Dear friends, Yep, I'm travelling again. This time to spend a few days in Zanzibar with a friend and then on to Madagascar to explore the National Parks for a couple of weeks. I flew from Bangkok to Zanzibar via Nairobi and Kilimanjaro which afforded me some magnificent views of Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru rising above [...]
Dear friends, It was an exciting couple of weeks at the end of November / early December when I launched my new book "Portraits of Myanmar. A celebration of Work, Play and Prayer", first in Chiang Mai on my birthday no less - what a great way to celebrate, and then 10 days later in [...]
Dear friends, My final story from Oman comes from the wonderful southern city of Salalah where we spent three days in and around the city, visiting the beautiful coastline where there were more camels than people on the long white beaches, learning about the ancient trade in frankincense, seeing the tombs of holy men, relaxing [...]
Dear friends, We spent a couple more days in and around Nizwa and Al Hamra in the interior of the country and visited the magnificent 17th Century Jabreen Fort, palm plantations and Wadi Nakhr, the hanging villages of Al Aqor and Al Ain on the Sayq plateau, walked along the ancient irrigation (falaj) channels and [...]
Dear friends, After the fascinating morning at the goat market I wrote about in the last blog, we also spent time in the wider market and then visited the Nizwa's Round Tower Fort. Later, we walked through a fascinating hillside village and then settled into a wonderful 'eco-luxe' hotel for the night called 'The View', [...]
Dear friends, The day we made the Wahiba Sands crossing was wonderful - the stark beauty of the desert, a few camels, a little excitement and thrills as we did some 'dune bashing', sunset on the dunes, dinner under the stars and a full moon, with music and chilled wine. Ancient and modern, practical and [...]
Dear friends, Driving eastwards from Muscat we passed through villages, wadis and towns, sometimes right along the coast, at other times flying along a smooth modern highway. We walked a little in Wadi Tiwi and also in the old port of Sur, and we arrived at the Raz Al Jinz Turtle reserved as the sun [...]
Dear friends, For a long time I have been wanting to visit Oman, the Sultanate of Oman, to give the country its correct name, and now I am here with a small group of eight companions for a 10 day trip organised by 'Wilderness Travel', and following an itinerary which takes us to cities and [...]
Dear friends, After my couple of weeks in Canada, I ventured south over the border to the beautiful state of Vermont to visit another friend. I had thought to do just a single post from Vermont, but even in the short two-day stay with Lois I realised her garden alone was worth a story, and [...]
Dear readers, My last blog from my recent US/Canada trip is from the beautiful Green Mountain State of Vermont where I had a brief two-day visit with my friend Lois. We had one day of sunshine and one of rain, but either way the countryside and the places she took me were grand. So here [...]