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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
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      • Photographic techniques
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      • 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
        • Colombia
        • 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
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • 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 Trios
      • 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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Colombia,  Dark tourism,  Postcards from the road,  Ruins

    A postcard from Colombia: Pablo Escobar’s former lakeside retreat

    February 13, 2023 / 34 Comments
    Ruined building among trees

    On the shores of the El Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir the infamous Colombian cocaine drug-lord Pablo Escobar built a lavish estate which he named La Manuela, after his daughter.

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    Engraved gold band

    A postcard from Colombia: finding gold

    February 6, 2023
    Large pink flower

    Gallery: in the pink in Colombia

    March 8, 2023
    Black and white photo of a hibiscus flower

    Gallery: seeing Colombia in black and white

    March 16, 2023
  • Architecture,  History,  Lens-Artists,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: looking back at buildings

    January 15, 2023 / 61 Comments
    Jumble of flat roofed buildings with distant castle and glimpse of sea

    One of the (many) things I like to photograph when I travel are the various buildings I see. Buildings tell us so much about how people live, how they work, how they worship. Or, if they are old buildings, how they once lived/worked/worshipped.

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    View of cathedral on far side of river, with large crane

    Rising from the ashes: Notre Dame in 2021

    September 30, 2021
    Elegant stone buildings and a large church with a lawn

    A visit to King’s College Chapel, Cambridge

    July 21, 2022
    River view with modern city buildings

    Gallery: city living in London

    February 15, 2021
  • England,  Monday walks,  Ruins

    A stroll around Fountains Abbey

    August 29, 2022 / 42 Comments
    Ruined stone church

    In 1132 a small group of monks left their Benedictine Monastery in York, fed up with the extravagant and rowdy lifestyle of the monks there. Seeking a more devout and simple way of life, they were granted a parcel of land by the River Skell where they built a small wooden church and applied, successfully, to join the Cistercian order.

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    Red lantern, blue wall, green shutters

    2020: my (pandemic) year in review

    January 3, 2021
    Wintery beach scene

    Gallery: blowing the cobwebs away at Druridge Bay

    January 4, 2023
    Three large sculptures in a landscape

    Gallery: the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

    September 4, 2021
  • Laos,  Monday walks,  Ruins

    Wat Phou: walking in the footsteps of the king

    May 23, 2022 / 31 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
    Red lantern, blue wall, green shutters

    2020: my (pandemic) year in review

    January 3, 2021
    Hand holding knife and straw shavings

    Gallery: getting up close and personal

    September 24, 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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    Man applying colourful face paint

    Gallery: a traditional Keralan Kathakali performance

    April 28, 2021
    Exterior of brick mosque with dome and minaret

    The Square of Religious Tolerance in Sofia

    April 6, 2021
    Large illuminated reindeer model

    Celebrating Christmas in London and (a little way) beyond

    December 6, 2021
  • Architecture,  Guatemala,  Ruins,  Squares

    A city shaped by earthquakes

    October 27, 2021 / 35 Comments
    White painted cathedral

    Antigua, or Antigua Guatemala to give it its full name, is a city shaped by the movement of the earth on which it stands. It was founded in 1543 and despite the ravages of several earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it was for over 200 years the capital and economic centre of the whole Kingdom of Guatemala. This was a significant country, covering what today we know as southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

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    Looking down a spiral staircase

    Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase

    October 10, 2021
    Black and white photo of street signs

    Gallery: meet me on the corner

    September 2, 2022
    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
  • Cambodia,  Ruins,  Squares,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: Ta Prohm, Angkor’s Royal Monastery

    October 7, 2021 / 28 Comments
    Stone ruin surrounded by trees

    In a clearing in the jungles of Angkor the Buddhist king King Jayavarman VII built a monastery, Rajavihara, meaning ‘Royal Monastery’. We know it today as Ta Prohm. Here lived more than 12,500 people, including 18 high priests and 615 dancers. The temple was wealthy, amassing riches such as gold, pearls and silks.

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    White window shutter and green leaves

    Eating out with a conscience in Indochina

    April 17, 2021
    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
  • Lens-Artists,  Oman,  Ruins

    Seen better days: the ruined villages of Oman

    October 2, 2021 / 26 Comments

    Not many countries can have seen such rapid change as did Oman in the 1970s. When Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said overthrew his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, Oman was considered one of the most technologically and educationally deprived countries in the world. In the first 25 years of his reign it moved from a largely feudal society to a rapidly developing modern one.

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    Looking up at a spiral staircase

    Gallery: monochrome curves

    March 20, 2022
    People sitting on a bench looking at a city view

    Gallery: welcome to my wonderful world

    June 20, 2021
    Statue of two soldiers shaking hands

    Gallery: favourite miscellaneous photos of 2021

    January 7, 2022
  • Architecture,  Morocco,  Ruins

    ‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

    August 12, 2021 / 26 Comments
    Red crumbling ruins

    The crumbling red stone ruins of the Kasbah of Telouet hide a secret; within their walls lie the remains of a glorious and self-indulgent palace, where Pasha Thami El Glaoui asserted his power and wealth. These atmospheric ruins are relatively off the tourist trail, although easily visited on a day trip from Marrakesh.

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    Large building with green oriental roof

    A look inside the Grand People’s Study House

    November 18, 2021
    Three large highly decorated buildings around a central square

    Gallery: building in threes

    May 13, 2022
    Modern white building with moat

    Gallery: cool architecture, cool colours

    May 24, 2021
  • Cape Verde,  CFFC,  Dark tourism,  Ruins

    Campo da Morte Lenta: Camp of the Slow Death

    March 31, 2021 / 25 Comments
    Looking down on faded yellow-painted buildings

    On the southern outskirts of the small fishing town of Tarrafel on Santiago, one of the Cape Verde Islands, is a haunting sight. Now a museum, this former concentration camp, also known as Campo da Morte Lenta, commemorates a darker time for the islands, under Portuguese rule.

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    Large mural of woman's head wearing a colourful headscarf

    Gallery: Cape Verde street art

    June 3, 2022
    Lady in bright carnival costume

    Carnival parade in Praia, Cape Verde

    January 18, 2021
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Read my featured blogger interview

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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 animals architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colombia 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 nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

Archive

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  • Gallery: seeing Colombia in black and white

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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