Travel with me

Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

  • 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
        • Nepal
        • 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
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
      • Thursday Trios
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • 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
        • Nepal
        • 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
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
      • Thursday Trios
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com

Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • 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.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Couple in traditional Lao dress

    Gallery: wedding couples around the world

    July 9, 2022
    Buddhist monk

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021
    Colourful lorry

    Gallery: kings of the road in Nepal

    December 3, 2022
  • Deserts,  Mountains,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: on the road to the future?

    January 10, 2022 / 52 Comments
    Road through mountains with snow and pine trees

    I cannot, of course, photograph the future. I could perhaps take photos of futuristic sights and buildings, but they would still be very much of the present. People often talk about the future in terms of a road we are travelling, don’t they? And we also often talk about choosing a path or road, making a decision to go this way or that.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021
    Sand dunes with shadow of a hot air balloon

    Gallery: up, up and away, in the Namib Desert

    February 26, 2021
    Balloon over a desert landscape

    Reaching for the sky again in Africa

    April 18, 2021
  • Chile,  Deserts

    El Tatio: a steaming landscape

    September 16, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Steam rising from several geysers at sunrise

    It takes a certain amount of sacrifice and discomfort to visit El Tatio. For one thing, you will sacrifice sleep, as all tours leave very early in the morning. The steam from the geysers is most active and visible at dawn, so you need to be there before sunrise. You must also be prepared to be very cold and to cope with altitude; the geyser field is at 4,200 metres above sea level. So is it worth it? Oh yes!

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Colourful houses built over water

    Chiloé: a place of witches and gnomes

    August 4, 2022
    View of beach with icebergs and mountains beyond

    Glacier Grey – or should that be turquoise?

    January 1, 2021
    Two flamingos feeding

    Gallery: reflecting on birds

    March 27, 2021
  • Deserts,  Oman,  Sunday Stills

    Rub’ Al Khali: the Empty Quarter

    August 16, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Straight road and brown sign in English and Arabic

    The Empty Quarter, otherwise known as Rub’ Al Khali, is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world. It is so-called because this huge stretch of unbroken sand has defeated kings, adventurers, and nomads for thousands of years. In a region defined by deserts, the Rub’ Al Khali has come to be known as among the most daunting and inhospitable. And it is on an unfathomable scale.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021
    Road through mountains with snow and pine trees

    Gallery: on the road to the future?

    January 10, 2022
    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021
  • Coast & seascapes,  Deserts,  Mountains,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021 / 53 Comments
    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Some years ago the Wanderlust magazine used to have a regular feature in which it asked contributors and readers: What are you? Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Canal with narrowboats decorated with flags

    Gallery: summertime and the livin’ …

    July 17, 2022
    Rocky beach and palm trees

    On the Pacific coast in Drake Bay

    February 28, 2022
    Man in a red turban

    The fishermen of Chowara, Kerala

    February 6, 2021
  • Deserts,  Oman

    Water in the desert: Wadi Bani Khalid

    June 11, 2021 / 23 Comments
    Green pool and palm trees from above

    There is indeed something particularly awe-inspiring about coming across an oasis in a barren landscape. The contrast between lush greenery and bare rock or soil can be so striking. Wadi Bani Khalid is one of the best-known and most accessible of Oman’s wadis. But the small amount of development here has been done sensitively and it doesn’t detract from the visual impact of deep green waters, lush date plantations and stark mountains all around.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Straight road and brown sign in English and Arabic

    Rub’ Al Khali: the Empty Quarter

    August 16, 2021
    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  Deserts,  Just One Person,  Oman

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021 / 28 Comments
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Salma is an Omani Bedouin. She lives part of the time in a tent on the fringes of the vast Wahiba Sands; and part of the time in a modern house in the nearby town of Bidiyyah. She wore the traditional Bedouin face mask, designed to protect from sandstorms and the elements in general, as she and her daughter in law served our lunch of traditional bread, rice, dhal, chicken, fish and salad.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Man sitting on a rug using a hammer and anvil

    A blacksmith at work in Bukhara

    March 24, 2022
    Performers in a stadium with a backdrop image of Kim Jong Un

    The Land of the People

    December 13, 2021
    Little boy and two little girls in Japanese costume

    Celebrating childhood at the shrines of Japan

    April 25, 2021
  • Deserts,  Lens-Artists,  Morocco

    Reaching for the sky again in Africa

    April 18, 2021 / 27 Comments
    Balloon over a desert landscape

    Once you have been in a hot air balloon, and loved the experience as I did, you will seize any opportunity to fly again. Leonardo da Vinci had it right, even though he himself had never flown, when he said, 'Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.'

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Steam rising from several geysers at sunrise

    El Tatio: a steaming landscape

    September 16, 2021
    Road through mountains with snow and pine trees

    Gallery: on the road to the future?

    January 10, 2022
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021
  • Deserts,  Namibia,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: up, up and away, in the Namib Desert

    February 26, 2021 / 20 Comments
    Sand dunes with shadow of a hot air balloon

    Deserts take many forms, but to most of us the word conjures up rolling dunes as far as the eye can see. Such a desert is the Namib, home to the world’s highest dunes. Many of them surround the clay pan of Sossusvlei, and one of the best ways to appreciate the scale and sheer number of these dunes is from above, in a hot air balloon.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021
    Blue lake with flamingos feeding

    Around the world in ten photos: day two

    December 18, 2020
    Road through mountains with snow and pine trees

    Gallery: on the road to the future?

    January 10, 2022
  • Birds,  Chile,  Deserts,  Ten photos

    Around the world in ten photos: day two

    December 18, 2020 / 18 Comments
    Blue lake with flamingos feeding

    The landscape here is a series of horizontal stripes in blue, green, beige and brown. It creates a calm backdrop for the flamingos as they feed, their pale pink feathers reflected in the still pools of water.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Two birds with turquoise feet

    Blue feet, red feet, any coloured feet …

    May 18, 2021
    Large bird among rocks

    The waved albatross of Española Island

    December 3, 2020
    Large heron on top of a mangrove tree

    Gallery: the birds of the Gambia

    February 22, 2021

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com

Subscribe to blog via email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,278 other subscribers.

Read my featured blogger interview

Logo for blogging feature
By Marsha of 'Always Write'

And my answers to Bren’s ‘five at five’ questions

Lady in a hat and red top sitting on rocks

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 black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020

You may have missed

  • Gallery: seeing Japan in black and white
  • Gallery: the sound of silence
  • Gallery: the doors of Nepal
  • A city stroll in London
  • Gallery: a pop of colour to brighten the darkness

Follow me

Follow Travel with me on WordPress.com
All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

Loading Comments...