Post Title: On the road again!
Excerpt: I'm off to Nagasaki at sparrows fart tomorrow morning, as are Kat, Darin & Jake Taiga, to attend Tyler and Mihoko's wedding. It's gonna be such a hoot! Tylers family are coming out from Wisconsin and it'll be their first time in Japan. There is a lot of cool stuff planned for us, hopefully the rain won't be too much of a problem. After the 3 day wedding celebrations settle down, I'm planning a slow trip up to Kyoto on my own, stopping off in Onomichi, Kurashiki and Nara. In Kyoto, I'm meeting up with my dear Aureole -...
March 20, 2008 11:11 PM | On the road again! | Comments (4)
Post Title: The Roadtrip
Excerpt: Hello friends, are you still with me? I know it's been a while but it only seems like a few days! So. I'm in Tokyo, nestling back into my cosy little house with a new vegie cookbook, a million chores to catch up on, fresh Kaldi coffee in the fridge and my full iTunes library. I got back on Tuesday, during a remarkably mild period - it was 12.5 degrees that day, but the coming forecasts scare me and I think I feel a healthy hibernation coming on. I'm back at work, eating well, avoiding alcohol and considering a...
January 12, 2008 7:10 PM | The Roadtrip | Comments (3)
Post Title: 8 days in paradise
Excerpt: Joris leaps Traveling ain't traveling without taking feet shots everywhere you go. I found a foot-photo buddy in Joris. Kindred spirits, truly. He he. Wun, one of the local pretty boys. Terrible but persistant guitar player. Gili Air from Gili Meno, taken during an island-hopping snorkelling trip. Indonesians are so playful! My wonderful hosts on Gili Air, Amadea and Ari Today I find myself back in Ubud, Bali, after 8 days in the glorious Gili Islands of Lombok....
August 29, 2007 1:19 PM | 8 days in paradise | Comments (4)
Post Title: India, in a convoluted nutshell....
Excerpt: In order to try to encompass all of my experiences in a not-too-wordy manner, I've decided to make a list. So, here goes....
August 11, 2007 11:24 PM | India, in a convoluted nutshell.... | Comments (6)
Post Title: Mr Sharma's 8 things you didn't know about me...
Excerpt: In Jodhpur, Ryosuke and I enjoyed a 15 minute sitting with the charmingly dry, eccentric, nonchalant "world-famous" Merangarh Fort astrologer and palmist, Mr S.L. Sharma, and I thought I'd share some of the things he told me about.... well, me.
August 11, 2007 3:52 PM | Mr Sharma's 8 things you didn't know about me... | Comments (2)
Post Title: Flickr Action
Excerpt: More pic's up at flickr....
August 7, 2007 5:08 PM | Flickr Action | Comments (0)
Post Title: Back in Delhi
Excerpt: Just a quick note to let you know that I'm back in Delhi, Ryosuke is back in Japan so I'm traveling solo again, and that I hope to have some new pics up on flickr in a few days, and a couple of longer blog posts too. In the mean time, if you haven't already taken a look - here is the India 2007 Photo album as it stands so far.......
August 6, 2007 2:48 PM | Back in Delhi | Comments (0)
Post Title: Jaipur (Days 3 - 5)
Excerpt: Jaipur - the pink city - was as hassle-filled as we had heard. The place itself was gorgeous but dear god, we couldn't move a foot without being hassled by street kids, touts, shop owners, rickshaw drivers and dodgy dudes wanting to be guides.
July 27, 2007 10:56 PM | Jaipur (Days 3 - 5) | Comments (6)
Post Title: A week in India, generally speaking....
Excerpt: Day 8: July 22, 2007.
We are staying in very cool guest house in Jodhpur (central Rajastan), called Durag Miwas. It's a family run business, and the owner is a fabulous, flamboyant, theatrical 24 year old named Govind. Such a character! And his family are sweet, gentle, efficient and most welcoming. So far the best place we've stayed by a long way.
July 22, 2007 9:59 PM | A week in India, generally speaking.... | Comments (1)
Post Title: Pushkar
Excerpt: Sitting in a very dusty internet cafe - with a very dusty, faded keyboard - in very dusty Pushkar with a very patchy internet connection, looking out at the passing parade of colour and noise.
July 20, 2007 8:37 PM | Pushkar | Comments (3)
Post Title: First days: Delhi
Excerpt: I was in India 7 years ago - my first time out of Australia, and I remember I found Delhi utterly daunting. I couldn't believe the numbers of people sleeping in the streets and the abject poverty everywhere. 7 years later, older and wiser, Delhi was a much more pleasant experience.
July 16, 2007 10:38 PM | First days: Delhi | Comments (1)
Post Title: The distance calls
Excerpt: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1Listen can you hear the distance callingFar away but will be with you soon Well, here I am.... Sure I've forgotten some annoyingly important things but they'll just have to wait.
July 15, 2007 3:44 AM | The distance calls | Comments (6)
Post Title: Yamanakako
Excerpt: please slip on over to my Flickr photostream to see some photos from my fabulous trip out to Yamanakako on Sunday to Tuesday.... It was totally overcast and cold and windswept and Fuji-san was nowhere to be seen.
