also, it’s important for winter travellers in New Zealand’s stunningly beautiful South Island. We are here for a sightseeing and skiing holiday before heading for the tropics for our appointment in Dhaka, Bangladesh. …Read More
G’day from the Top End, Australia, What a difference to a landscape water can make. We are in the Northern Territory of Australia. This is the Top End, where the seasons are generally divided into wet and dry. This is the dry season when there exists the best opportunity to appreciate the power and extent …Read More
G’day from Broome, The Japanese pearlers discovered the big pearls here in 1861 and established a town to exploit the resource in the 1880s. Cable Beach (22 kms of pristine sand just a bit further north on the same peninsula) is so-named because the communications cable to Java went into the sea there in …Read More
G’day from Broome, I’m only quoting Midnight Oil here, not offering a weather report. As Dan remarked yesterday as we approached Derby and the radio announcer crossed to the weather forecast, it would be a fairly easy job up this way to predict the weather. As Kerry O’Keeffe said in his inimical style, just …Read More
G’day from Broome, We’ve had another lovely day here in Broome. The weather is the same every day and today we hired bicycles and cycled all around the place, including Cable Beach. We also tried Chango Beer at Matso’s Broome Brewery. That’s a combination between Chilli beer and Mango Beer. The verdict: very fussable. Fabio …Read More
G’day from Tasmania, How much do you remember from your primary schooling? I remember one day Mr Byron saying that on a map, Tasmania was depicted with many jagged edges and straight lines. This fact, he said, depicted a rugged coastline. The connection between reality and map depiction seemed logical. It took a long time …Read More
G’day from Yulara, Climbing Uluru might seem like some kind of Australian rite of travel. Some non-indigenous people even claim a ban on climbing would deny Australians the enjoyment of a national icon. Lots of people have actually died climbing the rock: something like 30 since records began. Since 1964, there has been a helpful …Read More
ສະບາຍດີ,“We go to Laos when we miss the past.” This from Pond of Bangkok.In our final night in Bangkok, we decide to attend a ‘cultural evening’ in a purpose-built facility in the middle of this massive city. I approach with a healthy scepticism borne of a remote observation of such functions. They are too often …Read More
សួស្តី from Cambodia, Tonlé Sap is the largest lake in South-East Asia and causes a large light blue patch to dominate the map of Cambodia. The torrential rain of the wet season brings so much water, the area covered by the lake ranges from 3000 square kilometres to 12 000 square kilometres. Incredibly, the depth …Read More