Category: Travel Writing
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Rabat, Morocco: A Brief Selective Tour. Part I The Kasbah
Rabat was a surprise. Just a three-hour direct flight from London Stansted, a modern city with cosmopolitan hotels, restaurants, art galleries (closed the day I intended to visit) and efficient transport including trams. Most importantly and interestingly for a visit, it has a rich heritage of vernacular and formal architecture, an exotic and mysterious kasbah and…
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Vanuatu Cyclone Disaster March 2015
Eighteen months ago I enjoyed the privilege of visiting Day Spring School on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu with my partner, who works in international development, together with her colleagues and local education officials. The school is located in a remote part of Tanna; the journey took three hours by 4×4, including over an…
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Back to Bali: Pura Geger Temple at Nusa Dua
This cliff top temple, Pura Geger, at Nusa Dua is a short walk from the Balé hotel, where we were staying. The beach on which I am standing is in front of another hotel, one of the largest in Bali yet, when I walked up to the temple, mid-morning, the only person I saw was…
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Zen? Minimalism? Mondrian?
It is wonderful when by chance you come across an image such as this house entrance in a back street in Seminyak, Bali. I am not normally a fan of minimalism, or harsh modernist concrete architecture, but here the bright daylight presents several shades of flat grey and white surfaces, beautifully offset by the detail…
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Bali: Sign Language
As a lover of Bali who has now enjoyed four visits and is looking forward to the next, it would be only too easy to keep posting images of temples, rice fields and colourful umbrellas (though umbrellas are likely to comprise a future post).For a change, here are some images of signs photographed on my…
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Galungan: when Balinese Ancestors Return to Earth
The Balinese festival of Galungan symbolises the victory of good (Dharma) over evil (Adharma). To Balinese Hindus, it is one of the most important events of the 210-day year, a time when they express their gratitude to the creator of the universe, Ida Sang Hyang Widhi. It is a time of feasting, when many return…
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Haute-Ville, Antananarivo, Madagascar
The Haute-Ville district of Antananarivo is a lively community located, as the name suggests, high above the centre of the city. The roads leading up the hill rise steeply; it takes almost half an hour to reach the top. After three days of this I noticed an improvement in fitness, although I was envious of…
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Ganesha Statues in Seminyak, Bali
Ganesha, together with Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga, comprise the five prime Hindu deities. Ganesha is easily recognisable with his elephant’s head on a human body and large belly. He wears a sacred thread, or belt, in the form of a serpent. in his right hand he holds his broken tusk and in his left…