Tag Archives: Travel Blog

Religion permeates Balinese life. According to Balinese Hinduism – Agama Hindu Dharma – the Gods, natural spirits and ancestral spirits all live on the volcanic mountains while the demons and bad spirits live in the sea. The land between is the humans’ domain, where good and bad spirits battle until eternity. All aspects of daily life try to […]

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After five days of bumping across the rough roads of Mongolia’s seemingly endless grassy steppes, it was with a sigh of relief that I watched our Russian UAZ (Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod) four-wheel-drive vehicle climb into the Altai Mountains that run along the north western border of the country.  Mongolian guides G and Segi of Shaman Tours were looking after myself,  a small group of photographic […]

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Vienna. City of Mozart. And waltzes. And that other Strauss: Richard – known for his operas, and familiar to my generation thanks to his fanfare from Thus Spake Zarathustra that was used in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. But when I think of Vienna, I always think of Billy Joel, or of Leonard Cohen’s melancholy three-quarter time […]

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It was a Sunday. And the sky was full of rain. In spite of that, hill tribe children were at school, scrubbed and dressed in their traditional clothing, ready with smiles to greet our group of visitors. It always amazes me how cheerfully Thai students – especially those from farming hill tribe families in the remote northern […]

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There is something invigorating about tall trees, a mountain backdrop, and ocean breezes. It is always a pleasure exploring the woods and waters on and around Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of Canada. My husband and I return regularly to our favourite walking and sailing places, but we also try to explore some new […]

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