October 26, 2006 7:00 PM | Yamanakako | Comments (4)
Post Title: A smooth transition
Excerpt: My last evening in Phuket was spent at Nikita's Bar in Rawai, with the teaching team from the course: Pete, Greg, Clare, Simon, Mark and their respective partners. This was the view at sunset....
September 6, 2006 11:11 PM | A smooth transition | Comments (7)
Post Title: Phuket: present perfect continuous
Excerpt: On tests and beaches and a wee bit more....
August 30, 2006 4:03 PM | Phuket: present perfect continuous | Comments (12)
Post Title: a present perfect, so perfect I don't want it to end.
Excerpt: Jungles, elephants, adventures and the wilderness of English language study....
August 25, 2006 5:38 PM | a present perfect, so perfect I don't want it to end. | Comments (9)
Post Title: Episode 721, in which the protagonist makes the river crossing across the Thai-Myanmar border....
Excerpt: With some huge percentage of Thailand's income coming from tourism, they turn quite the blind eye to the big business of “VISA RUNS”, in which tourists who are on the verge of overstaying their 30 day holiday visa get transported to the border of their choice to get their passports re-stamped with a fresh 30 day visa.
August 13, 2006 3:20 PM | Episode 721, in which the protagonist makes the river crossing across the Thai-Myanmar border.... | Comments (1)
Post Title: The student reports...
Excerpt: Hello hello!
August 9, 2006 8:37 PM | The student reports... | Comments (4)
Post Title: Puke-it
Excerpt: Ah yes, Phuket Belly.... Yep, first night in Phuket, out drinking with some of my new classmates, drank beer with ice.
August 6, 2006 4:05 PM | Puke-it | Comments (1)
Post Title: Antsy
Excerpt: Now on Phuket Island, at a place called Kata beach, on the south-west side of the island.
August 2, 2006 11:56 PM | Antsy | Comments (4)
Post Title: Sunset net fishing
Excerpt: Sunset on Ao Nang beach yesterday.
July 30, 2006 8:53 PM | Sunset net fishing | Comments (4)
Post Title: The wet season strikes up a conversation
Excerpt: My plans for a 2 day motorbike trek up to Phang Nga with a Swiss friend have been cruelly thwarted by rain.
July 30, 2006 12:57 PM | The wet season strikes up a conversation | Comments (2)
Post Title: What day is it again?
Excerpt: Life's a beach... and coral reefs and snorkelling ... and long boats and speed boats and film sets... and amazing food and fruit... and long slow walks... and one hour Thai massages followed by beers at the sunset bar with new found friends.
July 29, 2006 5:07 PM | What day is it again? | Comments (6)
Post Title: Ao Nang
Excerpt: 15.5 hours of transit hell but hey, I'm in paradise now.
July 25, 2006 7:11 PM | Ao Nang | Comments (8)
Post Title: Going on walkabout
Excerpt: My long planned hazy crazy 44 days of summer in Thailand begins tomorrow.
July 24, 2006 1:13 AM | Going on walkabout | Comments (7)
Post Title: Taipei gallery up
Excerpt: Just finished uploading 40 pics from my Taipei adventure and must run out the door to ride over to Kat and Darin's for the Season 2 finale of LOST. Woot!!!! A beautiful sunny day today, beer and merriment and more LOST excitement than you can poke a stick at tonight and I don't start work till midday tomorrow. I feel human again. And it just keeps getting better - an almost completely free weekend....
May 25, 2006 8:51 PM | Taipei gallery up | Comments (4)
Post Title: Taipei
Excerpt: On the way back from Australia, I got to spend 24 hours in Taipei with a friend of a friend, Stephen. We had met in Tokyo before he moved to Taipei to study Mandarin and I was really interested to hear his observations on the differences between the 2 cities and cultures. We spent heaps of time walking and talking around the streets. It was a pretty special experience for me, I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing Chinese culture for the first time. I don't have much time to write and upload right now (hey, what's new?!) but I do have...
May 23, 2006 2:07 PM | Taipei | Comments (3)
Post Title: Gekkos and rain
Excerpt: Currently in Shannonvale, at my brothers place. It's nestled in amongst the foothills of the Atherton Tablelands, in behind Port Douglas in far North Queensland. It's steamy and wet. They've had 2.8 metres of rain since the beginning of this year - 2 days of sunshine in about 3 months. It's raining again now and the family have all gone to bed, exhausted after a long (overcast but not rainy) day at little league footy. I love the tropics and feel totally at home here, with the forested mountains and low hanging clouds and creaking insects and croaking frogs...
May 6, 2006 10:23 PM | Gekkos and rain | Comments (3)
Post Title: To this from that....
Excerpt: I took this photo on the Takaido line just out of Tokyo Station on the journey home. He looked so dimished and worried - with his hands all entwined like that - that our happy little post-beach sojourn euphoria lost some of its lustre. Was it all just a dream? Seems like it. Holidays always do, don't they. The wonders of the camera self-timer function.... me and Andrea on the almost deserted beach at Ohama. Messed around with it in photoshop to make it look all unreal, coz right now it seems it was just a dream......
