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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
        • 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
  • Architecture,  History,  Monday walks,  Nepal

    A walk in Patan, the City of Beauty

    February 1, 2023 / 40 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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    Banner with photo of a tightrope walker

    Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer

    August 27, 2021
    Modern white building with moat

    Gallery: cool architecture, cool colours

    May 24, 2021
    Black and white photo of two women with umbrellas tinted pink

    Sofia, city of contrasts and a work in progress

    October 5, 2022
  • 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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    Rustic blue house

    Stepping back in time in Bulgaria

    June 5, 2021
    Ornate marble pillars holding up carved ceilings

    Chaumukha Mandir, the four-faced temple of Ranakpur

    March 1, 2021
    Sign on boarded-up window

    Gallery: London, off the beaten track (urban erosion)

    January 17, 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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    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022
    Lake with domed structure and birds

    Tales of death in Jaisalmer and beyond

    February 19, 2021
    Colourful manhole cover

    Gallery: the humble manhole cover as public art

    June 22, 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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    Two white bell towers

    A stroll around Tavira

    April 29, 2022
    Black and white photo of adobe church

    Gallery: San Francisco de Asis, Ranchos de Taos

    January 8, 2021
    Several bridges over a river

    Newcastle: a city and its river

    February 18, 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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    Closed sign on a shop door

    Gallery: when one door closes …

    June 20, 2022
    White painted cathedral

    A city shaped by earthquakes

    October 27, 2021
    Yellow Victorian house

    Gallery: the Painted Ladies of Cape May

    October 10, 2020
  • Culture & tradition,  Nepal,  Postcards from the road

    A postcard from Nepal: Sadhus

    October 27, 2022 / 31 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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    River through a city with several bridges

    Gallery: ‘Coming home Newcastle’, a football anthem

    August 9, 2021
    Rock face with small caves and bushes

    In the footsteps of the Anasazi: Tsankawi

    May 3, 2022
    Three women in bright clothes and a man carrying large bundle of leaves

    A walk in a Tharu village

    December 13, 2022
  • 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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    Hand holding knife and straw shavings

    Gallery: getting up close and personal

    September 24, 2021
    Blacksmith crouching

    A village blacksmith in the Lao highlands

    March 10, 2021
    Pink bike helmet with Pinkie logo

    Gallery: motorbike ‘art’ in South East Asia

    December 27, 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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    Woman praying at a small shrine

    A postcard from Nepal: Manakamana

    November 2, 2022
    Lady in pink head covering in front of grass roof

    A warm welcome in the Thar Desert

    February 11, 2021
    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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    Panoramic cityscape

    The best views of Paris?

    September 12, 2022
    Ornate door and building

    Gallery: the doors of Tallinn

    October 24, 2020
    Part of a cathedral with blue skies

    Catedral de Santa María de la Sede: Seville’s cathedral

    January 15, 2022
  • Culture & tradition,  Gardens,  Japan,  Lens-Artists

    Exploring the temple gardens of Kyoto

    May 9, 2021 / 43 Comments
    Golden temple reflected in a lake

    Japanese gardens are not beautiful by accident. Every detail is carefully considered, every plant and rock precisely placed. And the result is often stunning. It was in Kyoto that I really came to appreciate the nuances of Japanese garden design.

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    River through a city with several bridges

    Gallery: ‘Coming home Newcastle’, a football anthem

    August 9, 2021
    Large building with green oriental roof

    A look inside the Grand People’s Study House

    November 18, 2021
    Statues of four young men

    Roll up, roll up! A Magical Mystery Tour

    August 26, 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 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

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All images and texts copyright Sarah Wilkie - 2023 ©
 

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