In the Misty Rainforest
I’m a traveller just passing through… – Sharon O’Neil, Asian Paradise In China, parks and natural landscapes hold a revered … Continue reading In the Misty Rainforest
Tag: Travel Writing
THE BUDDHA’S BIRTHDAY
How experiencing a Buddhist ceremony helped me to become more relaxed and centred in the confusing, chaotic world of modern … Continue reading THE BUDDHA’S BIRTHDAY
Travels With Thomas
Returning to China after thirty years, following in the footsteps of my great uncle, I find both the country, and … Continue reading Travels With Thomas
On Gulangyu Island 鼓浪屿
The repeating mantra seems to weave through the incense-infused air, enveloping everything in a cloak of meditative tranquillity. I take a seat on a stone bench at the entrance to the cave that forms the temple’s main focus of worship. I am momentarily overcome by a wave of helplessness and disorientation and burst into tears. The combination of the heat, the difficulty communicating, the distance from home, and my sheer disbelief that I am actually China again, juxtaposed with the calmness and tranquillity of the temple is overwhelming. But it is only a passing phase: I am too hot and too thirsty to cry. Continue reading On Gulangyu Island 鼓浪屿
Two Feet in Asia
Asia is vast. It spans the world from the edge of the Bosphorus in Turkey to the islands of Japan and beyond: a distance of 11,000 kilometres, or 8,000 miles, or 36 million feet. Someone who lives in Istanbul is as much an Asian as someone from Jakarta or Aurangabad, Kobe or Quanzhou. Nearly four and a half billion people walk on the continent of Asia. And now, my two feet are about to join them again. Continue reading Two Feet in Asia
A Room With a View
For my part, as well as associating Bath with the music of Peter Gabriel — his Real World Studios, where bands such as Tears For Fears, Marillion, Elbow, Muse and The Waterboys have recorded — the nautical novels of Patrick O’Brian often reference the city, particularly Laura Place and The Pumphouse. Continue reading A Room With a View
Solva: Life in Slow Motion
I dream of high cloudsFlush with the light of daybreak.I’m gonna dive inTo waters so cold it makes your bones … Continue reading Solva: Life in Slow Motion
The Cathedral at the Edge of the World
The cathedral itself stands venerable and solemn. Its old stones, worn and weathered by time, seem poised to tell stories of ages past, like a monk awaiting a calm moment to impart wisdom. Standing here, at what seems like the very brink of the British Isles, I can feel the boundaries between history and legend blur. The cathedral, magnificent, grave, regal and austere, anchors the town in its medieval past. It is not merely a structure but a sentinel watching over the coming and going of generations. Continue reading The Cathedral at the Edge of the World
Into the Sublime
And I have felt A presence that disturbs me with the joy Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime Of something … Continue reading Into the Sublime
The Heights of Crib Goch
The rock step towers above us. It is very steep, almost vertical, but doesn’t look impossible. We clamber up to the base of a narrow crack between two buttresses. The rock is sound and there are good hand- and footholds in the crack. I volunteer to lead the pitch. Placing my feet against each side of the crack, I reach up past an overhang and feel for a handhold. There is a notch that I can fit my hand into. I make a fist and squeeze tightly, creating a friction hold in the notch. This is the point of no return. Once I commit to this move there will be no going back. I tense my legs against the rock wall and pull myself up and over the outcrop. Continue reading The Heights of Crib Goch
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