“Khrxbkhrạw pĕn h̄nụ̀ng nı p̄hl ngān chînxek k̄hxng ṭhrrmchāti” ~The family is one of nature’s masterpieces~ Thai proverb I started the day heading out in search of coffee from the place I went to the day before. When I got there it was closed and curiously the hours said it should have been closed the…
Category: travel
Travel : Luddite – Chiang Mai Day 1
“The true test of any hotel, as you well know, Diane, is that morning cup of coffee”Agent Cooper Twin Peaks The new day started with a fresh , if not entirely new experience. Despite growing up on instant coffee I haven’t had any in over 20 years. When traveling I will always opt for the…
Travel : Departures
“It’s the fear of what comes after the doing that makes the doing hard to do” Tony Kushner – Angels in America I am sitting in bed writing this in a hotel just outside the moat and fortified wall of the old city of Chiang Mai. Walled cities are going to be a reoccurring theme on…
Life : Combe
Coomb | Combe | Comb A valley, often wooded and often with no river From the Middle English Coumbe and the Old English Cumb. Related to the Welsh Cym. I’m stood on the side of the road in the bright morning sun. It’s February in Exeter Devon and the weather is much warmer, dryer and…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – Beautiful Day Above the Grave
“ And slowly you begin to discern the queer outline of what’s to come: the bend in the river beyond which, moving steadily, head up (you hope), you will simply vanish from sight.” Lauris Edmond In Position 2003 A wind gets up in the night. The southerly gusts rattle all the old windows in the hotel…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – Geometry, Fire, Iron and Whisky
“There are very few things I can say about my work that are better than saying nothing.” – Ralph Hotere I breakfast at a vibrant bakery that also does café service. A dome of scrambled eggs , sausage patty , confit mushrooms and glazed ham all spiked with Szechuan crispy chilli oil. A family dressed…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – City of Industry
“I was born. The place was Dunedin, and it’s been suggested that if all the people who were born in Dunedin were suddenly to go back there wouldn’t be standing room in Carisbrook.” Denis Glover Hot Water Sailor 1912 – 1962 , 1962. In the morning I note that a bible has jumped to it’s…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – There is much evil in the world and a great suffering in my head
“I drink much less than most people think, and I think much more than most people would believe.” ― Hunter S Thompson, Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967 I slowly become aware of my continuing existence on this mortal coil. Limbs seem to be unhindered , for the moment my gastric processes…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – By the sea but not of the sea
“May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens.” Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis 1950 We pull into Oamaru . The roads are being resealed, dust rises as utes and trucks drive over the metal road surface. A haze fills the sky . I disembark, head to the…
Travel : Came on Holiday by Mistake – Up with the ghosts
“There is no past or future. Using tenses to divide time is like making chalk marks on water. — Janet Frame, Faces in the Water 1961 I wake early. Shannon was out last night so I creep around the house, feed the dog, dress and set out with Rubes for an early morning walk. I…
Raise the Dawn 