The next stage of our journey takes us to the South Island. We leave Wellington by ferry, dumping the car, and three and half hours later are in Picton where we collect another. Like everything so far in New Zealand it’s all gone like clockwork, on time, efficiently and with a smile.
Reposting this from my Healthy Living with Cancer blog….all part of the journey
This is always a difficult time of year for me. Firstly, 7 December is our daughter Louise’s birthday. She would have been 27 last week, but instead she is forever a glorious 21 – young and beautiful. We celebrated her life with some close friends at the Bench last week and later in the Steele’s where we held her wake.
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My November visit to the United World Schools we have built in NE Cambodia inspired me to do something tangible to make a difference to the children’s impoverished lives in these remote villages, where our schools are a beacon of hope for their future.
Floral display to mark the anniversary of the fall of Saigon
Strange as it may seem, Hanoi is a city obsessed with ice cream! Continue reading
We have a charming leaving ceremony at the Mantra Retreat: after being smeared with vermilion ash on our foreheads, a fragrant flame is wafted around and some coconuts smashed. We now understand why the geese and ducks have been waddling around expectantly all morning as they dive for the succulent flesh with cackles of delight. Continue reading
My two boys are away heli-skiing in Canada, something the poor old hip won’t allow me to do at the moment, so what better plan than to have a girls’ jaunt round Tamil Nadu with my India-loving friend Hilary? As she lives in Abu Dhabi it’s only a short hop for the both of us. Continue reading
Looking up the gorge towards the Swallows’ Grotto
We arrive in Taroko on Good Friday, in the rain, after a pain-free train journey from Taipei and a scenic ride up the winding vertiginous road that leads to our hotel. Continue reading
Luang lives up to its reputation, though we are overwhelmed by the number of tourists, ranging from dreadlocked backpackers to chic French groups, via the hordes of Koreans, Japanese and Chinese, that descend en masse upon this sleepy town. Continue reading
The karst landscape on the Nam Ou river
In the second part of our journey we travel from Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang, via Nam Tha and the ‘Green triangle’ of the hill tribes. Continue reading
Welcome committee at Blai
The second part of our journey will take us to Banlung, the hub for the 23 Ratanakiri schools and where the UWS journey began. Maxine and John have gone on to Siem Reap, so we are now five. It’s a 3 hour drive from Siem Pang to Banlung, and after an hour or so on the pitted murram the road returns to tarmac, and the scenery changes from scrub to row upon row of rubber plantations – the ecocide that has destroyed the rainforest and scarred the landscape forever. In between are cassava plants which leaches the soil so it’s all in all a no win situation for the future. Continue reading
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