Year: 2015
-
Tak goes with the flow
Loy Krathong, the annual goodbye to bad karma, part religious ceremony/part festival, is held throughout Thailand in November. People in Chiang Mai ‘let go’ Khoom Loy, candle-fuelled wish lanterns, into the night sky; elsewhere, candle and flower arrangements are launched adrift on miniature rafts made from banana leaf; but in Tak the vessel of choice is a coconut shell, released […]
-
Chiang Mai in Flower
These photos were taken in Chiang Mai at the beginning of its Flower Festival in February. Thailand has about as many festivals as smiles and their itinerary can be just as inscrutable, but that doesn’t detract from enjoyment when accidently encountering them (which is what I did here). It was an entertaining night.
-
Winton Wetlands – Adding Water
Earlier in the year I visited Winton Wetlands near Benalla in north east Victoria. It is the largest wetlands restoration poject in the Southern Hemisphere, and I wrote about it HERE. At that time it was like a miniature Kakadu in the dry season. The volume of water varies from year to year and I returned recently, following a not […]
-
Plains, Strains & Automobiles – Crossing Mt Bromo
Accompanying my 80s parry into Indonesia was the recently released edition of a guidebook that shall remain nameless, but I suspect all that had been updated in the past decade was the publishing year – 1985. Though, I hadn’t concluded complete unreliability when reading its account about ascending Mt Bromo, in Java. Other than the volcano, the author advised readers […]
-
Instant Nirvana at Tam Wua
Tam Wua monastery sits at the end of a narrow valley beneath mountainous limestone karsts in far north-west Thailand, near the Myanmar border between Pai and Mae Hon Song on the long and winding road from Chiang Mai. I stepped into Tam Wua for a mindfulness side-trip while touring the Mae Hon Song loop on a Honda step-through scoot. Apparently, […]
-
Winton Wetlands
At the end of a rock outcrop in the Winton Wetlands an expansive vista suddenly opens up to reveal a grassy plain stretching to the horizon immediately evoking images of Kakadu in the dry season; though, on a much smaller scale and at an entirely different Australian latitude – a Kakadu of the South. Unlike Kakadu there is no indigenous […]
-
Spinksy’s Top Five Chiang Mai Tips
Chiang Mai, Thailand’s capital city of the North, offers a vast array of options for travellers. Somewhat ironical title aside, here are a few things I discovered during a recent visit, which was mostly spent at the east side of the old city. Haven’t covered tourist attractions (there’s enough info about them) – in my opinion Chiang Mai’s main appeal […]
-
When Desire Wore Red and White
2012 AFL Grand Final, MCG, Hawthorn versus Sydney I’m having a pre-grand final lunch at Southgate with Ralph who carries the stocky appearance of comedian, Max Gillies, and a cheerful cynicism about AFL administration. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote when self-preservation meant barracking for Collingwood. We’re usually joined by Phil, another Pie fan, but he’s in […]
-
Climbing Doi Luang Chiang Dao
Doi Luang Chiang Dao (or Doi Luang as locals shorten it to) is Thailand’s third tallest mountain and it’s most spectacular. From a distance it appears as one gigantic looming mass, but is actually, as I discovered, a series of peaks intersected by a valley. Either 2175 or 2225 metres high depending on which map or brochure you’re looking at, […]
-
Lost In Transaction
“It was no accident you came to us, Paul,” declared a man sitting among others huddled around a dining room table. “God sent you.” I was caught off-guard for the first time in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and discovering the USA didn’t cater quite like Europe for young people travelling on the cheap. I had arrived in New York from London several […]
To use the subscribe form, please fill in your Feedburner ID in WPZOOM Theme Options.