Pagodas at dawn
And so we arrive at Bagan, the centre of tourism in Myanmar, for this is Pagoda Central. From the 11 – 13th centuries, Bagan was a huge city dedicated by its various rulers to Theravada Buddhism, which was celebrated by the building of over 13,000 pagodas, monasteries and stupas. Amazingly, 2200 survive today, despite the sacking of the city by Kublai Khan – he of the stately pleasure dome – and innumerable earthquakes, natural erosion and decay. Continue reading
Shan countryside, planted with maize and rice
We arrive in Lashio, gateway to North Shan province, after a short delay due to fog: the planes all do round robin-trips so one late start puts the whole day out of synch. Our bus takes us to Hsipaw, where we will begin our trek. It meanders alongside a big river for two hours, past groves of oranges, papaya and the odd pagoda; we stop and watch men extracting pebbles for building from the river using an ancient form of technology. It seems time has stood still. Continue reading
Shwedagong pagoda at dusk
In Myanmar at last, what a way to celebrate Ross’s birthday! We trickle in from our respective destinations, all 10 of us, friends and family – Christine, Diego, Hilary and John, Jane and Trevor, Rick and Lucille – who have come together for our tailor-made ‘off the beaten track’ adventure. Continue reading
This is a proper drink – a margarita on my birthday
It’s been non-stop visitors since we got back, in case you were wondering what had become of me! First Cindy and Guy from Mumbai, then Louise’s best friend Lulu dropped in after doing some extraordinary free diving to create an underwater apsara installation to celebrate reef protection in Bali, and now Christine and Diego are here for a week before we set off for Burma next weekend. Continue reading
A giant reef manta circles overhead
peering through a window in the reef, current surprisingly strong so quite difficult!
In front of the Dewi Nusantara, sails unfurled
The 10 days in between the two Indonesia trips has passed in a flash and suddenly we are boarding a plane to Bali where we spend two nights. The hotel, the Puri Santrian, is rather tired, décor definitely more 90s than noughties, but the people are friendly. But we hit lucky with the taxi they book to take us to the ancient temple of Uluwatu. Widi speaks good English, but even better Japanese. He tells us he spent four years in Japan working in a factory. When he returned he had enough money to build a house, buy two taxis and start a business, plus educate his four children. Now he wants to go back so he can put them through university. His wife gets up at 3.30 am to go to the market – every day! He is a good guide, and even helps some silly tourists who have their prescription glasses stolen by the notorious temple macaques. We are forewarned and he is forearmed with a big stick!
Lame lady on bike – Hati! Hati! – danger! danger! too right!
Surely it can’t be almost a whole month since I last wrote a post? But I check the blog and it is a fact. And, no, its not because I have been doing anything fascinating; rather more prosaic than that – just head down, writing, getting an agent and finishing the book!
I had two offers on the table and was weighing up the pros and cons of each, when the little voice in my head (ie the Society of Authors and former agent and friend, Jo) kept niggling at me to give the agent one more try. So I sent off an email and received one by return saying he would take me on. Ian Drury at Sheila Land, v respectable agency. So now we wait…it’s the story of my life!
Also been busy putting the finishing touches to the website, with Ross’s help of course, www.healthylivingwithcancer.co which I launched about 10 days ago. It’s a slow build and I keep it out there by publishing a recipe every day. It will be word of mouth, or click, and I think it will gradually grow as nothing gets people going like cancer. If you haven’t looked at it already, click and see. Would love to hear any feedback. Continue reading
Gorgeous orchids at the Gardens by the Bay
It’s here at last! after months of grafting, cooking, testing, tasting and photographing. Thanks to husband Ross for being so patient in all of these tasks and for being a great webmaster.
http://healthylivingwithcancer.co/
Please follow and, more importantly, spread the word amongst any friends and family you think it might help – it’s all about the power of positive thinking to help you recover from cancer. For foodies there are loads of new recipes, all extremely healthy. There’s even some proper scientific back-up for this holistic approach, with periodic blogs by ‘the doc’.
All comments and suggestions welcome – on the site of course! Continue reading
My little friend
I have a sleepless night. I am waiting for confirmation that the cab I have tried to book will come – it is impossible to get a taxi in rush hour, especially if its raining and, it transpires, so is pre-booking one. So at 6 a.m. I am calling them again – nada. The system here is that the cabs responds to a call out if they feel like it and are nearby. Thinking it will take at least 30 mins to track one down using the latest app – Grabtaxi – I press all the buttons and, bingo, one arrives in 3 minutes. Feel I HAVE to take it as I might not be so lucky later…. So there I am, one and half hours early for my appointment with the gynaecologist, sipping green tea with toasted rice in a large shopping centre, finishing Evelyn Waugh’s Sword of Honour. I always take my iPad to medical appointments. Continue reading
I need a bit of Zen!
My recently re-acquired routine – exercise, writing, physio, acupuncture – has been rudely shattered by yet another health scare. Can you believe it? Only a week after seeing my lovely Singapore GP, Dr Foong, about routine things, like B12 jabs, next scan dates, HRT etc – she is surprised to find me back again. Continue reading
The reclining Buddha
Five days in Bangkok leave me breathless, yet full of energy! We are here to meet up with Dr Fi and her family, and also to catch up with another old uni chum, Patrick Brooks, who has been living a Somerset Maugham-type of existence for the past 30 years or so (actually an ex-dip and now consulting for the EU, trying to teach them diplomacy – the EU that is, rather than the Vietnamese or the Thais, who seem perfectly good at people skills if you ask me). Continue reading
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