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Dear friends, The last part of my North American tour was over the border into Canada, to Quebec to be more precise, and to Bromont to be really exact! I visited my friends Andree and Denis here in the summer two years ago to help celebrate their wedding and what a pleasure to visit again [...]
Dear friends, Such a lovely week in around Washington DC, staying with my friend Betsy, a colleague from my Geneva days, and meeting up with others from my past, the Ethiopian artist Wasihun (see my most recent journal entry), with Carroll who was UNICEF rep in Myanmar when I worked there for the International Red [...]
Dear friends, Last month I spent a short week with my friend Verity in Tasmania and what a great few days it was too. I am sure that none of you need be reminded that Tasmania is the island state of Australia and lies off the coast almost directly south of Melbourne across Bass Strait. The [...]
Dear friends, Lucky me to spend 6 weeks in Europe from mid-June to early August, visiting friends in the UK, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Everywhere the weather was beautiful, the friends welcoming and the weeks passed so quickly in a whirl of delightful meetings, delicious dinners, gorgeous scenery and a few special treats [...]
Dear friends, Another really fun happening in Chiang Mai last weekend when I took a painting class with the talented Chris Chun. He had generously offered a class, even with bubbly and cakes as an extra attraction, as one of the auction items at the Skills for Life Foundation fundraising event some months ago and three [...]
Dear friends, As we had to travel to the north, then the south and then to the east, the capital city, Antananarivo (usually shortened to Tana for obvious reasons) was a pivotal point on our trip and each time we stayed at the elegant old hotel, The Colbert with lovely views out over a part [...]
Dear friends, Just a 40-minute drive from my house is one of the best-managed elephant camps of the many, some 60 in fact, in the area around Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. As part of my own continuing education about the welfare of captive elephants, I spent the morning there, observing, talking with the [...]
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, 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, 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 [...]