April 3, 2006 12:45 AM | To this from that.... | Comments (4)
Post Title: More miscellenea from Minami Izu
Excerpt: Andrea records a message written in the sand for her hubby in Australia: "I miss you". Kisami Ohama Beach. Taking the bus to Irozaki harbour Look closely - can you see the rope wrapped around the rock? On the other side of this windy, rocky outcrop is a little shrine - I had visions of being swept away over the side by a fierce gust! This shrine maiden was tending to the tiny ema boards that kept being blown away either into the shrine or out to the rocks... Waiting for the bus to go back to Ohama and...
April 3, 2006 12:20 AM | More miscellenea from Minami Izu | Comments (3)
Post Title: Shimoda
Excerpt: These photos were taken in a photogenic old section of Shimoda called Perry Road. Shimoda is a pretty little seaside town of significant historical value to the Japanese. Back in 1854 it was one of 2 ports (the other being Hakodate) that were officially opened up to international trade relations beyond some small dealings with the Chinese and the Dutch. The American navy, led by a Commodore Perry, sailed in to Tokyo Harbour with his "smoking dragon" (which is what some Japanese believed the boats to be) steamships and cannons and demanded that Japan open up it's previously strictly...
April 2, 2006 11:53 PM | Shimoda | Comments (2)
Post Title: Characters in Minami Izu
Excerpt: A wakame fisherman in tiny Irozaki harbour shows off part of his haul in gale force conditions Old lady selling fruit at Ito train station This old cat was grumpy as hell and had a very bloodshot eye This lovely lady sold us a bag of mikans (mandarins) . She was so gracious and look - it's like 9 am on a Thursday morning and she's decked out in make-up and faux fur scarf. I asked if I could photograph her and she replied "ii desu yo" (it's fine by me) as matter-of-factly as if I was asking for...
April 2, 2006 11:38 PM | Characters in Minami Izu | Comments (1)
Post Title: Wah! I need a holiday!
Excerpt:
August 11, 2005 7:58 PM | Wah! I need a holiday! | Comments (3)
Post Title: New Gallery!
Excerpt:
May 7, 2005 4:25 PM | New Gallery! | Comments (7)
Post Title: Old poster in Kyoto
Excerpt: I found this old poster on the side of a fridge on a street stall in Kyoto's Gion district. It's selling some form of shochu or nihonshu but I'm not sure what. I love these old school art posters....
April 7, 2005 8:30 PM | Old poster in Kyoto | Comments (1)
Post Title: Spring in Kyoto
Excerpt: Ah, Spring in Kyoto. Fabulous. I got all zen at Roanji, the worlds oldest and greatest stone Zen garden.... Soaked up the Hanami evenings in the ancient Geisha district of Gion... Played paparazzi with Geisha's dashing to their appointments... Went for lots and lots of long walks in lovely, strange, mysterious places (and so slept extremely well every night)... Had a cuppa with a coupla geishas... Thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Miyagawacho Kaburenjo Spring Geisha Revue... Soaked up the exotic history and achingly beautiful architecture and gardens of Kyoto and Nara.... Drank lots of free beer.... Soaked in the public...
April 4, 2005 5:00 PM | Spring in Kyoto | Comments (4)
Post Title: Fiji Time
Excerpt: Bula! Sitting at Nadi airport (Fiji) watching lots of relaxed, sunburnt whiteys with braided hair walking through the departure gate. I'm about to walk through it too, but don't worry, I'm braidless. But most definitely sunburnt. We've had the most wonderful time here in this beautiful place. Post-coup tourism has been booming since 9/11 and of course, the tsunami. Fijians enjoy drinking a lot of kava (I imbibed 3 large cups of it today in a local village ceremony) and well.... lets just say that "fiji time" takes a little getting used to but once you're in the swing...
January 5, 2005 3:18 PM | Fiji Time | Comments (7)
Post Title: Leica-sponsored Himalayan Tour
Excerpt: Imagine being given incredible Leica M series equipment to play with in some of the most scenic locations on earth! Well, you can make it happen, as I'm about to tell you, and goddamn I hope I can go (start saving TODAY): My friends are putting together a photographic tour of the Himalayas using experienced photographic guides (well, actually, themselves), and using Leica's on loan from the company....
October 3, 2004 8:33 PM | Leica-sponsored Himalayan Tour | Comments (3)
Post Title: 'Phoontastic
Excerpt: So, yeah. Shimoda. A week and a dream ago. 'Phoontastic indeed. Read on......
September 7, 2004 12:06 AM | 'Phoontastic | Comments (4)
Post Title: the magic of nikko
Excerpt: move over kawaguchiko, i have a NEW favourite place in japan! the world heritage listed Nikko temple complex and national park....
January 7, 2004 10:24 AM | the magic of nikko | Comments (6)
Post Title: dreaming of italy
Excerpt: if you're into italy (or ancient history...), you must check out out toan's photos from his recent jaunt there. gorgeous pics and a cool quicktime video if you have broadband. almost as lovely as the paradise file....
December 14, 2003 6:36 PM | dreaming of italy | Comments (0)