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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Oman
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
    • Art
      • Crafts
      • Street art
    • Colour
    • Dark tourism
    • Eco-tourism
    • Food & drink
    • Gardens
    • History
      • Ruins
      • War
    • Landscape
      • Coast & seascapes
      • Deserts
      • Mountains
      • Rivers
    • Nature and wildlife
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Plants
        • Flowers
        • Trees, forests and woodland
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Travel in general
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Challenges
    • General challenges
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Photography challenges
      • Lens-Artists
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Thursday Trios
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

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Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds bird_weekly black_&_white botswana buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Dark tourism,  DPRK

    International friendships in North Korea

    June 30, 2022 / 6 Comments
    Large modern Oriental style building surrounded by trees

    Among the mountains to the north of Pyongyang two vast edifices are set into a mountainside. Climate controlled and windowless, the International Friendship Exhibition buildings house thousands of gifts presented to the Great Leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, both during and after their lifetimes, and more than a few given to Kim Jong Un.

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    Painting of young slave

    Roots: dark history or tourist trap?

    October 29, 2020
    Statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il

    Why go to North Korea?

    September 10, 2020
    Stone carved with cherubs

    Around the corner in Leipzig: die Runde Ecke

    April 16, 2021
  • Cambodia,  Dark tourism,  War

    The Killing Fields of Cambodia

    June 23, 2022 / 61 Comments
    Ornamental gate

    This post contains images and descriptions that some may find disturbing. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek are not a place that everyone would choose to visit, despite being firmly on the tourist trail in Phnom Penh. But this is part of the recent history of Cambodia, still vivid in the memories of its older generation, and if they can't run away from that past then arguably nor should we.

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    Group of people sitting on blue plastic stools in a market

    Gallery: Psar Thmei, Phnom Penh’s Central Market

    February 13, 2022
    Pink bike helmet with Pinkie logo

    Gallery: motorbike ‘art’ in South East Asia

    December 27, 2021
    People walking by wide river lined with palm trees

    A Sunday evening by the Tonle Sap, Phnom Penh

    April 8, 2021
  • Kerala,  Monday walks,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: a walk in a tea plantation

    June 14, 2022 / 29 Comments
    Track through small green bushes and slender trees

    Kerala can be regarded as consisting of three parallel environments, running north to south down the state. There is the coastal strip and backwaters, where the emphasis is on fishing and trade; the slightly higher agricultural strip where pineapples, bananas and a variety of other crops are grown; and the so-called High Range, part of the Western Ghat, where tea, coffee and spices predominate.

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    Man in a red turban

    The fishermen of Chowara, Kerala

    February 6, 2021
    Man beating white cloth

    A dhobi wallah in Fort Cochi, Kerala

    April 14, 2021
    Man sitting among motorbikes in front of a garage

    A walk in Fort Kochi, Kerala

    January 12, 2022
  • Culture & tradition,  Monday walks,  Oman

    A walk along the Corniche in Muttrah

    June 9, 2022 / 31 Comments
    White houses, blur minaret and dome, distant mountains

    On our last morning in Muscat we explored the district known as Muttrah. This is the city’s commercial heart, home to its port and a number of sights. Our walk took us from the bustling fish market at its northern end past the port to the equally busy souk near the far end.

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    Colourful manhole cover

    Gallery: the humble manhole cover as public art

    June 22, 2021
    Close-up of head sculpted in bronze

    Purple Haze: remembering Jimi Hendrix

    July 30, 2021
    Two images of narrow city streets

    A walk in Seville’s picturesque Triana district

    December 2, 2021
  • Laos,  Monday walks,  Ruins

    Wat Phou: walking in the footsteps of the king

    May 23, 2022 / 30 Comments
    Avenue lined with small stone pillars and distant mountains

    Wat Phou is a pre-Angkorian Khmer Hindu temple at the foot of Mount Phou Khao. The Khmer chose this site because the unusual shape of the mountain peak seemed to them to resemble a Shiva linga. Today it was so hazy that the peak was hard to make out, but we had seen it yesterday in the late afternoon sunlight.

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    Blacksmith crouching

    A village blacksmith in the Lao highlands

    March 10, 2021
    Hand holding knife and straw shavings

    Gallery: getting up close and personal

    September 24, 2021
    Man in orange robes by worn plaster wall

    Gallery: the monks of Luang Prabang (a life in orange)

    October 11, 2021
  • Food & drink,  Kerala,  Sunday Stills

    Gallery: in the Cardamom Hills of Kerala

    May 17, 2022 / 29 Comments
    Smiling lady on a bamboo ladder

    There’s a clue in the name! The Cardamom Hills in Kerala are famous for the growing of their namesake spice and many others besides. Peppercorns, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and more are grown on the small farms here. But also coffee and different fruits such as banana, avocado and jack fruit.

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    Close-up of fried tarantulas

    Gallery: fancy a snack in Spider Town?

