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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Albania
      • 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
          • Chicago
          • 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
      • Lens-Artists
      • Monochrome Madness
      • Nature Photo Challenge
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Happy Place Happy Space
      • Monday walks
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Just One Person
      • Life in Colour
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • 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 chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife
  • Colour,  Culture & tradition,  Laos,  One Word Sunday

    Tak Bat in Luang Prabang

    August 27, 2023 / 43 Comments
    Monks in orange robes seated on the floor

    The traditional ceremony of Tak Bat, or almsgiving, isn't unique to Laos, or even to Luang Prabang, but has become particularly associated with this town because of the sheer number of temples in a concentrated space. Every morning the monks leave the temples to walk the streets, carrying a pot in which local people place food, usually sticky rice. In this way the monks have food to eat, and the people receive good karma and blessings in return for their giving.

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    Two men in Arab robes on a sand dune

    Gallery: blackness against the light

    January 30, 2023
    Street of brightly painted houses

    Gallery: an explosion of colour in Colombia

    April 7, 2023
    White marble carving of an elephant and various people

    Gallery: does white exist?

    January 17, 2022
  • Architecture,  History,  Monday walks,  Nepal

    A walk in Patan, the City of Beauty

    February 1, 2023 / 43 Comments
    View over group of brick temples with tiered tiled roofs

    Patan is said to be one of the oldest Buddhist cities in the world. It is also known as Lalitpur, which means the City of Beauty. The name recognises its tradition of arts and crafts which continue to define the city.

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    Orthodox cathedral at the end of a wide street

    Gallery: Sofia’s St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

    March 7, 2021
    Colourful paper lanterns at night

    Gallery: let there be light

    September 21, 2021
    Fountain in a small park with elegant houses around

    A stroll through more of the Marais

    September 18, 2023
  • Architecture,  History,  Monday walks,  Nepal,  Street photography

    In Bandipur, an ancient hilltop town

    December 20, 2022 / 43 Comments
    Terraced fields, shadowy buildings and mountains tinged with pink

    Strung out along a ridge in the Himalayan foothills lies the ancient town of Bandipur. It has only been fully accessible by road since 1998. The ridge is just 200 metres long and barely wide enough to accommodate the main street and the buildings that line it. Behind the houses the mountainside falls away steeply. The small market gardens farmed by the inhabitants are accessible only by steps cut into the hillside.

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    Jumble of flat roofed buildings with distant castle and glimpse of sea

    Gallery: looking back at buildings

    January 15, 2023
    Ornate door and building

    Gallery: the doors of Tallinn

    October 24, 2020
    Several bridges over a river

    Newcastle: a city and its river

    February 18, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  Monday walks,  Mountains,  Nepal

    Exploring the temple town of Manakamana

    December 6, 2022 / 27 Comments
    Distant mountains with colourful fabric in foreground

    I can never resist the opportunity to ride in a cable car. So when our tour company suggested that we break the long drive from Chitwan to Bandipur with a ride up to the temple at Manakamana, I agreed immediately. It would be a chance to see a different side of Nepal, I thought. And it was, but not quite in the way I had imagined.

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    Old sign advertising a clog shop entrance

    Gallery: shoes, slippers, trainers, boots and clogs

    August 15, 2021
    A man with a young girl on his shoulders

    Lunch with Mr Noon and his family

    January 13, 2023
    Village street with men sitting on bench

    A village built on shells

    May 11, 2021
  • Architecture,  Monday walks,  Nepal,  Squares,  Street photography

    In ancient Bhaktapur, a royal capital

    November 24, 2022 / 56 Comments
    Large square with historic buildings and tourists

    Bhaktapur lies a little to the east of Kathmandu. At its heart is a series of lanes and squares that seem little changed for centuries. Here more than anywhere in the country I felt immersed in the ageless atmosphere of Nepal.

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    Looking down a spiral staircase

    Gallery: the perfect simplicity of a spiral staircase

    October 10, 2021
    Looking up at a white stone church with several domes

    Le Sacré Coeur de Paris

    April 10, 2022
    Mountain road with car on verge

    Following the High Road to Taos

    February 14, 2021
  • Architecture,  Culture & tradition,  Nepal,  Writers' Quotes Wednesday

    In Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

    November 19, 2022 / 39 Comments
    Stone and wood built temple surround a square with children and pigeons

    In the heart of Kathmandu is a cluster of ancient temples, places and open spaces, known as Durbar (meaning royal palace) Square. This UNESCO World Heritage site was badly hit by the earthquake that struck Nepal in April 2015, but no amount of damage could destroy its unique atmosphere. And today much has already been done to restore it to its former glories.

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    Simple candlestick with slim coloured candles

    A tale of two cathedrals

    June 18, 2023
    Black and white photo of two women with umbrellas tinted pink

    Sofia, city of contrasts and a work in progress

    October 5, 2022
    View of a city with winding river and skyscrapers

    Gallery: London from the top of the Shard

    May 28, 2023
  • Culture & tradition,  Nepal,  Postcards from the road

    A postcard from Nepal: Sadhus

    October 27, 2022 / 32 Comments

    Sadhus are holy men who have left behind all material attachments.  We came across a number of them in the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.

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    A man with a young girl on his shoulders

    Lunch with Mr Noon and his family

    January 13, 2023
    View from above of large square with market stalls

    Day into night in the Jemaa el-Fnaa

    December 20, 2021
    Inlet in the sea with snow and wooden hut

    A brief look at the Lofoten Islands

    August 4, 2023
  • 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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    Monks in orange robes seated on the floor

    Tak Bat in Luang Prabang

    August 27, 2023
    Blacksmith crouching

    A village blacksmith in the Lao highlands

    March 10, 2021
    River with small boats and rocky cliff

    A day on the Nam Ou

    July 3, 2021
  • Culture & tradition,  Laos,  Life in Colour,  Sunday Stills,  Travel galleries

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

    October 11, 2021 / 22 Comments
    Man in orange robes by worn plaster wall

    You only have to spend a few hours in Luang Prabang to see why this town regularly tops lists of travellers’ favourite places. Its laid-back vibe, its historic royal palace and perhaps most of all its beautiful Buddhist temples, over 30 in total. What struck me was the way that the monks and tourists co-exist, with full respect among (most of) the latter for the traditions of the former.

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    Huge blue statue of seated figure

    Lord Shiva statue in the hills above Pokhara

    January 7, 2023
    Men with fishing nets on colourfully painted wooden rowing boats

    Living on borrowed time in Djiffer

    January 11, 2023
    Man's hands working with tin

    Using our hands: handicrafts around the world

    April 27, 2021
  • Architecture,  Culture & tradition,  DPRK,  Just One Person

    Saying prayers for Korean reunification

    June 3, 2021 / 14 Comments
    Buddhist monk

    One person I did not expect to meet in North Korea was a monk. In this famously atheist country, where tourists are forbidden to disseminate religious texts and the prevailing religion might be said to be belief in the supremacy of the Dear Leaders and the Juche idea, true religious conviction is hard to find. And I am still unsure whether or not I found it here.

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    Large wooden curved structure

    Gallery: Seville’s mushrooms, art or architecture?

    December 4, 2021
    Stone and wood built temple surround a square with children and pigeons

    In Kathmandu’s Durbar Square

    November 19, 2022
    Half-timbered building seen above a hedge

    A misty morning visit to Stokesay Castle

    July 14, 2021
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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 chile cities colombia colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks naturephotochallenge nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills thechangingseasons usa views village wildlife

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