    April 30, 2021
    Sign saying Pie Town

    A pit stop in pioneering Pie Town

    June 24, 2021
    Two cups of coffee

    Gallery: cosy coffee breaks around the world

    November 30, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  Deserts,  Oman,  Ruins

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022 / 26 Comments
    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    You can’t travel far in Oman without hearing the word frankincense. Every Omani home burns this fragrant resin daily, it is an intrinsic part of Omani life. Not only does it make the home smell nice, it also keeps flying insects such as mosquitoes at bay. The best quality frankincense is steeped overnight in water which is then drunk at breakfast time to treat a variety of ailments. And inhaling the smoke is said to be good for asthma.

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    Buddhist monk

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021
    Dark table with lots of small dishes

    Gallery: Dining in (Japanese) style ~ kaiseki

    March 6, 2021
    Close-up of head sculpted in bronze

    Purple Haze: remembering Jimi Hendrix

    July 30, 2021
  • CFFC,  Culture & tradition,  Uzbekistan

    A blacksmith at work in Bukhara

    March 24, 2022 / 26 Comments
    Man sitting on a rug using a hammer and anvil

    In the ancient streets of Bukhara history weaves itself effortlessly around the present-day lives of its people. Here you get a real sense of continuity. The world of the Silk Road caravans isn’t preserved in the aspic of Khiva; nor tucked into islands among the modern-day bustle of Samarkand; it is an ever-present backdrop to daily life. To walk these streets, duck through the low arches of the caravanserai and trading domes, sit for a while over green tea by the pool of Lyab-i-Huaz; this is what people of this…

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    Large brick building with pools and low hedges in front

    Gallery: converging lines and the vanishing point

    October 15, 2021
    Bright red berries

    Gallery: the colours of the season

    December 16, 2021
    Looking down a spiral staircase

    Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase

    October 10, 2021
  • Cambodia,  Street photography,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: Psar Thmei, Phnom Penh’s Central Market

    February 13, 2022 / 36 Comments
    Group of people sitting on blue plastic stools in a market

    There’s little I enjoy more when travelling than a visit to a local market. Large or small there is always plenty to see, and therefore to photograph. And you can gain great insights into the way of life in the country. What do local people eat? How do they dress? How indeed do they shop?

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    Man frying insects at a food stall

    Exploring the street food of Phnom Penh

    April 3, 2021
    People walking by wide river lined with palm trees

    A Sunday evening by the Tonle Sap, Phnom Penh

    April 8, 2021
    Hand holding knife and straw shavings

    Gallery: getting up close and personal

    September 24, 2021
  • Kerala,  Monday walks,  Street photography,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: a stroll through a Kerala village

    January 18, 2022 / 28 Comments
    Washing drying outside a simple home on a dirt street

    Chowara is a small fishing community in Kerala. While tourism has come to the area, bringing visitors from elsewhere in India and further afield, it remains unspoiled and still focused on that traditional mainstay of its economy, the fish. Our hotel lay right next to the village, so it was easy one morning to forsake the lure of the pool and take a stroll with our cameras.

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    Man applying colourful face paint

    Gallery: a traditional Keralan Kathakali performance

    April 28, 2021
    Hazy view of bamboo clump

    Periyar’s monkeys, elephants, bison and more

    October 4, 2021
    Track through small green bushes and slender trees

    Gallery: a walk in a tea plantation

    June 14, 2022
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Some favourite photos

Man in a turban with fishing nets
Fisherman in Fort Kochi, Kerala
Two elephants in long grass
Okavango elephants
Blue glacier edge
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Elderly woman in black hat and sunglasses
In Santiago, Chile
Very large statues of North Korean Leaders
Statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang
Water reflecting the sky with clouds and low sun
Approaching sunset in the Okavango Delta
Feet of huge metal sculpture, with man standing beside
The feet of the Angel
Large moai with row of more behind
The ‘travelling moai’ and Ahu Tongariki
Man in knitted hat by water, black and white photo
Waiting for the ferry, Banjul
Mountain reflected in a lake
On the road to Dyrholaey
Sunset at Wahiba Sands, Oman
Squirrel with a conker in his mouth
In Walpole Park, Ealing
Silhouette of a man in a gateway
Looking out from Bundi Palace
Blue and pink bird on a dead tree
Lilac-breasted Roller, Chobe NP, Botswana
Buddhist monk in orange robes with mobile phone
Monk at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang, Luang Prabang
Man sleeping in a tuk tuk by a carved stone wall
Tuk tuk driver by the Terrace of the Leper King
Close up of flamingo with head tucked under
Flamingo (Jersey Zoo)
Lady with baskets of fruit sitting by a canal
In Hoi An, Vietnam
Small fishing boat with a man in it, on a large lake
Lake Atitlan
Wet street and two people with bright pink umbrella
Street in Lucca, rainy day – edited

Some topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds bird_weekly black_&_white botswana buildings cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica deserts dprk ealing england flowers friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india japan just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks museum new_mexico north_korea people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

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You may have missed

  • International friendships in North Korea
  • A stroll around Avebury’s stone circle
  • Gallery: making eyes at me
  • Introduction to some monuments in Riga
  • Gallery: pick a word (June)

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